Chapter 10 - THE ENVELOPE FROM A DEAD MAN
Frank Bennett had been the only person in Jason's family who ever apologized to me without adding the word but.
Three weeks before his heart attack, he asked me to meet him at a coffee shop near Northwestern Memorial.
He looked exhausted.
He handed me a sealed envelope.
"If Diane ever turns on Lily the way she turned on Jason and Brooke," he said, "open this."
I thought he was being dramatic.
After he died, I hid the envelope at Nora's apartment and tried to forget it.
Now I broke the seal.
Inside were photocopies of bank statements, a handwritten list of account numbers, and a letter.
Emily,
Diane controls this family by controlling money. She has used Jason's dependency to keep him obedient and Brooke's ambition to keep her loyal. I helped create that system by staying quiet.
The next sentence made my skin prickle.
There is also money that belongs to Lily.
Frank explained that he had established a trust for his future grandchildren years earlier.
After Lily was born, he funded her share with $250,000.
Diane was supposed to serve as temporary trustee until Jason turned thirty-five.
Frank suspected Diane had begun borrowing against family accounts and moving money between trusts to cover losses from a failed real-estate investment.
He included copies of statements showing transfers from an account labeled L.B. MINOR TRUST.
Lily Bennett.
My daughter.
"She stole from Lily?" Nora whispered.
Mara was careful.
"We know Frank suspected misuse. We do not yet know what was lawful, what was repaid, or what is missing."
But the documents gave her enough to request an accounting through the appropriate court process.
The divorce case had just collided with a financial case.
And that changed Diane's behavior immediately.
For two days, she went silent.
No posts.
No messages.
No dramatic statements through Brooke.
Then Diane hired a new attorney, a white-collar litigator instead of a family lawyer.
Mara smiled when she saw the notice.
"That is not the lawyer you hire because someone insulted you at dinner."
A forensic accountant began tracing the trust.
By the end of the week, he found $186,000 missing.
Some transfers went into an investment company controlled by Diane.
Others went to a consulting business registered to Brooke.
One payment, for $34,000, went directly to Jason.
The date was familiar.
I checked my records.
It was the same week Jason told me we could not afford daycare and pressured me to reduce my work hours.
He had taken thirty-four thousand dollars from Lily's trust while telling me to earn less.
That night, Jason finally sent a message without excuses.
I can explain the money.
Mara told him to explain it to his lawyer.
His next message arrived one minute later.
May you like
Mom didn't just move Lily's money. She changed Dad's will.
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