Chapter 12: The Woman Who Owned Twelve Million Dollars
Rebecca was sitting upright in the ambulance when Daniel showed her the document.
Her face was pale, and a blanket covered her shoulders.
She read the first page.
Then she looked at Daniel.
“Where did you get this?””
“Ray's backup account. The insurance investigator sent another document.””
Rebecca shook her head.
“This can't be right.””
Daniel sat beside her.
“Do you know about the trust?””
Rebecca stared at the paper.
“I knew your grandfather had money. But I never knew he left anything to me.””
Thomas approached slowly.
“Your grandfather changed the trust before he died.””
Rebecca looked up.
“Why?””
Thomas took a breath.
“Because he didn't trust Margaret.””
Rebecca's eyes filled.
“He told me that once.””
Daniel frowned.
“What did he tell you?””
Rebecca looked down at the blanket.
“He said Margaret had been stealing from the family for years. He told me he needed someone he could trust to protect the money.””
Thomas nodded.
“He named Rebecca as the independent trustee.””
Daniel looked at the document again.
“So she controls the inheritance?””
“Not entirely,” Thomas answered.
“She was appointed to manage the trust until Daniel reached thirty-five. Ethan was added as a protected beneficiary.””
Rebecca looked horrified.
“Then why did Margaret try to have Daniel declared dead?””
Thomas answered quietly.
“Because she believed the trust would transfer to Ethan immediately, and she could obtain guardianship.””
Daniel shook his head.
“But if Rebecca was the trustee, Margaret couldn't access the money.””
“Exactly.””
Hank, standing beside the ambulance, finally understood.
“So Margaret needed Rebecca out of the way.””
Rebecca nodded slowly.
“That's why she came to the farmhouse.””
Daniel looked at her.
“What happened that night?””
Rebecca closed her eyes.
“I went to see Thomas. He told me Ray had been asking questions about the trust. He was afraid Margaret was planning something.””
“Then?””
“Ray arrived with Samuel. They had a folder containing a false death certificate. Thomas refused to sign the accompanying documents.””
Thomas looked down.
“They wanted Rebecca to resign as trustee.””
Rebecca continued.
“I told them I wouldn't. That's when Ray attacked Thomas.””
Daniel's jaw tightened.
“What did he do?””
“He hit him with a metal flashlight. Thomas fell. I thought he was dead.””
Thomas closed his eyes.
“Ray dragged me into the cellar. I woke up hours later.””
Rebecca's voice trembled.
“I tried to help him, but Samuel stopped me. He said he would call an ambulance. Instead, he locked me in another room.””
Daniel looked at the doctor.
“Why?””
Rebecca answered.
“Because Samuel had already agreed to help Margaret. He was afraid we'd expose him.””
Thomas shook his head.
“He eventually brought me water. He didn't know what else to do.””
Rebecca looked toward the farmhouse.
“But Ray kept telling him his daughter was in danger. Samuel believed him.””
Daniel leaned forward.
“Where is Samuel's daughter now?””
Officer Bennett, who had been listening, approached.
“We're checking the information he provided. His daughter was reported missing six months ago.””
Samuel was sitting inside a police vehicle nearby.
His head was lowered.
Officer Bennett continued.
“He says Margaret arranged for her to stay at a private rehabilitation facility under a different name.””
Rebecca frowned.
“That's impossible.””
“Why?””
“Because I saw her.””
Everyone turned.
Rebecca looked at Daniel.
“Margaret's daughter.””
Daniel froze.
“What daughter?””
“Margaret had a daughter before she married your father.””
Thomas looked up sharply.
“Rebecca.””
“You never told Daniel?””
Thomas shook his head.
“Because I thought she was dead.””
Rebecca looked at Officer Bennett.
“Her name is Olivia. She's thirty-one. Margaret told everyone she died shortly after birth.””
Daniel stared.
“Are you saying my mother has another child?””
Rebecca nodded.
“And Olivia was the person who discovered the trust documents were being altered.””
Thomas's face went pale.
“Where did you see her?””
“At the farmhouse. Two months ago.””
Rebecca paused.
“She was the woman who helped me escape the cellar.””
Daniel stared at her.
“Then why didn't she come with you?””
Rebecca's eyes filled.
“Because Ray caught her.””
Silence fell around the ambulance.
Officer Bennett immediately turned toward Samuel.
“Dr. Reeves!””
Samuel looked up.
“Did you know about Olivia?””
He hesitated.
Then nodded.
“She's Margaret's biological daughter.””
“Where is she?””
“I don't know.””
Rebecca spoke quickly.
“She has a small scar on her left cheek. She was wearing a red jacket the last time I saw her.””
Officer Bennett relayed the description to dispatch.
