Chapter 5 — The Account Dominic Tried to Hide
Chapter 5 — The Account Dominic Tried to Hide
The message arrived at 2:13 in the morning.
The first forged document wasn't Eleanor's idea.
I read it three times.
Then I handed the phone to Rebecca.
She read it once.
Her expression changed.
"Who sent this?"
"Unknown number."
"Can you trace it?"
"Can you?"
She gave me a look.
"I'll try."
Julian stood beside the window, staring into the dark hospital courtyard.
He hadn't slept.
None of us had.
The discovery that Eleanor had known about my pregnancy before I did had shattered something inside him.
But the message had opened a different door.
If Eleanor wasn't behind the first forgery, then who was?
Rebecca typed rapidly.
"There's no obvious routing information."
"Can we find the number?"
"Not yet."
Julian turned.
"What did it say?"
I handed him the phone.
He read it.
Then looked at Rebecca.
"What account?"
"What?"
"The message said to find an account."
I nodded.
"The account Dominic tried to hide."
Rebecca was silent for a moment.
Then she closed her laptop.
"Then that's where we start."
Dominic arrived at nine in the morning.
He looked exhausted.
His suit was immaculate, but his eyes were red.
He walked into my hospital room carrying another leather folder.
I almost laughed.
"Another one?"
He stopped.
"What?"
"Another folder."
His eyes flicked toward Rebecca.
Then Julian.
"I came to explain."
"No."
Rebecca stood.
"You came because we contacted you."
Dominic's expression tightened.
"I don't appreciate being treated like a criminal."
"Then stop behaving like one."
He looked at me.
"Clara, I know this has been overwhelming."
"You forged my signature."
"I did not."
"You created the documents."
"Under instruction."
"From Eleanor."
"Among others."
That sentence stopped me.
"Others?"
Dominic immediately realized his mistake.
Rebecca stepped closer.
"Who?"
He said nothing.
"Dominic."
Silence.
"Who else gave you instructions?"
He looked at Julian.
"I can't discuss privileged communications."
Rebecca smiled.
"You're not protecting a client anymore."
"I'm still counsel to the Vance family."
"Not if the documents involve fraud."
His jaw tightened.
Julian stepped forward.
"Tell us about the account."
Dominic froze.
"What account?"
"The one you hid."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
Rebecca opened her laptop.
"Vance Holdings account ending in 4417."
Dominic's face went pale.
"That's a private family account."
"Interesting."
Rebecca looked at Julian.
"Because your family told us it didn't exist."
Dominic said nothing.
Julian's voice became cold.
"How much is in it?"
Dominic looked away.
"Dominic."
"Nothing significant."
Rebecca turned the screen toward him.
"Three million eight hundred thousand dollars."
Silence.
Julian stared.
"Three point eight million?"
Dominic swallowed.
"Approximately."
"Where did it come from?"
"Family investments."
"Which ones?"
"Various."
"Name them."
"I can't."
"Why?"
"Confidentiality."
Julian laughed bitterly.
"You're hiding millions from your own family."
Dominic looked at him.
"Your mother knows."
That changed everything.
Rebecca pulled the banking records.
The account had been opened twelve years earlier.
At first, deposits were small.
Twenty thousand.
Forty thousand.
Sixty thousand.
Then, six years ago, the amounts increased.
Hundreds of thousands.
Payments from companies I had never heard of.
Consulting fees.
"Advisory payments."
"Management services."
"Estate restructuring."
But there was one recurring sender.
A company called Northstar Advisory LLC.
Rebecca highlighted it.
"Who owns this?"
Dominic didn't answer.
Julian looked at him.
"Who owns Northstar?"
Silence.
Rebecca searched the corporate registry.
Then stopped.
"Oh."
"What?"
She turned the screen around.
The registered manager was Eleanor Vance.
I felt cold.
"She owns it?"
"Technically."
"Technically?"
"The company is held through a trust."
"Which trust?"
Rebecca searched again.
Her expression hardened.
"The Vance Family Management Trust."
Julian frowned.
"That's the trust my grandfather created."
"Apparently."
He stared at the screen.
"Why would my mother have control?"
"She shouldn't."
Rebecca enlarged the records.
"The trust was amended nine years ago."
"By whom?"
"Dominic."
Everyone looked at him.
He closed his eyes.
"I was following instructions."
"From Eleanor?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because she told me your grandfather had approved the amendment before his death."
Julian stared at him.
"My grandfather died ten years ago."
"I know."
"So you changed the trust nine years ago?"
"Yes."
"One year before he died."
"Yes."
"Did he approve it?"
Dominic hesitated.
"No."
The room went silent.
I looked at Rebecca.
"Then how was it changed?"
"Forgery."
One word.
One devastating answer.
Julian slowly sat down.
"My family has been forging documents for years."
Rebecca nodded.
"Apparently."
I looked at the account.
Three point eight million dollars.
Then I noticed something.
A payment.
Twenty-five thousand dollars.
Sent every month.
To a private medical practice.
Dr. Marcus Hale.
I pointed at the screen.
"That's him."
Rebecca zoomed in.
The psychiatrist.
Julian's face darkened.
"How long?"
Rebecca checked.
"Fourteen months."
"Fourteen?"
"Yes."
Before my pregnancy.
Before the guardianship documents.
Before my daughter was born.
I felt sick.
"Why was Eleanor paying him?"
Dominic looked away.
Rebecca noticed.
"Dominic."
"I don't know."
"You know."
"I handled the payments."
"Then you know."
He remained silent.
Julian grabbed the chair.
"Tell us."
Dominic finally spoke.
"Dr. Hale was hired to provide psychological assessments."
"For whom?"
"Clara."
