Chapter 6 - THE WOMAN WHO STOLE MY FATHER'S TRUST
Margaret Ellis had visited our home every Christmas for nearly a decade.
She brought homemade cookies.
Remembered my birthday.
And once held my hand at the hospital while doctors explained that my father might never walk without assistance again.
Now I knew she'd been married to the man who helped steal our company.
I stared at the photograph.
"She watched us lose everything."
Roman's jaw tightened.
"Yes."
"She watched my father suffer."
He said nothing.
I looked at him.
"Do you understand how cruel that is?"
His voice softened.
"I do."
I wanted to throw the folder across the room.
Instead, I gripped it tighter.
Because this was evidence.
And after three years of helplessness, I finally had something more useful than anger.
Roman arranged for an independent attorney, Katherine Brooks, to meet us the next morning.
Katherine was a former federal prosecutor who specialized in financial fraud and corporate recovery.
She wore a gray suit, carried a battered leather briefcase, and didn't seem particularly impressed by Roman Costa.
That made me like her immediately.
After reviewing the files, she looked at me.
"Miss Bennett, these documents raise serious concerns about fraud, unauthorized transfers, and possible conspiracy."
"Can we get the company back?"
"Possibly. But I won't promise an outcome before we verify the evidence and examine the foreclosure proceedings."
I nodded.
"What should I do?"
"Preserve everything. Don't contact Preston or Vincent. And don't sign anything they send you."
Roman looked at me.
I rolled my eyes.
"Yes, I understand the importance of not signing things."
Katherine almost smiled.
Then she opened the blue folder again.
"There's something unusual here."
"What?"
"Your father's company held a separate trust interest in the Riverside Medical Center project."
I frowned.
"I remember that project."
"It was never fully transferred during the foreclosure."
My heart pounded.
"What does that mean?"
"It may mean certain assets were improperly included in the takeover."
She examined the ownership records.
"The Riverside development rights could be valuable."
"How valuable?"
Katherine hesitated.
"Potentially tens of millions, depending on current contracts and appraisals."
I stared at her.
For three years, I had worried about paying my father's medication bills.
Now someone was telling me part of his company might still legally belong to him.
But something didn't fit.
"Why would Preston risk so much to acquire Riverside?"
Roman's expression darkened.
"Because the project sits beside a major transportation redevelopment zone."
Katherine nodded.
"Land values have increased dramatically."
I looked at Roman.
"How dramatically?"
He met my eyes.
"The combined development could eventually be worth several hundred million dollars."
I felt sick.
Preston hadn't destroyed my family over a failing construction company.
He'd done it to acquire valuable property before its true value became public.
Katherine turned another page.
Then stopped.
"Wait."
I looked at her.
"What?"
She examined a trust document.
"This names a second beneficiary."
My heart tightened.
"Who?"
Katherine looked up.
"Sloan, did your father ever tell you he had another child?"
I stared.
"No."
She turned the document toward me.
Beneath my name appeared another.
EMILY BENNETT — BENEFICIAL INTEREST: FIFTY PERCENT.
I stopped breathing.
The signature was my father's.
May you like
And the date showed the trust had been established six months before his stroke.
According to the document, I had a sister nobody had ever told me about.
