Chapter 10 - The Perfect Guardian
Isabel read the draft guardianship petition twice.
Then she pushed it across the hotel table like it smelled rotten.
“She was going to take Clara.”
Daniel’s voice came out flat. “Yes.”
“First she makes me crazy. Then what?”
He looked at the next page.
“There’s language questioning my fitness because I was ‘chronically absent due to work obligations.’”
Isabel laughed bitterly. “And who kept sending you on those trips?”
Daniel did not answer.
They both knew.
Victoria had personally pushed him to oversee the merger overseas.
She had called it his father’s legacy.
Maybe it had been geography.
Get Daniel far enough away.
Get Isabel isolated.
Then let paperwork do the rest.
Clara slept in the connecting room with a police officer stationed outside the suite.
Daniel lowered his voice.
“Why Clara? If this was about money, why risk taking her?”
Isabel folded her arms. “Because of the trust.”
“What trust?”
She stared at him.
“Your father changed his will before he died.”
Daniel frowned. “No. Nathan handled probate. Everything went to my mother except company shares already in my name.”
“That’s what Nathan told you.”
Isabel reached into her bag and removed a handwritten note she had carried out of Rosewood.
“I found a reference in the foundation records to the Harper Family Continuity Trust. Your father created it six months before his death.”
Daniel read the note.
“What does Clara have to do with it?”
“The controlling beneficiary becomes the oldest living grandchild when that child turns eighteen. Until then, the parents jointly appoint an independent trustee.”
Daniel stared at her.
“If one parent is dead?”
“The surviving parent controls the appointment.”
“And if both parents are legally unavailable?”
Isabel’s eyes went hard.
“Guardian steps in.”
Daniel stood so fast the chair scraped.
Victoria was not just stealing from a charitable foundation.
She may have been trying to secure control of a hidden family trust through Clara.
His phone rang.
Nora.
“Daniel, I found the trust filing.”
“It exists?”
“Yes. Sealed probate attachment, but we got an emergency order to inspect it.”
“And?”
A long pause.
“Your father didn’t make Victoria a beneficiary.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Who did he name?”
“Clara.”
Isabel stood.
Nora continued.
“And there’s a handwritten codicil attached.”
Daniel’s pulse kicked.
“What does it say?”
“It says if Victoria attempts to interfere with the trust, all of her remaining control rights terminate.”
Daniel looked at Isabel.
May you like
Nora’s voice dropped.
“Your father was afraid of her before he died.”
