Chapter 17 - MOM'S REAL PLAN
I refused to meet Patricia.
Harold did instead.
He returned with a document Patricia had hidden for almost a year.
It was an early draft of Mom’s estate amendment.
Fifty-five percent of Mom’s Bellamy shares to me.
Forty-five percent to Vanessa.
Not equal.
I felt sick.
“Why?”
Harold explained.
Mom wanted me to hold the larger voting share because I had worked summers at Bellamy.
I understood the employees.
I understood why our grandfather resisted selling.
Vanessa never cared about the company.
She only cared about what it was worth.
Mom did not consider that evil.
Just different.
Then Mom changed her mind.
Her final trust divided everything equally.
“Why?”
I asked.
Harold smiled sadly.
“Because she did not want money to become proof of which daughter she loved more.”
I looked at the old draft.
Derek must have seen it.
Patricia definitely had.
That document fueled Vanessa’s resentment.
“Did Patricia show Vanessa?”
Harold shook his head.
“We don’t know.”
I asked my sister directly.
She went pale.
“Yes.”
“When?”
“After Mom died.”
Of course.
Patricia had shown Vanessa the abandoned draft while hiding the final explanation.
“She told me Mom only changed it because you pressured her.”
“I never knew it existed.”
“I know that now.”
Vanessa looked devastated.
“Derek said the same thing.”
“He told me you manipulated everyone.”
“He told me taking control of your vote was only correcting what Mom secretly wanted.”
There it was.
The emotional engine of the entire conspiracy.
Patricia gave Vanessa a wound.
Derek turned it into permission.
Neither forced Vanessa to help.
But both knew exactly which lie would make her willing.
The final Bellamy trust review occurred six weeks later.
The buyer withdrew.
Too much scandal.
Too many investigations.
Patricia resigned before the board could remove her.
Harold became temporary trustee.
Then he asked Vanessa and me what we wanted.
For the first time, we had to decide without Mom.
Without Derek.
Without Patricia.
Vanessa looked at me.
“I don’t want to sell.”
I was surprised.
“Why?”
“Because Derek wanted it.”
“That’s not a reason.”
She nodded.
“I know.”
Then she said something better.
“I want to learn what we actually own before deciding what it’s worth.”
That sounded like the beginning of adulthood.
But before we could move forward, Marissa called.
Derek’s attorney had discovered that one of the prosecution’s most important pieces of evidence might be excluded.
Aaron’s original memory card.
May you like
The defense claimed it had been altered.
And if they succeeded, the case could become much harder.
