Chapter 7
Chapter 7
Thomas left the greenhouse with Rachel's words echoing in his mind and Marisol's warning lodged even deeper.
She already tried to access it.
That evening, he requested every financial record connected to the family trusts.
Not tomorrow.
Not next week.
Immediately.
By midnight, three attorneys, two accountants, and Michael Bennett were seated around a conference table in the estate's library.
Diana arrived twenty minutes late.
She looked irritated rather than concerned.
That changed when she saw the stack of documents.
"What is this?"
Thomas didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he slid Rachel's letter across the table.
Diana's face lost color.
Only briefly.
But everyone saw it.
"Where did you find that?"
"In Rachel's office."
The room fell silent.
Diana stared at the paper as though it had risen from the dead.
"Thomas—"
"No."
His voice was calm.
Far calmer than he felt.
"Tonight you're going to answer every question I ask."
For the next hour, numbers replaced emotions.
Records.
Transfers.
Authorization requests.
Legal filings.
Most of them harmless.
Some questionable.
One impossible to explain.
A request submitted eighteen months earlier seeking access to the secondary trust.
Denied.
Submitted under Diana's authority.
No legitimate reason provided.
Thomas looked across the table.
"Would you like to explain this?"
Diana folded her hands.
For the first time in years, she looked tired.
Not angry.
Not superior.
Simply tired.
"I was trying to protect the family."
Michael Bennett nearly laughed.
"By taking control of money designated for the twins?"
"You don't understand."
"No," Thomas replied. "You don't understand."
The room became still.
Diana looked at her brother.
And finally, after years of control, years of certainty, years of believing she knew what was best—
She broke.
Tears appeared.
Unexpected.
Unwanted.
Real.
"You were never here."
Nobody moved.
"You left Rachel to handle everything."
Thomas flinched.
"You buried yourself in work."
Diana continued.
"The boys grew up without you."
Every sentence landed harder than the last.
"And after Rachel died, someone had to keep this family standing."
Thomas said nothing.
Because part of it was true.
Not all of it.
But enough.
Diana wiped her eyes.
"I wasn't trying to steal from them."
"Then what were you trying to do?"
Her answer came quietly.
"Control what I was afraid of losing."
The confession hung in the air.
Not greed.
Fear.
Fear twisted into control.
Control twisted into entitlement.
And entitlement twisted into something dangerous.
By two o'clock in the morning, Diana signed documents formally relinquishing any future authority over the trusts.
When she finished, she stood.
Looked at Thomas.
May you like
Then walked out without another word.
It was the first time in decades she had no argument left.
