Chapter 12 - Forty-Eight Million Dollars
Sarah stared at the number.
$48,216,004.
She laughed.
She couldn’t help it.
Not because anything was funny.
Because she had spent Tuesday choosing between electricity and groceries.
Now a lawyer was telling her she had been worth forty-eight million dollars for seven years.
“This isn’t possible.”
Andrew Bell nodded.
“It is.”
“I would have known.”
“You were supposed to.”
He showed her another document.
A certified letter.
Returned.
Another.
Returned.
Then a waiver containing Sarah’s forged signature.
“I never signed this.”
“We know.”
Julian looked over the paperwork.
“Where did the money go?”
“Into a temporary holding trust controlled by Victoria as executor.”
Sarah looked at him.
“Of course it did.”
Bell continued.
“Ethan’s estate plan gave Sarah the inheritance and voting rights. Leo inherited additional shares in trust.”
“How much control does that give them?” Reyes asked.
Bell answered.
“Together?”
He looked at Sarah.
“Fifty-one percent.”
Julian exhaled.
Victoria hadn’t stolen Leo because she loved him too much.
She had needed him.
As long as Sarah was declared unfit and Victoria controlled Leo’s trust, Victoria controlled Sterling Holdings.
Sarah suddenly understood everything.
The accusations.
The forged documents.
The canceled visits.
The humiliation.
Victoria had not merely hated her.
She had needed Sarah powerless.
Leo stood beside Sarah.
“Mommy?”
She looked down.
“What?”
“Are you rich?”
Several adults almost smiled.
Sarah crouched.
“Apparently.”
Leo thought about that.
“Can we get pancakes?”
Sarah finally laughed for real.
“Yes.”
“Chocolate-chip?”
“Absolutely.”
Julian watched them.
His expression softened.
Then Sarah looked at him.
“You knew the company structure.”
“I knew Ethan created trusts.”
“But not this?”
“No.”
“Can I believe you?”
Julian absorbed the question.
“I don’t know.”
It wasn’t the answer she expected.
He continued.
“You shouldn’t believe me because I ask you to.”
Sarah said nothing.
“Check everything. Ask Reyes. Ask Bell. Hire your own lawyers. Audit Vance Holdings too.”
“You’re telling me to investigate you?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I failed you once by believing somebody without checking.”
His voice lowered.
“You should never make the same mistake with me.”
Sarah studied him.
For once, Julian wasn’t asking for forgiveness.
That mattered.
Bell checked his watch.
“Emergency family hearing is at nine tomorrow morning.”
Sarah looked at Leo.
“Can he stay with me tonight?”
“Child services has agreed to place him temporarily with Elena because Victoria is in custody.”
Sarah’s shoulders dropped.
Not home.
Not yet.
Leo heard everything.
“So Mommy still can’t take me?”
Bell knelt.
“Only one more night.”
Leo’s lower lip trembled.
“I’ve heard that before.”
Sarah closed her eyes.
That sentence nearly destroyed her.
She hugged him.
“This time I’m coming to court.”
“You promise?”
“Yes.”
“You promised before.”
Sarah pulled back.
“I know.”
She touched his face.
“And people stopped me.”
Leo stared at her.
“Can they stop you tomorrow?”
Sarah looked toward the evidence bags.
The ledger.
Ethan’s recording.
The forged signatures.
Victoria’s confession.
Then she looked back at her son.
“They can try.”
At that moment Bell’s phone rang.
He answered.
His expression immediately changed.
“What?”
Everyone watched him.
“When?”
He ended the call.
Sarah stood.
“What happened?”
Bell looked at Julian first.
Then Sarah.
“Victoria’s legal team just filed an emergency motion.”
“For what?”
“To block the recording, the ledger and Ethan’s estate documents from being used in family court.”
Sarah stared at him.
“On what grounds?”
Bell hesitated.
“They’re claiming all of it was stolen.”
Sarah almost smiled.
“So after seven years of calling me a thief…”
Her expression hardened.
May you like
“She’s going to use the same lie one last time.”
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