Chapter 3: The Fortune Behind the Lie
“What trust?” I asked.
The senior attorney pulled out a document bearing a faded blue seal.
She placed it before me but kept one hand on the page.
“My name is Helen Ward,” she said.
“I administer the Eleanor Rochester Legacy Trust.
Your mother created it three weeks before you were born.”
“My mother knew something might happen?”
“She feared someone was trying to force her out of the family company,” Helen replied.
“She protected her shares for you.”
Patrick laughed too quickly.
“This is theater,” he said.
“Serena has no idea who these people are.”
I turned toward him.
“But you did.”
“I knew rumors.
That’s all.”
“You searched my sealed records two years before we met.”
Patrick shoved the photograph back across the table.
“A picture of me speaking to someone proves nothing.”
Helen opened the trust deed.
“The trust contains one hundred and eighty million dollars in protected assets and twelve percent of Vanguard Global’s voting shares,” she said.
“It transfers to Serena on her twenty-fifth birthday—or upon the birth of her first child.”
My hand flew to my belly.
Patrick’s eyes followed it.
“You kept asking when the baby was due,” I said.
“You counted the weeks more carefully than I did.”
“I’m the father.
Of course I asked.”
“No.
You told me the pregnancy would secure our future.
You never said you meant your future.”
Chloe stepped backward, knocking her chair against the rail.
“Patrick said the trust required a married trustee,” she whispered.
“He told me Serena had already agreed.”
“You stupid woman,” Patrick hissed.
Judge Lawson struck his gavel.
“You will address this court, not intimidate a witness.”
Patrick straightened his jacket.
“Then let me address the court.
My wife is emotionally overwhelmed, heavily pregnant, and being manipulated by a stranger claiming to be her father.”
Gavin’s cane stopped moving.
“Call her helpless again,” he said, “and see whether she needs me to answer.”
“I can answer for myself.” I pushed myself to my feet.
“Did you marry me for that trust?”
Patrick looked directly at me.
“I married you when you had nothing,” he said.
“If money appeared later, why shouldn’t your husband manage it?”
“That wasn’t my question.”
“It’s the only answer you deserve.”
Helen removed another document.
“This is a family asset management agreement prepared by Patrick’s corporate attorney,” she said.
“It transfers Serena’s trust distributions to a company controlled solely by Patrick.”
“I never signed that,” I said.
“Not yet,” Patrick replied.
The word slipped out before he could stop it.
Judge Lawson leaned forward.
“Not yet?”
Patrick’s attorney grabbed his sleeve.
Patrick pulled away and reached into his briefcase.
“You’re all pretending Serena has no legal voice,” he said.
“Fortunately, she already gave me authority to act for her.”
He dropped a notarized document beside the DNA report.
My name appeared on every page.
The final page carried a signature that looked exactly like mine.
May you like
Patrick smiled again.
“As of six weeks ago,” he said, “I hold Serena’s durable financial and medical power of attorney.”
