“There’s something else.”
He pulled out his laptop.
“The payment trail.”
I stared at the screen.
Money had been transferred from an account belonging to Maren.
Then another transfer.
And another.
All leading to a private trust.
The trust had been created six weeks before the birth.
The beneficiary?
Lily.
But the trustee was not Maren.
It was Tessa.
I felt sick.
“Why would Maren create a trust for a child she supposedly lost?”
My investigator looked at me.
“She didn’t.”
He enlarged the document.
“Someone forged her signature.”
I stared at it.
Then I noticed the date.
The trust had been created three days after my parents died.
That was when everything finally clicked.
My parents hadn’t simply left me money.
They had left me an inheritance.
A very large one.
And Maren knew about it.
She had known exactly how much I would receive.
She had known the moment I became vulnerable.
She had known about Lily.
And suddenly, I understood why Tessa had called me.
She hadn’t wanted to hide Lily anymore.
She wanted something from me.
I called her back.
“You knew about my inheritance.”
Silence.
Then Tessa said,
