Chapter 11 - Rebecca Turned on Charles
Rebecca agreed to meet with Detective Cole and her attorney.
I did not attend.
I did not trust myself around her.
But Allison attended as my counsel and told me afterward what happened.
Rebecca admitted writing both notes.
She admitted taking Emily to her office and asking her to sign the academy form.
She admitted requesting the prenup revision.
She admitted accessing my office computer.
But she claimed Charles designed the larger financial plan.
According to Rebecca, her father believed our marriage created a strategic opportunity.
My company owned development rights near several Whitmore investment properties.
My father’s estate held land.
Emily’s trust held the lake property and mineral rights connected to nearby acreage.
Charles wanted the families financially integrated.
I had repeatedly refused deeper partnership deals because I did not want business and marriage mixed.
So Charles searched for another route.
Marriage first.
Negotiation second.
Remove Emily from daily influence.
Then pressure me toward consolidation.
Rebecca claimed she originally rejected the academy idea.
I did not believe that excused anything.
She still carried it out.
She still wrote the notes.
She still lied.
But her cooperation produced evidence.
Emails Charles thought she had deleted.
One was especially disturbing.
Charles wrote.
Once the vows are complete, Daniel will protect the marriage publicly.
Use the first thirty days.
Rebecca replied.
And Emily?
Charles answered.
She needs to be physically absent during restructuring discussions.
There it was.
Not emotionally supported.
Not educated.
Absent.
Rebecca told investigators she began feeling uneasy only when Charles suggested extending Emily’s first term from twelve weeks to a full academic year.
She said that felt extreme.
I laughed when Allison told me.
Twelve weeks of secret separation had apparently been acceptable.
A year was where Rebecca discovered morality.
Then Allison showed me another document.
A draft family governance agreement.
I had never seen it.
Under proposed household authority, Rebecca would receive decision-making power regarding educational placements of minor children.
Minor children.
Plural.
We had no children together.
Yet.
Another section discussed future heirs.
My daughter’s existence was treated as a previous-family complication.
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Rebecca had been preparing not just to marry me.
She had been preparing to replace Emily’s place in my life.