My stomach dropped.
"Before I was pregnant?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
Dominic swallowed.
"Your family believed you might become a problem."
I stared at him.
"A problem?"
"Because of the trust."
Rebecca opened another document.
The trust agreement.
She highlighted a clause.
In the event that the primary beneficiary's mother is deemed incapable of managing parental responsibility, control of all associated assets may be placed under temporary family management.
I read it twice.
Then looked at Julian.
"So Eleanor doesn't need to take my daughter permanently."
Rebecca shook her head.
"No."
"She only needs to convince someone I'm incapable."
"Exactly."
"And then she gets control of the trust."
"Yes."
I looked at Dominic.
"How long would she control it?"
"Until your daughter reaches eighteen."
My blood ran cold.
Seventeen years.
Twenty-eight million dollars.
Seventeen years of investment control.
Seventeen years of access.
I suddenly understood why they had been so patient.
This wasn't about one hospital visit.
It wasn't about one document.
It wasn't even about my daughter.
It was about seventeen years of control over a fortune.
Julian stood.
"Who else knows?"
Dominic looked at him.
"Your father."
"My father knew?"
"Yes."
"What did he do?"
"He tried to stop it."
"How?"
"He froze several accounts."
"Which accounts?"
"The ones connected to Northstar."
Julian frowned.
"When?"
"Three years ago."
"And what happened?"
"Your father died."
Silence.
I looked at Julian.
He stared at the floor.
Then he whispered:
"My father didn't die naturally."
Everyone went quiet.
Rebecca looked at him.
"What makes you say that?"
"He was investigating my mother."
I turned toward him.
"How do you know?"
"Because he told me."
"When?"
"The week before he died."
"What did he say?"
Julian swallowed.
"He said, 'If anything happens to me, don't trust your mother.'"
My stomach tightened.
"Did he say why?"
"He mentioned money."
"How much?"
"Twenty-eight million."
The room became silent.
The same number.
The same trust.
The same fortune.
Everything was connected.
Rebecca returned to the bank records.
"There's something else."
She pointed to a transaction.
"Three days after your father's death, twenty-five thousand dollars left the hidden account."
"Where did it go?"
"A private security company."
"Why?"
"Let's see."
She opened the payment details.
The recipient was:
Blackwood Protective Services.
I recognized the name.
"What's that?"
Rebecca searched.
"Private security."
"Who hired them?"
She opened the contract.
Her expression changed.
"Eleanor."
Julian stared.
"What were they hired to do?"
Rebecca read the contract.
"Surveillance."
"Of whom?"
She looked at me.
"Clara."
My stomach dropped.
"How long?"
"Six months."
"Starting when?"
"The day after your father's funeral."
I felt a chill.
"They were watching me?"
Rebecca nodded.
"Apparently."
"Why?"
She continued reading.
"Monitor communications. Record behavioral patterns. Document interactions with spouse and family."
Julian's face turned white.
"My mother had my wife followed."
"For six months."
"Why didn't I know?"
"Because the contract specifically instructed the company not to disclose the client."
I looked at the account.
The money.
The surveillance.
The psychiatrist.
The forged signatures.
The guardianship papers.
All paid from one hidden account.
Eleanor's secret account.
The account Dominic had tried to hide.
But there was still one question.
Where had the money come from?
Rebecca traced the earliest deposits.
The first significant payment had occurred twelve years earlier.
Five hundred thousand dollars.
From an offshore holding company.
The name was unfamiliar.
Morrow International.
Rebecca searched the ownership records.
Then went completely still.
"What?"
She looked at me.
"Morrow International is connected to your father's company."
I frowned.
"My father didn't own that company."
"He didn't officially."
"What does that mean?"
"Your father had a hidden partnership."
"With whom?"
Rebecca turned the screen toward Julian.
"The Vance family."
Julian stared.
"What?"
Rebecca continued.
"Your father and Julian's grandfather had a joint investment structure."
"Why?"
"I don't know."
Dominic suddenly stood.
"You need to stop."
Everyone turned toward him.
Rebecca narrowed her eyes.
"Why?"
"Because you're going somewhere you shouldn't."
"What are we going to find?"
Dominic didn't answer.
Julian stepped toward him.
"Tell us."
"No."
"Dominic."
"No."
"Tell me what my father and my grandfather were hiding."
Dominic's voice broke.
"They weren't hiding money."
I stared at him.
"Then what?"
He looked at me.
"They were hiding a person."
The room went silent.
My heart pounded.
"Who?"
Dominic shook his head.
"I can't."
Rebecca's voice became firm.
"You will."
Dominic looked terrified.
"Because if I tell you, someone will come after me."
Julian stepped closer.
"Who?"
Dominic whispered:
"Eleanor isn't the person who started this."
My blood ran cold.
"We already know that."
"No."
He shook his head.
"You don't understand."
He looked directly at me.
"Your mother-in-law is protecting someone."
"Who?"
Dominic's eyes filled with fear.
"The person who controls the hidden account."
Rebecca stared.
"Who?"
Dominic finally whispered:
"Your father."
I couldn't breathe.
"My father is dead."
"I know."
"Then how can he control the account?"
Dominic said nothing.
Julian's face went pale.
Then the hospital room door opened.
A nurse stepped inside.
She was holding a sealed envelope.
"Mrs. Vance?"
"Yes?"
"This was left for you."
"By whom?"
She shook her head.
"He didn't give a name."
I took the envelope.
There was no address.
No return name.
Only four words written across the front.
Your father is alive.
My fingers went numb.
Julian stared at the envelope.
May you like
Rebecca slowly stood.
And somewhere inside that hidden account, three point eight million dollars had just become the least important secret in our family's history.
