Chapter 4 - THE DOCUMENT SHE WAS NEVER SUPPOSED TO SEE
The envelope was found inside a courthouse trash bin.
Someone had torn it into six pieces.
Elias reconstructed it on the small table beside Kiora's hospital bed.
Kiora stared at the document.
TRANSFER OF BENEFICIAL AUTHORITY.
Her name appeared at the top.
So did Daniel's.
"What is this?"
"A power transfer."
"I never signed this."
Elias looked at the bottom.
There was a signature.
Kiora Bennett.
She stared at it.
"That's not mine."
"I know."
"Someone forged my signature."
"Yes."
Her hands started trembling.
Then she noticed something else.
A witness signature.
Vanessa Harrow.
Kiora looked up.
"Vanessa witnessed it?"
"Apparently."
"But she knows it's fake."
"Which makes her part of it."
Kiora stared toward the window.
Rain slid down the glass.
"Why would Daniel do this?"
Elias didn't answer.
"Money?"
"Probably."
"But we have money."
"Daniel has debt."
She looked at him.
"What debt?"
"At least forty-three million dollars."
Kiora nearly laughed.
"That's impossible."
"He hid it through shell companies."
"How do you know?"
"Your father started tracking them."
The room suddenly felt smaller.
"Forty-three million?"
"That was eighteen months ago."
Kiora covered her mouth.
Daniel had complained about her buying a four-hundred-dollar crib.
He had criticized her for donating to a women's shelter.
He had lectured her about budgeting.
Meanwhile he had hidden tens of millions in debt.
"Where did it go?"
"That's the question."
Elias gathered the torn document.
"We need the safe-deposit box."
"When?"
"Tonight."
Kiora looked down at her hospital gown.
"I'm not going anywhere."
"I'll arrange access tomorrow morning."
"No."
Elias looked at her.
"Tonight."
"Kiora."
"My husband may have forged my signature and arranged for someone to attack me."
She met his eyes.
"I am not sleeping until I know why."
Two hours later, doctors released her with strict instructions to rest.
Elias drove.
Kiora sat in the passenger seat.
They didn't go home.
They went downtown.
The Harrington family maintained a private vault inside an old bank building.
Elias had kept the key there for six years.
The manager recognized him immediately.
"Mr. Voss."
"We need Box 417."
The man's expression changed.
"Of course."
They descended underground.
Three security doors opened.
The manager left them inside a private viewing room.
Elias placed the box on the table.
Kiora inserted the key.
Her fingers shook.
The lock clicked.
Inside were three items.
A flash drive.
A sealed letter.
And a photograph.
Kiora picked up the photograph first.
It showed Daniel.
He looked younger.
Maybe twenty-six.
He was standing beside a man Kiora recognized.
Her breath caught.
"That's Vanessa's father."
Elias nodded.
Richard Harrow.
The photograph had been taken nearly two years before Kiora met Daniel.
She turned it over.
Her father's handwriting covered the back.
THEY KNEW EACH OTHER BEFORE KIORA.
Kiora sat down.
"No."
Elias opened the letter.
It was addressed to her.
My dearest Kiora.
If you are reading this, then I was right to be afraid.
Kiora's eyes filled with tears.
Elias handed it to her.
She continued reading.
Daniel Bennett did not meet you by accident.
Kiora stopped.
She couldn't breathe.
Elias waited.
She forced herself to continue.
He was introduced into your life deliberately.
I do not yet know whether his original purpose was financial or something worse.
But Richard Harrow is involved.
Trust Elias.
Trust the evidence.
Do not trust anyone who asks you to surrender control of your inheritance.
Especially your husband.
Kiora lowered the letter.
For several seconds, she couldn't speak.
"My entire marriage..."
Elias shook his head.
"Don't decide that yet."
"How can I not?"
"Because we still don't know everything."
She looked at the flash drive.
"Then let's know everything."
Elias connected it to an offline laptop.
A folder appeared.
HARRINGTON INVESTIGATION.
Inside were dozens of files.
Bank transfers.
Photographs.
Emails.
Audio recordings.
Then Kiora noticed one folder.
BABY.
Her hand froze over the trackpad.
"Elias."
He leaned closer.
She opened it.
There was one document inside.
A medical report.
Kiora read the first paragraph.
Her face drained of color.
"This can't be right."
Elias read over her shoulder.
Then he stopped breathing.
The report concerned Daniel Bennett.
It was dated four years earlier.
The conclusion was unmistakable.
Daniel had undergone a medical procedure that made natural conception extraordinarily unlikely.
Kiora stared at her stomach.
Then at Elias.
"No."
She shook her head.
"No."
Because Daniel had told everyone this baby was his miracle.
And suddenly Kiora understood something far more terrifying.
May you like
Daniel hadn't been trying to steal only her inheritance.
He had been preparing to challenge her unborn child's identity.
