Chapter 10 - The Grandmother I Forgot to Fear
Victoria Lang had not spoken to Maya in almost two years.
That had been her choice.
After Emily died, Victoria blamed me for everything.
For working too much.
For not forcing Emily to seek treatment earlier.
For remarrying.
Especially for remarrying.
When I married Isabella, Victoria sent one message.
You replaced my daughter before the flowers on her grave had wilted.
It was cruel.
It was also false.
Emily had been gone three years.
Still, I understood grief could distort people.
So I let the message go.
Now Laura Simmons claimed Victoria had paid her.
Ruiz brought Victoria in for questioning.
She arrived wearing a gray wool coat and the same pearl earrings she had worn at Emily’s funeral.
When she saw me, her face hardened.
“You.”
“That’s usually how people address me.”
“Where is Maya?”
“Safe.”
“With you?”
“Yes.”
She almost laughed.
“Then she isn’t safe.”
Ruiz interrupted.
“Mrs. Lang, did you hire Laura Simmons?”
Victoria stared at her.
“No.”
Ruiz placed bank records on the table.
A payment of fifty thousand dollars had moved from a trust controlled by Victoria to Laura’s account.
Victoria looked genuinely confused.
“I never authorized that.”
Rebecca leaned forward.
“Who has access to your trust?”
“My accountant.”
“Name?”
Victoria hesitated.
“Julian Voss.”
The room went silent.
Emily’s family had used Julian for financial management before Emily and I even married.
That was how he had entered my life.
Not through Hart Global.
Through Emily.
I felt cold.
“Julian knew Maya before I hired him.”
Victoria looked at me.
“Of course he did.”
“How well?”
“He handled Emily’s trust.”
Rebecca’s face changed.
“Maya’s fourteen million came from Emily’s estate.”
“Yes.”
“Did Julian structure it?”
Victoria nodded.
“He helped.”
Now the entire conspiracy looked different.
Julian had known the trust from its creation.
He knew every protection.
Every weakness.
Every contingency.
Maybe Isabella had not introduced him to Maya’s money.
Maybe Maya’s money introduced him to Isabella.
Victoria slowly understood what was happening.
“He stole from Emily?”
“We’re investigating.”
Her face collapsed.
“My daughter trusted him.”
“So did I.”
For the first time in years, we were on the same side.
Ruiz requested old records from Emily’s trust.
Within hours, they found irregularities.
Small transfers.
Unusual fees.
Investment losses that had never been properly explained.
Julian had been draining money from Emily’s accounts for more than a decade.
Then Emily discovered something.
Three weeks before her death, she had requested a full independent audit.
Rebecca looked at me.
“How did Emily die?”
The question offended me.
Then frightened me.
“Car accident.”
“When?”
“Five years ago.”
“Was Julian involved with her finances at the time?”
“Yes.”
“What happened in the accident?”
“A truck crossed the median.”
“Driver?”
“Never found.”
I understood what Rebecca was thinking.
“No.”
“Nathan.”
“No.”
Maya had already lost her mother.
I could not allow myself to believe Julian might have caused it.
Then Victoria reached into her handbag.
“I should have given you this years ago.”
She placed an old phone on the table.
“It belonged to Emily.”
“She left it at my house two days before she died.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I hated you.”
I stared at her.
Victoria’s eyes filled.
“And because there was one message on it I never understood.”
She powered it on.
One unsent draft remained.
From Emily.
To me.
May you like
Nathan, if anything happens to me, do not trust Julian.
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