Chapter 4 - Mother and Son's Secret Pact
Within twelve hours of Audrey’s revelation, Julian met his mother in a private booth at an upscale steakhouse in Boston.
“She’s pregnant, Mother,” Julian said, sliding an audio recording of Audrey’s confession across the table. “The entire Bellamy Trust will flow directly through the child. We don't just get a commercial settlement—we get the whole foundation.”
Lenora’s eyes gleamed with cold ambition. “Are you certain she’s telling the truth? Richard Bellamy’s daughter is sharper than you think.”
“She’s terrified of being a single mother,” Julian sneered, sipping his wine. “She saw what happened to her own mother when she was abandoned. Audrey is desperate to give this child a complete family. She’ll agree to whatever terms I put on the table before the registry wedding.”
“Then we strike now,” Lenora whispered, pulling a set of drafted legal amendments from her purse. “Richard is hospitalized at Mount Sinai with cardiac complications. If we push through a comprehensive prenuptial restructuring before the baby is born—granting you co-trustee rights over the maritime accounts—we can liquidate the overseas assets before Richard’s executors realize what happened.”
Julian smiled smugly. “And what about the maid incident at the pool?”
“A minor inconvenience,” Lenora dismissed with a wave of her manicured hand. “Let her think she won that round. When the money clears into our offshore accounts, she can spend the rest of her life crying about it.”
Unbeknownst to them, the young woman seated at the adjoining booth wearing dark sunglasses and a wide-brimmed hat was Clara, Audrey’s private forensic investigator. The tiny directional microphone hidden inside Clara’s leather purse captured every word, transmitting the audio directly to Attorney Douglas Vance’s server in real time.
Audrey sat in Douglas’s office listening to the recording through her headphones. Every word Julian uttered was a nail in his own coffin.
May you like
“They want co-trustee control over the maritime accounts,” Douglas observed, adjusting his glasses. “They are planning to execute the paperwork at the private signing this Friday.”
“Let them bring the documents,” Audrey replied, her eyes cold as steel. “And prepare our counter-draft.”
