Chapter 7 - Blood Is Not Loyalty
Rebecca Rowan arrived at Elias’s office wearing a red coat and righteous anger.
She was four years older than me.
We had grown up together.
Shared summers.
Funerals.
Weddings.
Secrets.
After my father died, Rebecca became the family member I trusted most.
Now her name sat at the bottom of a shell-company document connected to millions of dollars leaving Mercer Healthcare.
She looked at me.
“This is insane.”
Naomi remained across the table.
“Then explain it.”
“I’ve never heard of the company.”
“You’re listed as beneficial owner.”
“It’s forged.”
Elias studied her.
“Rebecca, we can determine that.”
“Then do it.”
I wanted to believe her.
God, I wanted to.
“Did you ever work with Victoria?”
Rebecca stared at me.
“No.”
“Grant?”
“No.”
“Dr. Lyle?”
“No.”
Naomi slid another page forward.
“A wire transfer was made from the Nevada entity to a brokerage account linked to you.”
Rebecca stopped breathing.
Not literally.
But everything about her became still.
Elias’s face aged ten years.
“How much?” he asked.
Naomi answered.
“Six hundred thousand dollars.”
Rebecca looked at me.
“It wasn’t what you think.”
And there it was.
The sentence guilty people always seem to find.
“What was it?”
She looked toward Elias.
Then back at me.
“My mother was sick.”
I waited.
“The treatment wasn’t covered.”
“You could have asked me.”
“I didn’t want charity.”
“So you accepted money from Victoria?”
Rebecca closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
My throat tightened.
“How long?”
“Four years.”
“How much?”
She did not answer.
Naomi did.
“Approximately $2.3 million.”
I stared at my cousin.
“What did she buy?”
Rebecca cried silently.
“Information.”
“What information?”
“Trust schedules.”
Elias shot to his feet.
“You gave Mercer confidential trust information?”
“Not everything.”
“What did you give them?”
“Distribution timing.”
“Rebecca.”
“Collateral triggers.”
Elias gripped the table.
“What else?”
“Claire’s emergency protocols.”
The room went silent.
I felt numb.
“The red ledger?”
“No.”
“Did Grant know about it?”
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Victoria kept asking.”
I leaned back.
Victoria had been hunting for the emergency mechanism.
She had known one existed.
She just had not known how to trigger or stop it.
“What else?”
Rebecca wiped her face.
“Medical incapacity provisions.”
Naomi’s expression changed.
“What provisions?”
Elias answered.
“If Claire is legally declared incapacitated for a sustained period, certain trust administration rights shift temporarily.”
“To whom?”
He looked at Rebecca.
“To the secondary family trustee.”
My eyes stayed on my cousin.
“Rebecca.”
She shook her head.
“I swear I never planned anything.”
“You sold them the map.”
“I didn’t know what they were going to do.”
“You told them how to remove me.”
“I didn’t know.”
“You told them what would happen if doctors said I was unstable.”
“I needed the money.”
I stood too quickly.
Pain cut through my abdomen.
Elias moved toward me.
I waved him away.
“My father trusted you.”
Rebecca started crying harder.
“Claire—”
“My father trusted you.”
I left the room.
That betrayal broke something different from Grant’s.
Grant had become a stranger slowly.
Rebecca had been family until the second she wasn’t.
Naomi followed me into the hallway.
“We can use her.”
I stared at the elevator doors.
“I know.”
“If she cooperates, she can establish Victoria’s intent.”
“I know.”
“She may also know what they planned.”
I closed my eyes.
“Offer her protection.”
Naomi nodded.
“And Claire?”
“Yes?”
“There’s one more thing.”
I turned.
“We recovered an email Victoria sent Rebecca seven months ago.”
“What did it say?”
Naomi handed me her phone.
Subject: CONTINGENCY.
The message was short.
If Claire becomes medically incapable of managing the trust, how quickly can control move?
Rebecca had replied.
Under the right physician certification, seventy-two hours.
May you like
Victoria answered three minutes later.
Then we need the right physician.
