Chapter 7 - The Inheritance No One Mentioned
Daniel stared at Vanessa.
“What did you say?”
Vanessa folded her arms.
“You heard me.”
Daniel looked at Emily.
Then back at Vanessa.
“My company is not part of Richard’s estate.”
“Not directly.”
Vanessa reached into her purse.
She removed another document.
Daniel snatched it.
His face changed as he read.
Years earlier, when Ashbourne Holdings collapsed, Daniel had purchased several of the company’s properties through bankruptcy court.
He had believed the acquisitions were clean.
But some were still tied to an old family trust.
A trust created for Richard’s descendants.
If Clara lived, the assets belonged partly to her.
If Clara died, they passed to her biological child.
Emily.
Daniel read the figure again.
“Thirty-one percent?”
Vanessa nodded.
“Voting interest.”
Emily felt sick.
“I don’t want his company.”
Vanessa laughed.
“It doesn’t matter what you want.”
Daniel ignored her.
“Why didn’t my attorneys find this?”
“My father drafted the trust.”
Of course.
Gerald Vale had hidden it.
Daniel looked at Vanessa.
“And you knew?”
“For six months.”
“You planned to let it expire.”
“Yes.”
“Then frame Emily before anyone ran her identity.”
“Yes.”
The honesty was almost worse.
Emily stared at her.
“So the necklace was just the excuse.”
Vanessa shrugged.
“A maid caught stealing from her employer leaves quietly.”
“You slapped me in front of everyone.”
“I needed people to remember the scandal.”
Daniel’s face darkened.
“You were going to destroy her reputation to protect your access to my company.”
Vanessa smiled.
“Our company.”
Daniel stepped back.
The words said more than anything else.
Vanessa had never seen herself as his partner in life.
She had seen herself as his partner in control.
Emily asked, “How long until the trust expires?”
Daniel looked at the clock.
Nine forty-seven p.m.
Vanessa answered.
“Two hours and thirteen minutes.”
Margaret gasped.
Emily’s heart raced.
“What happens if I prove who I am before midnight?”
“You become the beneficiary.”
“And if I don’t?”
Vanessa smiled.
“The claim dissolves forever.”
Daniel immediately called his attorney.
No answer.
He called another.
Then another.
Vanessa watched calmly.
“You really think my father left this to chance?”
Daniel looked at her.
“What did you do?”
“Nothing.”
She smiled.
“But someone else did.”
Suddenly every light in the mansion went out.
The room fell dark.
Margaret screamed.
A second later, the backup generator failed too.
Daniel pulled out his phone.
No signal.
Vanessa whispered from the darkness.
“You should have let Emily leave when I gave you the chance.”
A crash sounded downstairs.
May you like
Then the front door opened.
Someone had entered the mansion.
