Chapter 9 - THE HEIR
I woke Lily.
She immediately sensed something was wrong.
“What happened?”
I sat across from her.
“Do you know who your biological father is?”
She stared at me.
“No.”
“Have you ever asked?”
“My mother refused to talk about him.”
“Elaine?”
She nodded.
I placed the photograph on the table.
Her hands began shaking.
“Where did you get that?”
“From Richard.”
She stared at the younger man.
“I've seen him.”
“Who is he?”
“My mother used to have a picture of him.”
“Do you know his name?”
She whispered:
“Jonathan Reed.”
The name hit me.
Reed.
One of the wealthiest families in the state.
Jonathan Reed had died twenty years earlier.
But his estate had been valued at more than $30 million.
“Lily…”
She looked at me.
“Your father was Jonathan Reed.”
Her face went blank.
“That can't be.”
I showed her the documents.
She read them.
Then she started crying.
“I don't want it.”
“What?”
“The money.”
“Why?”
“Because that's what they wanted.”
I took her hand.
“They didn't want the money.”
She looked at me.
“They wanted control.”
I explained everything.
The estate.
The trust.
The missing inheritance.
The forged documents.
Elaine had intercepted the inheritance when Lily was a child.
Then she had hidden Lily's identity.
When I married her, Elaine saw an opportunity.
If Lily died without knowing her identity, the estate could remain under Elaine's control.
And if I died too—
the insurance would pay five million.
Lily whispered:
“My mother planned to kill us.”
“Yes.”
She shook her head.
“No.”
“What?”
“There is something else.”
She stood.
She walked to her bag.
Inside was a sealed envelope.
“I found this behind the wall three years ago.”
She handed it to me.
The envelope was addressed to:
LILY REED.
Not Lily Carter.
Inside was a letter.
Jonathan had written it before his death.
It said he had established a trust for his daughter.
But there was a condition.
The trust could only be claimed when Lily turned thirty.
She had turned thirty two years ago.
Which meant—
she had been entitled to the money for two years.
“How much?”
Lily whispered:
“I don't know.”
I turned the page.
The amount was written clearly.
$42,700,000.
I stared.
Forty-two million dollars.
My mother had kept a forty-two-million-dollar inheritance hidden.
For years.
Then my phone rang.
Aaron.
“Daniel.”
“What?”
“The trust has been activated.”
“By whom?”
He paused.
“Someone using Lily's legal identity.”
I looked at my wife.
“Who?”
“Your mother.”
I stood.
“How?”
“She forged Lily's signature.”
I grabbed my jacket.
“We're going home.”
Lily looked at me.
“Why?”
“Because my mother thinks she has forty-two million dollars.”
May you like
I smiled.
“She has no idea what she's actually holding.”
