Chapter 6: What Grace Already Had
Grace Holloway's office was on the fourth floor of a building that smelled like old carpet and good coffee.
Her desk was buried under files, but her eyes were sharp and she listened without interrupting, which Emma had always considered the most important quality in a lawyer.
Emma told her everything.
The driveway.
The folder.
The competency challenge.
The DNA filing.
The hold at the school.
The journalist.
Grace didn't write anything down.
She just listened.
When Emma finished, Grace said, "How long have you had the legal folder?"
"Three years.
Daniel gave it to me the week after Olivia was born."
"And you've kept it where?"
"A safety deposit box.
Not at the mansion.
Not at Daniel's bank.
Mine."
Grace nodded slowly.
"Smart."
"I didn't know I'd need it.
I just knew I might."
"Did Daniel know where you kept it?"
"No."
"Does Margaret know it exists?"
"She does now."
Grace leaned back.
"The competency challenge is noise.
Daniel is lucid, employed, and has no documented history of mental health treatment.
Harwell can file whatever assessment he wants — we counter with two independent evaluations and it collapses.
That's not the real threat."
"The DNA challenge," Emma said.
"Yes." Grace folded her hands.
"If Margaret can cast legal doubt on Olivia's parentage — even temporarily — she can freeze the transfers and petition for administrative control of the estate assets during the dispute.
She doesn't need to win the DNA case.
She only needs to stall long enough to move things."
"Move things where?"
"Into structures that are harder to unwind.
New trusts.
Offshore accounts.
Transfers to entities she controls." Grace paused.
"Has Daniel given her any access to the estate accounts in the last three weeks?"
Emma thought about the junior associate.
The wrong message.
The three weeks Daniel had mentioned.
"I don't know," she said.
"But I think she's had three weeks of preparation we didn't know about."
"Then we need to freeze the accounts before she does." Grace was already reaching for her phone.
"I'm calling the estate court directly.
Emergency injunction to preserve all assets in Olivia's name pending resolution of any challenge.
Filed today.
Before end of business."
"Can you do that today?"
"I already drafted the motion six months ago." Grace looked up.
"You called me when Olivia was born, Emma.
You told me about the folder.
You told me about Margaret.
I told you then — if it ever goes wrong, call me first." She set her phone down.
"You called me first."
Emma sat very still.
"You prepared for this," Emma said.
"You asked me to." Grace opened a drawer and pulled out a manila folder, thick with paper.
"I've also been tracking Margaret Ashworth's financial activity for the past two years.
Not illegally — public filings, corporate registrations, property transfers.
She's been quietly moving assets out of the main estate since Daniel's father died." She slid the folder across the desk.
"She didn't start doing this because of Olivia.
She started doing this because she planned to control everything after her husband was gone.
Olivia just became the obstacle."
Emma opened the folder.
The first page was a list of property transfers.
Dates.
Amounts.
Names of shell companies.
"This is evidence of fraud," Emma said.
"It's evidence of intent.
Whether it rises to fraud depends on what the court finds when they look at the original estate documents from when Daniel's father died." Grace paused.
"Which is why I also have a request in with the probate court to unseal those records."
Emma looked up.
"When did you file that?"
"This morning.
Before you called." Grace's expression didn't change.
"I saw the hold filed at St.
Catherine's through the court system at 7:54 a.m.
I knew it had started."
Emma closed the folder.
"What do you need from me?" she asked.
"Daniel's cooperation.
Full access to his financial records.
And one more thing." Grace looked at her steadily.
"The name of the junior associate in his lawyer's office.
The one who left the message."
Emma pulled out her phone.
"I'll get it."
"Good." Grace stood.
"Because if Margaret has a source inside his legal team, we need to know exactly what she knows.
And what she thinks she's about to do." She walked to the door.
"Go get your daughter from school at three o'clock.
Act normal.
Don't let Margaret see you move."
"And Daniel?"
Grace paused.
"That depends on whether he's with you or not.
Is he?"
Emma thought about him standing in the kitchen.
Hands under the water.
Not looking at Olivia.
Then she thought about him in the car.
Calling the gate.
Starting the engine.
"I think so," she said.
"I think he's trying to be."
"Trying isn't enough for what's coming," Grace said.
May you like
"He needs to decide.
Today."
