Chapter 4: The Trust That Was Never Meant to Be Found
Vivian reached for Brielle.
“We’re leaving.”
Brielle stepped away.
“Is there a trust?”
“That is adult business.”
“I’m seventeen, not seven.”
Mr.
Bennett locked the office door and placed the key in his pocket.
“Answer her.”
Vivian laughed once.
“You cannot detain me.”
“You disconnected a call and tried to take Amara’s letter.
You can wait until school security arrives.”
Principal Harris pressed the security button beneath his desk.
Vivian’s smile disappeared.
I laid Elena’s note beside the photograph.
“Did you take me from St.
Anne’s?”
“I protected you.”
“From whom?”
“From two parents who were destroying each other.”
Mr.
Bennett struck his palm against the desk.
“Elena and I had an argument.
That did not give you the right to take our child.”
“You were preparing to leave the country.”
“For a three-day business conference.”
“And Elena had emptied your joint account.”
A voice came from the doorway.
“No, she hadn’t.”
An elderly man entered with the security officer.
Mr.
Bennett stared at him.
“Mr.
Sloan?”
The man placed a leather folder on the desk.
“I was your father’s attorney.
Vivian dismissed me two weeks after Amara vanished.”
Vivian folded her arms.
“You were retired.”
“I was removed because I refused to change a trust.”
He opened the folder and pointed to a clause.
Mr.
Bennett read it, then pushed the document toward me.
“What does it say?” I asked.
Mr.
Sloan adjusted his glasses.
“Your grandfather left thirty-one percent of Bennett Holdings to Daniel’s first biological child.
Control transfers on that child’s eighteenth birthday.”
Brielle sank into a chair.
“Mom told me those shares would come to me.”
Vivian turned on her.
“Do not repeat private conversations.”
“You promised I’d join the board after graduation.”
“That was before this girl appeared with a convenient costume.”
I stood so quickly that my chair scraped the floor.
“My dress is not a costume.
It is the only thing my mother left me.”
“And how fortunate that you wore it today.”
“Vivian,” Mr.
Bennett said, “you sponsored this ceremony.
You knew I would be here.”
“I sponsor academic programs every year.”
Mr.
Sloan tapped the trust.
“This program was selected six weeks ago, immediately after Amara’s name appeared on the award list.”
Principal Harris opened a file on his computer.
“The sponsorship request came from Mrs.
Mercer personally.”
Vivian grabbed her purse.
“You have documents.
I have a court record showing Elena surrendered custody.”
“Show it,” I said.
She pulled out a folded copy and placed it before me.
Elena Bennett’s signature ran across the bottom.
Mr.
Bennett went pale.
“Why have I never seen this?”
“Because Elena gave the child to Ruth Cole and demanded secrecy.”
Ruth Cole had raised me from infancy.
She had always called herself my aunt, though no one could explain how we were related.
“Aunt Ruth said my mother would come back.”
“She lied,” Vivian replied.
“Just as Elena is lying now.”
My throat tightened.
“Did Aunt Ruth know who my father was?”
“She was paid not to ask.”
Brielle rose from her chair.
“Paid by whom?”
Vivian’s silence answered before her mouth did.
Mr.
Sloan lifted the brass key from the desk.
“This number belongs to a private storage facility near St.
Anne’s.”
Vivian moved toward him.
Brielle stepped between them.
“Don’t touch it.”
“Move.”
“No.”
For the first time, Vivian looked at her daughter with open fury.
“You think that girl is your cousin?” she asked.
“If Elena opens that storage box, you may discover she is not Daniel’s daughter at all.”
Mr.
Bennett flinched.
Vivian unlocked the door and turned back to me.
“Ask your mother why she was running from Daniel before you decide which parent deserves your trust.”
The door closed behind her.
Then the office phone rang again.
May you like
Principal Harris answered and held it toward me.
“Amara,” he said softly, “your mother is downstairs.”
