I stared at Elise.
“You hired Caroline.”
“Yes.”
“Six months ago.”
“Yes.”
“To investigate yourself?”
“To investigate Felix.”
That made more sense and less sense simultaneously.
“You told Caroline to locate you.”
“I told her to make it look that way.”
“Why?”
“Because I knew Felix’s family monitored me.”
My anger rose.
“So Caroline lied.”
“She protected me.”
“By lying to me.”
“I didn’t authorize her to tell you.”
I laughed once.
“You’re all very good at deciding what I should know.”
Elise flinched.
Fairly.
“You could have contacted me months ago.”
“I tried.”
“When?”
“Three times.”
“I never received anything.”
“Exactly.”
The word chilled me.
“What did you send?”
“Letters.”
“To my house?”
“One. Two to your office.”
“I saw none of them.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“Because Ingrid mentioned one.”
My mind raced.
Felix collected our mail sometimes.
His mother knew people at my office?
Or perhaps the surveillance around me was broader than I understood.
“What did the letters say?”
“That Felix was lying. That the trust involved your marriage. That I was pregnant.”
“You knew you were pregnant six months ago?”
“No. The first letter was before that.”
“Then why hire Caroline?”
“Because Felix had started pressuring me to sign documents I didn’t understand.”
“What documents?”
“Medical releases. Financial agreements. Confidentiality papers.”
“And Caroline?”
“She found enough to know the trust was bigger than Felix admitted.”
“Why didn’t she tell me you were her client after we met?”
Elise looked ashamed.
“Because I told her not to unless I agreed.”
I opened my door.
“I’m done.”
“Nora.”
“No.”
“I’m telling you now.”
“Only because anonymous texts forced you.”
“That’s true.”
I looked back at her.
“I don’t know whether you’re protecting your baby, yourself, Felix, or me.”
“My baby.”
At least the answer came quickly.
“Then do that.”
I stepped out.
Elise followed awkwardly.
“Nora, please.”
I turned.
“You slept with my husband for eighteen months. You helped his family investigate me before he married me. You agreed to a plan that used my infertility to keep me compliant.”
She lowered her eyes.
“You don’t get to ask me for trust.”
“I know.”
“And Caroline doesn’t either.”
“I know.”
I walked away.
My phone rang before I reached the other side of the parking lot.
Caroline.
I answered.
“You knew she told me.”
“Yes.”
“Did you send the texts?”
“No.”
“Can you prove it?”
“No.”
I almost hung up.
“Nora, Elise’s involvement is why I refused to name my client.”
“You let me think some mysterious third party was trying to save her.”
“I was trying to protect her.”
“You were protecting your contract.”
“That too.”
The admission stopped me.
No excuses.
No heroic language.
Just truth.
“Meet me,” Caroline said.
“No.”
“I have something you need before tomorrow.”
“So send it.”
“I won’t transmit it electronically.”
“Why?”
“Because someone accessed my office server last night.”
I stopped beside my car.
“What did they take?”
“Nothing obvious.”
“Then how do you know?”
“A folder was opened that shouldn’t have been.”
“What folder?”
“Yours.”
Of course.
“Where?”
“Twenty minutes from you. Public place. You choose.”
I gave her the address of a crowded diner.
When Caroline arrived, I was already in a booth near the windows.
She sat opposite me.
No folder this time.
Only a small paper envelope.
“I’m sorry.”
“For which lie?”
“For withholding Elise.”
“Anything else?”
“Yes.”
My chest tightened.
“Go ahead.”
“I knew about Room 214 before yesterday.”
I stared at her.
“You told me you only knew records existed.”
“I knew the room number.”
“Did you know the address?”
“No.”
“How convenient.”
“That part is true.”
“How did you know 214?”
“A former trust employee mentioned it.”
“Who?”
“I still can’t identify him.”
“Why?”
“Because he died.”
That stopped me.
“When?”
“Three months ago.”
“How?”
“Heart attack.”
“Natural?”
“Officially.”
I leaned back.
“Everything in this story comes with the word officially.”
Caroline slid the envelope toward me.
Inside was a photograph of the gray-haired man I had seen at Barrington House.
“Who is he?”
“Martin Voss.”
“Trust employee?”
“Trust administrator.”
“The administrator?”
“Executive administrator for the Blake Family Legacy Trust.”
