Chapter 30 - THE REAL SECRET

I stared at Arthur.

"You kidnapped my son for paperwork?"

Arthur's expression didn't change.

"Not paperwork."

"What then?"

"The original trust."

"I don't have it."

He smiled.

"That's what your grandfather wanted everyone to believe."

My mother shook her head.

"Emily, listen to him."

I looked at her.

"Mom, what is happening?"

She looked devastated.

"I should have told you years ago."

"Told me what?"

She looked at Noah.

Then at Arthur.

Then back at me.

"Your grandfather wasn't protecting the money."

I frowned.

"Then what was he protecting?"

She whispered:

"You."

I felt the room go silent.

Arthur stepped forward.

"Your grandfather built the trust because he knew what was coming."

"What was coming?"

"A war over the family."

"Between whom?"

Arthur looked at Julian.

"Your ex-husband's family."

Julian froze.

"My family?"

Arthur nodded.

"They didn't marry you because they loved you."

I looked at Julian.

He looked as shocked as I was.

Arthur continued.

"They married into this family because of what your grandfather left behind."

I couldn't speak.

Then my mother said the words that changed everything.

"Julian was never supposed to inherit anything."

I stared at her.

"Then why did they want me?"

She looked at Noah.

"Because Noah was the real heir."

Julian stepped forward.

"What are you saying?"

My mother started crying.

"The trust was never created for Emily."

She pointed at Noah.

"It was created for him."

Noah looked confused.

Arthur slowly opened the second brown box.

Inside was a birth certificate.

A photograph.

And one final document.

Julian took the papers.

His face went white.

I looked at him.

"What does it say?"

He couldn't answer.

I grabbed the document.

At the top was Noah's full name.

But beneath it was a line I had never seen before.

Beneficiary and successor to the Vance Family Trust.

Then I saw the signature.

My grandfather's.

And beside it, another signature.

Julian's.

I looked at my ex-husband.

"You knew?"

Julian shook his head.

"I swear I didn't."

Arthur smiled.

"That's what your grandfather wanted you to believe."

Then the lights went out.

A gunshot exploded somewhere upstairs.

Noah screamed.

And when the emergency lights came on—

Arthur was gone.

So was my mother.

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And the second brown box was lying open on the floor.

Empty.