Chapter 11 - The Trust Was Bought Years Ago
Clara refused to believe it for exactly twelve minutes.
Then Detective Ruiz brought in the birth records.
Maya Reynolds had been born under another surname in Connecticut, adopted at six weeks old, and raised by the Reynolds family outside New Haven.
Her original birth certificate was sealed.
But the unsealed court index showed the biological mother’s initials.
E.H.
Evelyn Hart.
The father had never been listed.
Clara sat in a conference room staring at the file.
Maya had been her friend for nine years.
She had helped Clara negotiate her employment contract, stood beside her through wedding planning, and held her hand in the emergency room after the staircase fall.
She had also been in the mansion when Andrew’s bracelet received a signal.
Marcus stood across from Ruiz.
“Where is she?”
Ruiz looked grim.
“Gone.”
Maya had left Sterling Plaza shortly after Julian disappeared.
Her phone was off.
Her apartment had been emptied of electronics.
Clara felt hollow.
“Was she working with Daniel?”
“We don’t know yet.”
Victoria’s claim was not proof of conspiracy.
But then the financial records arrived.
Hartwell Custodial Trust had paid for Maya’s private school tuition, college, and law degree.
After she turned thirty, the trust began sending annual transfers directly into an investment account she controlled.
The most recent payment had arrived four days earlier.
$500,000.
Clara remembered calling Maya four days earlier about Northbridge.
The timing was unbearable.
Marcus sat beside her.
“She may have been paid to watch you.”
“Or protect me.”
He looked at her.
She hated herself for defending Maya.
But she could not erase nine years in one morning.
Ruiz’s phone rang.
She answered, listened, then looked at Clara.
“They found Julian.”
Clara stood so fast the chair fell backward.
He was alive.
He had been left in a storage unit near Newark, wrists bound, dehydrated, and furious.
Two hours later, Clara sat beside his hospital bed.
Julian looked terrible but smiled when he saw her.
“Still dramatic enough for you?”
She slapped his arm lightly, then hugged him.
“Never disappear again.”
“Wasn’t on my schedule.”
Marcus stood at the foot of the bed.
“Who took you?”
Julian’s expression changed.
“Maya.”
Clara’s chest tightened.
“Did you see her?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I found the transfer.”
Julian reached for water.
“I confronted her in the garage. I thought she was protecting Dad. She told me I was wrong.”
“Then why did she abduct you?”
Julian looked at Clara.
“To stop me from telling Daniel what I found.”
The room went still.
Clara frowned. “That makes no sense.”
“It does if she’s not on his side.”
Julian explained.
Maya had known for six years that Daniel was her biological father.
Evelyn told her after becoming seriously ill.
Maya had accepted Hartwell payments, but she claimed she did so to keep Daniel convinced she was loyal.
“She said she’d been collecting evidence,” Julian said.
Marcus looked skeptical.
“So she kidnapped you for your protection?”
“She said Daniel had people watching me. If I left with her willingly, they’d follow.”
Clara stared at him.
“Did you leave willingly?”
“No.”
Julian grimaced.
“She didn’t trust me to play along.”
That sounded enough like Maya to hurt.
“Where is she now?” Clara asked.
Julian shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
He reached beneath the blanket and pulled out a folded piece of paper.
“She slipped this into my pocket before she left.”
It was a photocopy of a check.
Payable to Andrew Bell.
Five hundred thousand dollars.
Signed by Daniel Vance.
Dated two days before Amelia died.
The memo line contained only three words.
Vehicle safety consultation.
Clara’s hands began to shake.
May you like
Julian looked at her.
“I think Mom’s accident was bought.”