I studied his face.
“He told someone Sunday remains unchanged.”
“That makes sense.”
“He said Felix didn’t need to know I found the room.”
“That makes less sense.”
“Why?”
“Because Felix is a beneficiary, not a controller.”
I looked up.
“You’re saying Felix isn’t running this.”
“No.”
“Then Ingrid?”
“Influential. Not controlling.”
“Harold?”
“No.”
“Voss?”
Caroline shook her head.
“He administers conditions. He doesn’t create them.”
“Who does?”
“That’s the part everyone keeps avoiding.”
She removed another document.
The Blake trust had been established by Felix’s grandfather.
Amended twenty-four years later.
Then amended again.
The most recent amendment came twelve years ago.
I looked at the signature.
“Who is Margaret Blake?”
“Felix’s grandmother.”
“I thought she died.”
“She did.”
“When?”
“Eight years ago.”
“Then how is she relevant?”
“Because the final amendment gave one person authority to interpret succession disputes.”
“Who?”
Caroline tapped the page.
The name had been redacted.
“Why can’t you uncover it?”
“I did.”
She handed me a second page.
I read the name.
Sabine Blake.
Felix’s sister.
I laughed because the alternative was screaming.
“Sabine controls the trust?”
“Not financially. But she’s the designated succession arbiter.”
“Why her?”
“I don’t know.”
I remembered dinner.
Sabine had looked uncomfortable.
She had told Ingrid maybe tonight wasn’t the right time.
I had interpreted that as guilt.
Maybe it had been authority.
“What power does that give her?”
“If there’s disagreement about whether Felix satisfied the family requirements, Sabine decides whether distribution proceeds.”
“Can she stop it?”
“Yes.”
“Can she protect me?”
“If she wants to.”
There it was.
Another person who could help me.
Another person who might be part of the trap.
“Does Felix know?”
“Absolutely.”
“Does Elise?”
“I don’t think so.”
I thought of the way Sabine had behaved around her brother.
Not submissive.
Not exactly.
Watchful.
“What happens Sunday?”
Caroline folded her hands.
“Based on what I’ve reconstructed, they’ll ask you to sign guardianship consent.”
“Elise showed me.”
“If you agree, the child can enter the household after birth. Felix satisfies the biological-descendant requirement.”
“And the trust pays out.”
“After verification.”
“How much?”
Caroline hesitated.
“Approximately eighty-four million dollars.”
For several seconds, I thought I had misheard.
“How much?”
“Current estimated value.”
I sat back.
Eighty-four million.
Suddenly surveillance made sense.
Private investigators.
Hidden contracts.
Medical files.
Years of manipulation.
People had destroyed families for far less.
“How much does Felix receive?”
“Potentially half.”
“Half?”
“The other portion goes to Sabine.”
I stared at her.
“So she benefits too.”
“Yes.”
“Then she has every reason to approve.”
“Financially.”
“What other reason would matter?”
Caroline gave me a look.
“That is exactly what I’ve been trying to determine.”
My phone vibrated.
A message from Sabine.
Can we talk before tomorrow?
I showed Caroline.
“Coincidence?”
“No.”
I replied.
Where?
Sabine answered within seconds.
Not by phone. Come to my place tonight. Alone.
Caroline shook her head.
“No.”
“I need to know what she knows.”
“Then meet publicly.”
I typed.
Somewhere public.
Sabine responded.
Can’t. They’re watching.
I showed Caroline.
Her face tightened.
“Who are ‘they’?”
“Apparently everyone.”
I met Sabine at nine that evening.
Not at her house.
I refused.
We compromised on the underground parking structure beneath her office building.
Concrete walls.
Bright lights.
Cameras.
Not exactly safe, but less private than she wanted.
Sabine arrived alone.
She looked exhausted.
“You know.”
It wasn’t a question.
“I know enough.”
“How much?”
“Room 214.”
Her face changed.
“Who gave you the key?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s bad.”
“Why?”
“Because only three keys existed.”
“Who had them?”
“Grandmother.”
“She’s dead.”
“Martin Voss.”
“And the third?”
Sabine looked at me.
“Me.”
My pulse accelerated.
“Did you send it?”
“No.”
“Then how did someone get one?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’re the succession arbiter.”
She closed her eyes briefly.
“Caroline found that.”