Daniel looked toward the police vehicles.
“Why would Margaret hide her own daughter?””
Thomas answered.
“Because Olivia knows the truth about the original trust.””
Rebecca nodded.
“She has the original documents.””
Daniel looked at the email again.
“Then why does this say you're the beneficiary?””
Rebecca took the paper.
Her eyes moved across the page.
Then she stopped.
“Oh, my God.””
“What?””
“This isn't the complete trust agreement.””
Daniel frowned.
“What do you mean?””
Rebecca pointed to a paragraph near the bottom.
It described a secondary beneficiary arrangement.
“If the trustee becomes unable to fulfill her duties, the authority transfers to the appointed successor.””
Thomas looked over her shoulder.
“Who is the successor?””
Rebecca turned the page.
The name was typed clearly.
*OLIVIA REEVES.*
Daniel looked at Samuel.
“Your daughter?””
Samuel nodded slowly.
“Margaret knew about this.””
Rebecca continued reading.
“And there's a final condition.””
Hank leaned closer.
“What condition?””
Rebecca swallowed.
“If both the trustee and successor are unavailable, the entire trust transfers to the person named in the original family will.””
Daniel looked at his father.
“Who is that?””
Thomas's expression changed.
He looked toward the farmhouse.
Then he whispered:
“Your mother.””
Daniel stared.
“But she tried to steal the money.””
Thomas shook his head.
“No. She already owns a portion of it.””
He paused.
“Margaret wasn't trying to steal twelve million dollars. She was trying to prevent the original will from being discovered.””
Rebecca looked at the document.
“There's something else.””
She turned the final page.
The will had been signed fourteen years earlier.
But beneath the signature was a handwritten note.
*The trust must never be released until the Parker family knows what happened to the child born on December 17.*
Daniel looked confused.
“What child?””
Thomas closed his eyes.
Margaret's voice suddenly came from behind them.
“You weren't supposed to read that.””
Everyone turned.
She was standing beside the police vehicle.
Officer Bennett immediately approached her.
“Ma'am, stay where you are.””
Margaret ignored the instruction.
Her eyes were fixed on the document.
“Give it to me.””
Rebecca pulled the paper against her chest.
“No.””
Margaret's face hardened.
“You don't understand what that document means.””
Rebecca stared at her.
“I understand perfectly. You've been lying to everyone for years.””
Margaret took a step forward.
“Daniel, listen to me. Your father made mistakes. Terrible mistakes. But there's a reason I did what I did.””
Daniel stood.
“What child was born on December seventeenth?””
Margaret's lips parted.
Then she looked at Thomas.
He was crying.
“Tell him,” Margaret whispered.
Thomas shook his head.
“It's time.””
Daniel's voice rose.
“Tell me what?””
Thomas finally looked at his son.
“Fourteen years ago, when your mother supposedly died, she didn't leave this family alone.””
He swallowed.
“She had a baby.””
Daniel stared.
“What?””
Thomas nodded.
“And that child wasn't Olivia.””
Rebecca's eyes filled.
Daniel stepped closer.
“Then who was it?””
Thomas looked at him with unbearable sadness.
“Your mother had twins.””
Daniel couldn't breathe.
“One of them was Olivia.””
Thomas nodded.
“And the other child was taken away from the hospital.””
Margaret closed her eyes.
Daniel's voice became a whisper.
“Who was the other child?””
Thomas looked directly at him.
Then he said the words that shattered everything Daniel thought he knew.
“Ethan.””
Daniel felt the ground disappear beneath him.
“No.””
Thomas began crying.
“Ethan isn't your biological son, Daniel.””
Margaret finally spoke.
“He is mine.””
Daniel stared at her.
For fourteen years, he had believed he was Ethan's father.
He had held him at birth.
Changed his diapers.
Taught him to ride a bicycle.
Read him bedtime stories.
And now the woman standing in front of him was claiming that the boy he had spent eight months desperately searching for wasn't his child.
Margaret stepped closer.
“Ethan was born to me. I gave him to you and Linda because I needed him protected.””
Daniel shook his head.
“That's impossible.””
Rebecca looked at the document.
Then she noticed something written beneath the original will.
A final sentence.
One that nobody had read.
*The child must remain with the man who raised him, regardless of biological parentage.*
Rebecca looked up.
“Daniel.””
He turned.
She held out the paper.
“Your grandfather knew.””
Margaret's face went white.
And Thomas whispered:
“He knew Ethan was yours in every way that mattered.””
But Margaret wasn't finished.
She looked directly at Daniel.
“You can keep calling him your son.””
Then she smiled.
May you like
“But legally, I can prove otherwise.””
*And she had one document that could change everything.*
