Chapter 6: The Meeting We Weren't Supposed to Know About
Victor called at the two-hour mark exactly.
"Don't move," he said.
"I'm sending someone I trust.
Her name is Grace Holloway.
She's my attorney, not the family attorney — mine personally.
She'll be there in twenty minutes."
"What happened at the estate?"
A pause.
"Richard brought documents.
A medical assessment — fabricated, I'm certain, but professionally done — claiming Elena showed signs of diminished capacity in her final year.
He's arguing that any arrangements she made during that period, including placing children in informal care, were made without sound judgment and carry no legal weight."
My hand tightened on the phone.
"He's trying to erase her."
"He's trying to erase everything she set in motion.
If he can establish that Elena wasn't of sound mind, Noah's connection to me becomes much harder to prove through her testimony — since she's gone and can't contradict him." Another pause.
"He also brought something else.
A document Elena apparently signed two years before she passed.
A statement saying she had no living children and no dependents."
"That's not true."
"No.
It isn't.
Which means either Elena signed something she didn't fully understand, or the document is forged." His voice was careful and controlled.
"Grace will explain your options when she arrives.
Stay inside."
He ended the call.
I stood in the middle of the basement for a moment.
Then Daniel said, from behind me: "I heard."
I turned around.
He was standing with his arms crossed, his face doing the thing it did when he was frightened and refusing to show it.
"He can't just erase Elena," Daniel said.
"He's trying."
"Can he?"
"Not if we don't let him."
Grace Holloway arrived in nineteen minutes.
She was a small woman in her fifties with short gray hair and the kind of stillness that made you feel like she had already thought of everything you were about to say.
She sat down at the table, looked around at all six children without any visible surprise, and opened her bag.
"Victor told me about the situation," she said.
"I need to ask you some questions, Olivia, and I need honest answers.
Can you do that?"
"Yes."
"Did Elena ever discuss her wishes with you in writing, other than the letter?"
"There were two other notes.
Small ones.
I kept them."
Grace's expression didn't change but something sharpened behind her eyes.
"I need to see them."
I retrieved them from the tin box.
She read both carefully, then photographed them with her phone.
"Did Elena ever mention a document she signed regarding her dependents?
Any paperwork she described to you?"
"No.
She was very clear with me.
She told me the children were her responsibility and she was passing that responsibility to me.
She wouldn't have signed something saying the opposite."
"People sometimes sign things they don't fully read," Grace said.
Not unkindly.
"Especially when they're unwell."
"Elena read everything," I said.
"Even the back of cereal boxes.
She used to quiz us on the nutritional information."
Lucas made a small sound that might have been a laugh.
Grace looked at him.
Then back at me.
"All right." She closed her bag.
"Here is where we are.
Richard is moving quickly because he knows Victor will push back once he has time to organize.
He wants to establish his narrative first — with the family attorney, with the court if necessary, with anyone who might have influence over Victor's decisions."
"What does he actually want?" Daniel asked.
"Like, what's the real thing he wants?"
Grace looked at him.
"The trust," she said simply.
"Victor's estate is structured so that a direct biological heir changes the distribution significantly.
Richard has managed that trust for twelve years.
He has built his life around it."
"So Noah threatens all of that," Daniel said.
"Noah's existence, legally confirmed, yes."
"Then we need to confirm it," Daniel said.
"Fast.
Before Richard can build any more of his story."
Grace studied him for a moment.
"How old are you?"
"Fourteen."
She nodded slowly, like she was filing that information somewhere useful.
"Victor has already requested a paternity test.
Results in seventy-two hours with the expedited process." She stood.
"In the meantime, I need you all to stay here, stay quiet, and not open the door for anyone except me or Victor."
She was almost at the stairs when Lucas spoke.
"The car outside," he said.
"The one that's been watching.
The license plate is on my tablet.
I recorded it last night."
Grace turned around.
Lucas held out the tablet.
She looked at the plate number on the screen.
She looked at Lucas.
She took out her own phone and photographed it.
"Good," she said.
"That's very good."
After she left, the room was quiet for a moment.
Then Mia said, from the sofa: "Are we going to be okay?"
Nobody answered right away.
Noah looked up from his rabbit.
"Olivia always fixes it," he said.
Like it was a simple fact.
Like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
I looked at his small, certain face.
May you like
And I was more frightened than I had been since the night the lights went out.
Because this time, I wasn't sure I could.
