Chapter 12 - Chloe’s Email Address
Chloe stared at my phone.
“That’s mine.”
Rachel turned.
“What?”
“The email.”
Chloe’s voice was barely audible.
“That’s my school email.”
I looked at Rachel.
“You used your eleven-year-old daughter’s account to verify a trust document?”
“No.”
Margaret snapped, “Enough with the accusations.”
I ignored her.
“Chloe, did anyone ask for your password?”
She looked at Rachel.
Rachel’s shoulders tightened.
“Answer Aunt Emily.”
Chloe swallowed.
“Grandma asked me to log in on her computer.”
The room went silent.
Margaret’s face didn’t change.
“When?”
“Last week.”
“What did she ask you to do?”
“She said her email wasn’t working and she needed to send something.”
Margaret scoffed.
“That’s all.”
Chloe shook her head.
“You told me not to read it.”
Rachel turned on Margaret.
“You used Chloe?”
Margaret’s voice sharpened.
“You brought her here.”
“To visit you.”
“And you handed her a device.”
“That doesn’t mean you use her identity on financial documents.”
Margaret stepped toward Rachel.
“Be very careful.”
Rachel laughed bitterly.
“There it is again.”
“What?”
“That voice you use when you want everyone scared.”
Margaret’s expression went flat.
I watched them.
Their alliance was breaking.
But broken alliances could create desperate people.
I opened the trust document again.
The verification trail showed Chloe’s email.
A time stamp.
A device label.
MARGARET-DESKTOP.
I looked toward the study.
That computer was still there.
Rachel saw me thinking.
“No.”
I moved.
She followed.
“Emily, don’t.”
I entered the study.
Margaret came behind us.
I opened the desktop computer.
Password protected.
Chloe spoke from the doorway.
“Grandma’s password is Madison’s birthday.”
Margaret turned on her.
Chloe flinched but did not back down.
I entered the date.
The desktop opened.
Folders covered the screen.
Rachel whispered, “Oh God.”
One folder was named DISTRIBUTION.
Another was named LINEAGE.
Another:
SIGNATURES.
I clicked.
Scanned signatures appeared.
Mine.
Rachel’s.
Margaret’s.
Even Sophie’s handwriting from school worksheets.
I felt sick.
Rachel covered her mouth.
“You knew about this?” I asked.
“No.”
“Your signature is here.”
“I gave Mom copies of paperwork.”
“For what?”
“The trust.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“I thought she needed samples for the administrator.”
I opened another folder.
There were image files of my signatures collected from birthday cards, work forms, a lease copy, and an old family document.
Margaret had been building a library.
She reached for the mouse.
I moved it away.
“Stop.”
“You’re in my computer.”
“You used my identity.”
“You’re assuming.”
I clicked a spreadsheet.
Rows of dates and amounts filled the screen.
Chloe Parker Custodial Fund.
Madison Parker Custodial Fund.
Sophie Parker Custodial Fund.
Each girl had money.
Each account had transfers.
Some were marked R.P. Consulting.
Others went somewhere else.
M.P. Household Management.
I looked at Margaret.
“Is that yours?”
She said nothing.
I scrolled.
The withdrawals from Sophie’s account were only one part.
Money had also left Chloe’s and Madison’s accounts.
Rachel stepped beside me.
Her face went blank.
“What is this?”
Margaret said, “Family expenses.”
Rachel stared at the numbers.
“You took from my girls?”
“You benefited from every dollar spent on that house.”
“That’s not what these totals say.”
I kept scrolling.
Then I found a line highlighted in yellow.
AUDIT REVIEW—AUGUST 22.
Seven days away.
Next to it:
ALL CUSTODIAL BALANCES MUST BE RECONCILED BEFORE REVIEW.
That was the deadline.
That was why everything had accelerated.
The fake DNA.
The guardianship papers.
The school authorization.
The rushed transfer.
They were running out of time.
Then I noticed a file attached to the audit line.
A voice memo.
Rachel whispered, “Don’t open that.”
I looked at her.
“Why?”
She stared at Margaret.
May you like
“Because I know whose voice is on it.”
📖 Hear the recording Rachel recognizes before it even plays—and learn why the approaching trust audit puts all three girls’ money at risk in CHAPTER 13. 👇