“Yes.”
“I wondered how long it would take.”
“How long have you known I was selected?”
“From the beginning.”
The answer hurt even though I expected it.
“You sat at my wedding.”
“Yes.”
“You gave a speech.”
“Yes.”
“You called me your sister.”
Her eyes filled.
“I know.”
“No. You don’t get tears before explanations.”
She wiped them away.
“You’re right.”
“Why did Felix marry me?”
“For the trust.”
The words were plain.
No cushioning.
“Did he ever love me?”
Sabine looked away.
“That isn’t something I can answer.”
“You can tell me what he said.”
“At first, no.”
The honesty cut deeper than any lie.
“And later?”
“He did.”
“Enough to stop?”
“No.”
There it was.
Whatever Felix felt, money had remained stronger.
“Why did your grandmother choose you to arbitrate?”
Sabine swallowed.
“Because she didn’t trust my parents.”
“Why not?”
“She knew what the trust had turned them into.”
“Then why create these conditions?”
“She didn’t.”
I stared at her.
“What?”
“My grandfather created most of them.”
“And the amendment?”
“She tried to weaken them.”
“By making you arbiter.”
“Yes.”
“Can you reject the guardianship plan?”
“Yes.”
“Will you?”
Sabine’s silence answered.
I stepped closer.
“Eighty-four million dollars.”
Her face tightened.
“So Caroline told you that too.”
“Can you reject it?”
“Yes.”
“Will you?”
“I don’t know.”
I laughed.
At least everyone was consistent.
“I need my share.”
“Need?”
“You think I don’t know how that sounds.”
“It sounds like forty million dollars.”
“My husband is in debt.”
I hadn’t known Sabine was married.
“He’s been hiding it for years.”
“How much?”
“More than we can pay.”
“So you’re willing to sacrifice me.”
“No.”
“Then reject the plan.”
“It’s not that simple.”
“It is from where I’m standing.”
Sabine looked toward the ramp.
“There’s something else.”
“Of course there is.”
“Elise’s child may not qualify.”
I stared at her.
“She’s Felix’s.”
“I know.”
“Then what?”
“The trust doesn’t only require biological descent.”
“What else?”
Sabine’s voice dropped.
“The child must be born within the recognized marriage household structure.”
“That’s why they need guardianship.”
“Maybe.”
“Maybe?”
“There’s an older interpretation.”
My stomach tightened.
“What interpretation?”
“That the biological mother must also become legally connected to the household.”
I thought of Elise.
“What does that mean?”
“Adoption?”
“No.”
“Marriage?”
Sabine looked at me.
For several seconds, neither of us spoke.
Then I understood.
“They need me gone.”
“If Martin uses the older clause, yes.”
Felix’s unfiled divorce papers.
The dissolution provision.
The plan suddenly shifted again.
“They’re asking me to accept the baby knowing that might not satisfy the trust.”
Sabine nodded.
“Then why?”
“To get your signature first.”
“For what?”
“Acknowledgment that Felix is the father and that you consent to integrating the child into the family.”
“That sounds harmless enough.”
“It isn’t.”
“Why?”
“Because once you sign, they can use it in the divorce.”
I felt cold.
“How?”
“They can argue you accepted Felix’s relationship with Elise.”
“That I forgave the affair.”
“Yes.”
“And then?”
“They file the divorce. Felix marries Elise.”
Sabine’s voice barely carried.
“And the trust pays.”
I looked at her.
“So Sunday isn’t about giving me a baby.”
“No.”
“It’s about getting rid of me without a fight.”
“Yes.”
My phone buzzed.
Felix.
Where are you?
Another message.
I came home early.
Another.
Nora?
Sabine looked at the screen.
“You need to go.”
I slipped the phone away.
“One question.”
“What?”
“Who sent the key?”
“I told you, I don’t know.”
“Then why are you afraid?”
Her face changed.
“Because if it wasn’t me or Voss, there’s only one person who could have had my grandmother’s key after she died.”
“Who?”
Sabine whispered the name.
“Your husband.”
Click here to continue reading: PART 8: Felix Admitted He Had Given Me Access to Room 214, but His Reason Exposed a Secret Plan Even His Family Didn’t Know
At His Family’s Dinner Table, My Husband Said One German Sentence He Never Expected Me to Understand
Part 7 of 35
