Chapter 2 - The Dead Woman's Signature
Nobody spoke for several seconds.
Julian stared at the signature until the letters stopped looking like a name and started looking like a threat.
AMELIA MERCER.
His first wife had died after a highway collision when Leo was five.
He had buried her himself.
Eleanor folded her arms. “Now do you understand why throwing accusations around is dangerous?”
Julian looked up. “A dead woman signed a document three weeks ago. That doesn’t help you.”
“It proves you don’t know everything happening inside your own family.”
“Take her to the guest wing,” Julian told security. “She stays there until my attorney arrives. No phone. No laptop. No visitors.”
“You can’t detain me.”
“I’m not detaining you. You’re free to leave.” Julian’s eyes hardened. “You just can’t take anything with you.”
That erased her smile.
Maya helped Leo stand.
“Easy,” she whispered.
Julian knelt. “Where does it hurt?”
“My ankle. But I’m okay.”
“No, you’re not.”
Leo’s eyes filled. “You’re not going to send me away, right?”
Julian felt something break inside him.
“Never.”
Leo grabbed his jacket and held on.
As the security officers escorted Eleanor away, she turned once.
“Ask Maya why she was in your private office.”
Julian looked at Maya.
Maya stiffened.
Eleanor smiled again. “Go ahead. Ask her.”
Then she disappeared down the hall.
Julian waited until Leo was with the family doctor before speaking.
“Maya.”
“I can explain.”
“I hope so.”
She put the trust folder on the dining table.
“Three nights ago, I found Leo crying outside your office. Mrs. Mercer had told him he needed to pack.”
“You didn’t call me.”
“I tried. Your assistant said you were in meetings.”
“Call me anyway.”
“I know that now.” Maya looked ashamed. “Leo said he heard Mrs. Mercer talking about a deadline. He said she needed ‘the original before Friday.’”
“So you searched my office?”
“No. I followed her.”
Maya pulled out her phone.
“I recorded part of a conversation.”
She pressed play.
Eleanor’s voice came through the speaker.
“…once Julian’s thirty-day absence is documented, the contingency clause activates.”
A man answered.
“Only if the amendment survives review.”
“It will.”
“And the boy?”
A pause.
Then Eleanor said, “Leo won’t be in the house by then.”
Julian’s blood went cold.
“Who is the man?”
“I don’t know,” Maya said. “But there’s more.”
She opened a photograph.
It showed Eleanor meeting a man beside a black sedan.
Julian knew him instantly.
“Nolan Price.”
Maya frowned. “Who?”
May you like
Julian’s jaw tightened.
“The attorney who wrote Amelia’s original trust.”
