Chapter 5 - MATTHIAS HAD SIGNED SOMETHING HE NEVER READ
Matthias returned to the nursery twenty minutes later.
Police were already searching the estate.
The conservatory gas system had been tampered with, but not enough to cause an explosion.
It was designed to frighten us.
Or move us.
I held the trust paperwork in one hand.
“Who did you tell?”
Matthias looked exhausted.
“Tell what?”
“December twenty-eighth.”
His eyes shifted toward Nathan.
That was enough.
“You knew.”
“Serena—”
“You knew my trust vested.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
He sat down slowly.
“Dad.”
Conrad.
Of course.
Matthias explained that three years earlier Conrad asked him to sign an internal family liquidity agreement. Matthias had barely read it.
That agreement pledged certain future marital assets as collateral for Dre Capital obligations.
Including any portion of my grandmother’s trust that legally became marital property.
Nathan cursed under his breath.
I felt sick.
“You pledged my inheritance?”
“I didn’t understand what Dad included.”
“You didn’t understand because you didn’t bother reading something involving my money.”
“I know.”
“No, Matthias. You know now.”
Then Nathan asked the important question.
“How leveraged is Dre Capital?”
Matthias looked at the floor.
“Bad.”
“How bad?”
“Potentially insolvent.”
The room went silent.
The Hensley acquisition was not a growth deal.
It was a rescue.
Dre Capital needed my trust money to satisfy collateral requirements before year-end.
If my daughter lived, the trust became legally protected for her.
If I died before vesting and she died with me, the money could flow back into the family structure.
My unborn child was standing between Dre Capital and collapse.
I sat because suddenly my legs could not hold me.
Matthias knelt several feet away.
“I didn’t know anyone would hurt you.”
“Did you know they needed the money?”
“Yes.”
The answer hurt more because it was honest.
“How long?”
“Six months.”
“And instead of telling me, you slept with Fiona.”
He closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
I laughed quietly.
It sounded terrible even to me.
Then Fiona entered.
“My father called.”
Everyone turned.
“He wants to meet Serena.”
“No,” Matthias said instantly.
Fiona ignored him.
“He says he sent the envelopes.”
Nathan stepped forward.
“Why?”
“He says he was trying to warn her.”
“Then why all the theatrical garbage?”
“Because he believes the police are compromised.”
Fiona showed us a message.
MIDNIGHT. OLD GREENHOUSE. SERENA ONLY.
Matthias said, “Absolutely not.”
I looked at him.
“You’ve lost voting privileges in my life.”
Then my abdomen tightened.
Hard.
I stopped breathing.
Nathan moved immediately.
“Serena?”
The contraction passed after thirty seconds.
Stress, I told myself.
Braxton Hicks.
Then warmth spread down my legs.
I looked at the floor.
Fluid.
At thirty-two weeks pregnant, my water had just broken.
And Fiona’s phone lit up with another message from Gregory.
HE KNOWS SHE'S IN LABOR.
Nathan stared at the screen.
May you like
The message had arrived less than ten seconds after my water broke.
Someone inside the house was still watching us.
