Chapter 4 - THE WILL NO ONE WAS SUPPOSED TO FIND
Howard Manor was worth almost twelve million dollars.
Elena had never cared.
To her, it was simply the enormous house Daniel's parents had purchased decades earlier.
Daniel's father, Arthur Howard, died fourteen months before Elena became pregnant.
The family believed ownership had transferred into a trust controlled by Daniel and Margaret.
Apparently, that wasn't true.
Ruiz delayed Vanessa's removal long enough to document the statement.
Daniel called family attorney Samuel Price.
Samuel arrived forty minutes later.
He looked terrible.
That worried Elena immediately.
“Samuel?”
The attorney removed his glasses.
“Arthur executed a codicil twenty-two days before his death.”
Daniel stared.
“Why didn't you tell us?”
“I didn't draft it.”
“Who did?”
“Rebecca Shaw.”
A probate attorney in Austin.
Samuel placed a certified document on the desk.
Arthur had altered ownership of the mansion.
Margaret retained lifetime residence rights.
Daniel retained partial interest.
But Arthur's controlling share had been placed in trust for Daniel's future children.
Until a child reached adulthood, the trustee was—
Elena Howard.
She stared at the page.
“This makes no sense.”
Samuel nodded.
“Arthur apparently believed it did.”
Daniel read the attached letter.
His father explained that he had watched Elena care for Margaret after surgery, manage household finances during Daniel's prolonged business travel and repeatedly refuse financial gifts.
Arthur trusted her.
More importantly, he worried Daniel's extended family viewed the estate as an entitlement.
He wanted the next generation protected.
If Elena had a child with Daniel, she would control the property trust until that child turned twenty-one.
Vanessa had known.
“How?” Daniel asked.
Ruiz answered:
“That's what we're going to find out.”
Then Margaret whispered:
“Her mother.”
Everyone looked at her.
“Vanessa's mother worked for Rebecca Shaw.”
The room went silent.
Years earlier, Vanessa's mother, Patricia Mercer, had been a legal secretary.
She died the previous year.
Vanessa may have discovered copies among her belongings.
Suddenly the pregnancy mattered differently.
Before Elena became pregnant, the trust had no beneficiary.
Afterward, her unborn child became the future controlling heir.
If Elena's marriage collapsed before the birth, litigation could follow.
If Elena were discredited as unstable or dishonest, she could potentially be challenged as trustee.
And if something happened to her—
Daniel stopped reading.
He couldn't finish the thought.
Ruiz could.
“Who becomes successor trustee?”
Samuel checked.
“Daniel.”
“And after Daniel?”
“Margaret.”
“And if both decline or are incapacitated?”
Samuel's finger moved down.
He froze.
“Arthur's goddaughter.”
Daniel looked up.
Vanessa Mercer.
Everything changed.
Vanessa hadn't merely wanted Daniel.
She had a financial path into Howard Manor.
And she had spent months constructing the circumstances required to reach it.
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But one question remained.
Who was the man on the phone?
