Chapter 3 - Evelyn’s Missing Papers
Daniel locked the front door.
Rocky noticed.
“What are you doing?”
“Making sure you don’t leave with anything else.”
“You cannot imprison me in my own home.”
Daniel looked around the wrecked dining room.
“You stopped calling this your house thirty seconds ago.”
Maya had never heard him speak to his father that way.
Neither had Rocky.
Daniel took Maya and Emma into the kitchen, cleaned Maya’s cut, and called a neighbor who was a retired nurse.
Emma refused to let go of Maya’s hand.
When Daniel tried to hug her, she turned her face away.
That hurt him more than Rocky’s insults ever could.
“What happened while I was gone?”
Maya hesitated.
Rocky had spent years telling her Daniel would always choose his father.
Now she had to decide whether she believed it.
“Your dad froze the household card four days ago.”
Daniel stared at her.
“What?”
“He said you authorized it.”
“I didn’t.”
“He dismissed Rosa and Ben.”
“Our housekeeper and driver?”
Maya nodded.
“He told me there was an investigation into money missing from your company.”
Daniel’s expression darkened.
“There is no investigation.”
Maya looked toward Emma.
“He said until you came home, nothing in this house belonged to us.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Rocky had known Daniel was unreachable during portions of his trip.
He had used those days carefully.
Maya continued.
“Yesterday he took Emma’s suitcase and threw half her clothes outside because he said you’d be sending us away.”
Daniel stared at his daughter’s torn shirt.
His face changed.
“That’s why she’s dressed like this?”
Maya nodded.
“I went to Rosa’s apartment this afternoon to borrow clothes and use her phone. I told Rocky Emma was coming with me.”
Emma spoke softly.
“He said I could stay because he made chicken.”
Maya’s eyes filled.
She had believed him.
For forty minutes.
Forty minutes had been enough.
Daniel walked back toward the dining room.
Rocky was beside a cabinet.
Searching.
Daniel grabbed his wrist.
“What are you looking for?”
“My medication.”
“Your medication is upstairs.”
Rocky glared.
Daniel opened the cabinet himself.
Inside was a leather document folder.
Rocky tried to snatch it.
Too late.
Daniel opened it.
His mother’s name was embossed inside.
EVELYN CARTER.
There were copies of property records.
Corporate shares.
A trust summary.
And one page with Emma’s full legal name.
Maya’s stomach dropped.
“What does Emma have to do with Evelyn’s trust?”
Daniel stared at the page.
“I don’t know.”
Rocky finally lost his composure.
“Give me that.”
Daniel looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because your mother made a mistake.”
Daniel turned another page.
Then stopped.
His eyes widened.
“What?”
Maya stepped closer.
Daniel read the first line twice.
Then looked at Emma.
“My mother changed her estate plan two months before she died.”
Rocky said nothing.
Daniel’s voice became quieter.
“And according to this, the beneficiary wasn’t Dad.”
Maya felt the room tighten.
“Who was it?”
Daniel lifted his eyes.
“The first biological grandchild born to me.”
Every person in the room looked at Emma.
Rocky whispered, “That document was revoked.”
May you like
Daniel turned toward him.
“Then why did you steal it?”
