Chapter 8: Lauren Comes Back
She didn't leave a voicemail.
She called again twenty minutes later, while Grace and Marcus were working through the formal statement.
I stepped into the hallway.
"What do you want, Lauren?"
"I want to talk." Her voice had changed again.
Not smooth.
Not cold.
Something closer to careful.
"I think we got off on the wrong foot this morning."
"You threatened to accuse me of taking Sophie without your consent."
"I was upset.
I said things I shouldn't have." A pause.
"Rachel, I need you to listen to me.
Kyle is — he's not a good person.
I know that now.
I've been trying to get away from him for months.
He's the one who moved the money.
He forged your name.
I didn't know what he was doing until it was already done."
I leaned against the hallway wall.
"Lauren."
"I'm serious.
I was scared of him.
I still am.
That's why we left.
I was trying to get Sophie somewhere safe — somewhere he wouldn't look — and I knew you'd take care of her."
"You told Sophie to say I took the money if anyone asked."
Silence.
"Lauren.
Sophie told me herself.
She's eight years old and you gave her a script."
"I was panicking—"
"You were planning.
There's a difference." I kept my voice low and even.
"There's a petition on record from fourteen months ago to remove me as successor trustee and replace me with Kyle.
You filed it.
It has your signature."
Nothing.
"There are three forged transfer documents, not one.
The handwriting has been analyzed.
And there is a man in Grace Tillman's office right now who has documentation of you running the same scheme six years ago."
When Lauren spoke again, the careful voice was gone.
"You have no idea what you're doing," she said.
"You think you're protecting Sophie?
You're going to destroy this family.
You're going to put her mother in prison and leave her with nothing."
"She already has nothing, Lauren.
You took $164,000 of what her father left her."
"I gave her everything.
I raised her alone for three years—"
"And spent her trust fund doing it."
"You don't know what it costs to raise a child—"
"Then you should have asked for help.
You should have called me.
You should have done anything except forge my name on a transfer document and leave your daughter on my doorstep with instructions to lie for you."
Lauren's breathing was audible now.
"If you go forward with this," she said, "I will tell the court you manipulated Sophie.
That you coached her.
That you've always wanted to take her from me."
"Tell them." My voice was steady.
I was surprised by how steady it was.
"Tell them in front of the judge who is reviewing the emergency guardianship petition I filed this morning.
Tell them in front of the probate court investigator who will be assigned to the trust account by end of week.
Tell them in front of Marcus Hale, who is giving a formal statement right now."
A long silence.
"Who told you about Marcus?"
"It doesn't matter."
"Rachel—" Her voice cracked.
Just slightly.
"I made mistakes.
I know that.
But she's my daughter.
You can't take my daughter."
"I'm not taking her.
I'm making sure she's safe while the courts sort out what you did." I straightened up from the wall.
"If you want to be part of her life going forward, that is a conversation for later, with attorneys and a judge.
But Lauren — do not call me again today.
Talk to a lawyer."
I hung up.
Grace was standing in the doorway of the conference room.
She had heard enough.
"She's going to fight it," I said.
May you like
"Yes," Grace said.
"Let her."
