Chapter 15 - The Name on the AccountMarcus stared at Lily.
"What did you say?"
She pointed toward the screen.
"My money."
I knelt beside her.
"Lily, sweetheart, what do you mean?"
She shrugged.
"Grandpa told me."
Marcus froze.
"Which grandpa?"
She pointed toward the photograph of Richard.
"That one."
Marcus stood.
"Richard talked to her?"
Lily nodded.
"When?"
"Before."
"Before what?"
"Before he went away."
Marcus looked at me.
"When did she meet him?"
I couldn't answer.
Lily had been three.
She had wandered around the estate.
We had always assumed her stories were imagination.
Now I wasn't sure.
Marcus opened the account records again.
The beneficiary information had been encrypted.
Only one phrase was visible.
CARTER TRUST — ORIGINAL HEIR
Marcus whispered:
"Original heir."
I looked at him.
"What does that mean?"
He didn't answer.
Instead, he called Daniel.
Daniel arrived forty minutes later.
The moment he saw the account, he stopped.
"You found it."
Marcus stared.
"You knew?"
"I suspected."
"How long?"
"Twenty years."
Marcus slammed his hand on the desk.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because your father told me not to."
"He's gone."
Daniel looked at him.
"Are you sure?"
Marcus went silent.
Daniel continued.
"That money isn't Richard's."
"Then whose is it?"
"Your grandfather's."
Marcus frowned.
"My grandfather?"
"Your grandfather created the original trust."
"Why?"
"Because he knew the family would eventually destroy itself."
Daniel opened an old file.
Inside was a birth certificate.
Marcus read it.
Then looked at me.
The beneficiary wasn't Lily.
It was someone named:
Elena Carter.
My mother.
I stared at the document.
"My mother?"
Daniel nodded.
"Your mother was the original heir."
Marcus looked at Lily.
"Then why is the account in her name?"
Daniel's expression darkened.
"Because Elena died."
I felt my chest tighten.
"That's impossible."
May you like
Daniel looked at me.
"Your mother didn't die in an accident."
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