Chapter 8 - CHLOE'S REAL FATHER
Getting Chloe to talk required something stronger than family loyalty.
It required fear.
Rachel sent her a legal notice challenging every document connected to the trust.
Detective Vega separately requested an interview.
For thirty-six hours, Chloe ignored both.
Then she called me.
“David.”
I almost did not recognize her voice.
She sounded exhausted.
“Where are you?”
“Does it matter?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Mom is missing.”
“I know.”
“Daniel is missing.”
“I know.”
“Do you know where they are?”
“No.”
“Do you know who Daniel is working for?”
Silence.
“Chloe.”
“You need to stop.”
“That is exactly what Mom said.”
“Maybe you should listen.”
“Did you drug Maya?”
She gasped.
“No.”
“Your fingerprints are on the phone.”
“I didn’t drug her.”
“You filmed her.”
Silence.
“You filed a declaration saying she endangered Liam.”
“She did.”
“No.”
“You weren’t there.”
“I saw the video.”
Another silence.
“You were drugging her while you filmed her.”
“I wasn’t.”
“Then who was?”
“I don’t know.”
“Liar.”
“I DIDN’T KNOW.”
Her scream startled me.
Then she began crying.
“I didn’t know what was in the tea.”
My grip tightened.
“So you knew something was happening.”
“Mom said Maya was unstable.”
“Mom says Daniel wasn’t working for her.”
“She’s lying.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Daniel arranged everything.”
There it was.
“Everything?”
“The doctors.”
“What doctors?”
No answer.
“What doctors, Chloe?”
“Forget it.”
“Who is your father?”
The line went completely silent.
I had guessed correctly.
She knew.
“Chloe.”
“Don’t.”
“Is Robert Bennett your father?”
She started breathing faster.
“Don’t do this.”
“Is he?”
“No.”
The word landed quietly.
Almost peacefully.
Then every memory of my childhood rearranged itself.
My father’s distance from Chloe.
My mother’s constant defense of her.
My father’s decision to divide the trust equally anyway.
“Who is?”
I asked.
She whispered:
“Gordon.”
Gordon Pell.
The attorney.
My father’s friend.
The man who notarized my documents.
The man standing behind my mother in Thomas Hart’s photograph.
“How long have you known?”
“Since I was nineteen.”
“Did Dad know?”
“Yes.”
“Why did he leave you half the trust?”
“Because Mom threatened him.”
“With what?”
Chloe laughed bitterly.
“You really think Dad was a good man.”
“I don’t know what Dad was anymore.”
“He moved money for people who should never have had access to American companies.”
“What people?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who told you?”
“Gordon.”
Of course.
“What did Mom threaten Dad with?”
“His records.”
“The double books?”
“Yes.”
My pulse accelerated.
“So the trust was hush money?”
“Partly.”
“Partly?”
“Dad loved me.”
I closed my eyes.
“Maybe he did.”
“He raised me.”
“Yes.”
“He wanted me protected.”
“Then why steal my half?”
“I didn’t.”
“You filed false guardianship paperwork for my son.”
“That wasn’t about the trust.”
“What was it about?”
She started crying again.
“Liam.”
The way she said his name changed everything.
“What about my son?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“Chloe.”
“David, get Maya and Liam out of New York.”
My blood turned cold.
“Why?”
“Because Daniel isn’t missing.”
“What?”
“He’s hiding.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who does he work for?”
“I thought Mom.”
“But?”
“I was wrong.”
“How?”
“Because after you came home early, he called me.”
“What did he say?”
“He said the timeline was ruined.”
“What timeline?”
“I don’t know.”
“Chloe!”
“He said the child had to remain inside the family.”
I stopped breathing.
“What does that mean?”
“I DON’T KNOW.”
She cried openly now.
“I swear to you.”
“Then help me.”
“I can’t.”
“Yes, you can.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because they have Ethan.”
I froze.
Ethan.
Chloe’s six-year-old son.
My nephew.
“What do you mean they have Ethan?”
“He’s with Mark.”
“That’s his father.”
“No.”
Her voice shattered.
“Mark took him two days ago.”
“Why?”
“Daniel told him to.”
I looked at Vega across the room.
She was already moving.
“Where is Mark?”
“I don’t know.”
“Phone?”
“Off.”
“Car?”
“Gone.”
“Why didn’t you call police?”
“Because Daniel sent me a picture.”
“What picture?”
“Ethan sleeping.”
My throat tightened.
“And a message.”
“What did it say?”
Chloe whispered:
TELL YOUR BROTHER THE TRUST ISN’T HIS.
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know.”
“Yes, you do.”
“No.”
“Chloe.”
“I know there is another beneficiary.”
My entire body went still.
“What?”
“Dad changed something before he died.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“Gordon never told me.”
“Ask him.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“He disappeared too.”
Four missing adults.
Eleanor.
Daniel.
Merrick.
Gordon Pell.
And now Mark had taken Ethan.
This was bigger than my mother.
Bigger than Chloe.
Bigger than the trust fraud we thought we understood.
“Where are you?”
I asked.
“No.”
“Chloe.”
“I can’t tell you.”
“I can protect you.”
“You can’t even protect yourself.”
Then she said something that stayed with me long after the call ended.
“David, Dad didn’t create the trust because he was dying.”
“Then why?”
“He created it because Thomas Hart was still alive.”
The line disconnected.
Maya’s father.
The man who discovered the double books.
The man who died shortly afterward.
May you like
And suddenly the trust was no longer just an inheritance.
It was evidence.
