Chapter 3 - THE FIRST ACCOUNTBy noon, Julian's lawyers were calling.
By one, his private banker was calling.
By two, three members of the Blackwood board had called Laura.
By three, Julian's phone stopped working.
Not because it was broken.
Because Blackwood Holdings had suspended his corporate credentials.
He stood in the kitchen staring at the dead screen.
“You did this.”
I poured myself coffee.
“No.”
“You had my accounts frozen.”
“The board did.”
“You're on the board.”
“I am.”
His eyes burned.
“You planned everything.”
“Yes.”
That honesty seemed to hurt him more than any lie could have.
He sat down.
For the first time in years, Julian looked like an ordinary man.
No tailored confidence.
No commanding voice.
No entourage.
Just a husband sitting alone at a kitchen table after discovering his wife had quietly dismantled the life he had taken for granted.
Then the front door opened.
Two men entered.
Behind them came Laura Bennett.
Julian stood.
“You can't come into my house.”
Laura removed her gloves.
“It isn't your house.”
She handed him a folder.
“And this is your notice of temporary restriction from Blackwood Holdings.”
Julian looked at me.
“Where is Harrison?”
“With me.”
“Where?”
“I won't tell you.”
His expression became furious.
“He's my son.”
“He's two years old.”
“And I'm his father.”
“You remembered that now?”
He flinched.
Laura stepped between us.
“Julian, don't make this worse.”
He laughed bitterly.
“You all think Elena won.”
I said nothing.
He leaned forward.
“She hasn't.”
Laura looked at him carefully.
“Explain.”
Julian smiled.
“Because I know something she doesn't.”
My stomach tightened.
He reached into his coat.
Pulled out a folded document.
And placed it on the table.
“My father left me a controlling interest.”
I stared at the paper.
Laura picked it up.
Her eyes moved down the page.
Then she looked at me.
“Where did he get this?”
I shook my head.
“I've never seen it.”
Julian smiled.
“For once, Elena, you're the one who doesn't know everything.”
Laura examined the document again.
Then she frowned.
“There's a problem.”
“What?”
She turned it around.
“The date.”
Julian's smile faded.
“This trust amendment was supposedly executed six years ago.”
“Yes.”
“Your father died seven years ago.”
Silence.
Julian's face went blank.
Laura looked at me.
“This document is impossible.”
Julian slowly stood.
“Unless…”
I finished the sentence.
“Unless someone was alive when he supposedly wasn't.”
Nobody moved.
Then the hallway lights flickered.
Once.
Twice.
The front door opened.
A man stepped inside.
Gray-haired.
Tall.
Wearing a dark wool coat covered in snow.
Julian looked at him.
His face drained of color.
I couldn't breathe.
Because I recognized that face.
I had spent seven years believing it belonged to a dead man.
My father looked directly at me.
“Elena.”
His voice broke.
“I am so sorry.”
Julian stumbled backward.
“You're alive.”
My father looked at him.
“Yes.”
May you like
Then he said the words that changed everything.
“And I know exactly what you did to my daughter.”
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