Chapter 5 - THE RECORDING
Samuel Price was eighty-two and lived in Palm Springs.
Daniel arranged a video call the next morning.
The old attorney appeared on-screen wearing thick glasses and a blue sweater.
“I’ve been waiting a long time for one of you to call,” he said.
Jake leaned closer.
“You knew?”
“I suspected.”
“Why didn’t you tell us?”
“I tried.”
Samuel looked ashamed.
“Letters were returned. Phone numbers changed. Your father told me you wanted no contact regarding Walter’s estate.”
Dad had isolated us from the only man who could expose him.
Samuel held up a small external drive.
“Your grandfather became concerned Robert would challenge the trust. So Walter asked me to record a statement.”
Daniel shared the video.
Grandpa appeared on the screen.
Older.
Tired.
But unmistakably Grandpa.
“If Emily is watching this,” he said, “I hope she finally understands that choosing the Army did not mean I stopped believing in her.”
My eyes filled.
Jake looked away.
Then Grandpa’s voice hardened.
“Robert has asked for control of these trusts. I have refused.”
He described Dad asking him for $400,000 to rescue the company.
Grandpa refused that too.
Then he said something nobody expected.
“If Robert uses Emily or Jake’s money without their consent, it is theft. I want that understood.”
Jake whispered, “Jesus.”
Grandpa looked straight into the camera.
“And if Susan helps him, she knows better.”
Mom knew.
Not suspected.
Knew.
A knock sounded at my apartment door.
Three hard hits.
Jake checked through the peephole.
“Madison.”
I opened the door.
She pushed inside wearing designer sunglasses.
“You froze the yacht account?”
“Hello to you too.”
“Do you know how humiliating this is?”
I stared at her.
“You came here because you’re embarrassed?”
“The marina called me!”
Jake laughed once.
“You’re unbelievable.”
Madison ripped off her glasses.
“What is your problem?”
“My problem is Dad stole my inheritance!”
Her face changed.
Just slightly.
Enough.
I caught it.
“You knew.”
“No.”
“You knew.”
“I knew there were family accounts.”
“Did you know the yacht came from mine?”
She looked away.
That was answer enough.
My hands shook.
“You let them buy you a boat with money Grandpa left me?”
“Dad said you didn’t want it!”
“I didn’t know it existed!”
“He said you signed everything!”
“Did that look like my signature?”
Madison said nothing.
Then Jake asked quietly, “What about mine?”
Her eyes flicked toward him.
Jake stepped closer.
“What did they buy you with my money?”
Madison’s face drained.
“Jake…”
“What?”
She backed toward the door.
And suddenly I understood.
“The condo.”
Madison started crying.
The beachfront condo our parents had given her for her twenty-eighth birthday.
Jake stared at her.
“How much?”
She whispered, “Two hundred thousand.”
Jake’s jaw tightened.
Madison wiped her face.
“I swear I didn’t know at first.”
“At first?” I said.
She looked at me.
And I knew the worst part was still coming.
“When did you find out?”
May you like
Madison whispered,
“The night Dad told me why he needed you to lose control of your trust.”
