Chapter 4 - The Blackout Was Not Accidental
The fire became the only light in the lodge.
Downstairs, relatives shouted.
A child screamed.
Daniel immediately lifted Lily.
“Stay with me.”
Vanessa entered with her phone flashlight.
“Generator should start.”
It did not.
Daniel looked at her.
“Who can disable it?”
“Margaret. The property manager. Maybe staff.”
“Convenient.”
He picked up the guardianship documents and stuffed them inside his
jacket.
Margaret stood in the hallway.
“Everyone downstairs.”
Daniel ignored her.
“I’m leaving.”
“The roads are closed.”
“I’ll decide what risk I take.”
“With Lily?”
“Yes.”
Margaret smiled thinly.
“And that is exactly the sort of reckless decision those papers
describe.”
Daniel stopped.
There it was.
The trap.
If he drove into a blizzard with Lily, Margaret would call it proof of
instability.
If he stayed, he remained isolated inside her house.
Daniel looked at Lily.
“We’re staying in this room until the weather clears.”
Margaret’s expression tightened.
“Dinner is downstairs.”
“My daughter isn’t eating another thing prepared under your
supervision.”
Margaret walked away.
Vanessa remained.
Daniel closed the door.
“Why does Lily own something?”
Vanessa shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
“Wrong answer.”
“I swear.”
“Then why guardianship?”
Vanessa sat on the edge of a chair.
“My mother said you were about to lose the company.”
“And you believed her.”
“She showed me financial statements.”
“Did you verify them?”
“No.”
“Did you ask me?”
“You’ve been working constantly.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“So you prepared to take my child.”
“I thought temporary guardianship would protect her if creditors came
after you.”
“Creditors don’t take children.”
“I know that now.”
Daniel stared.
“How?”
“Peter called me this morning.”
“What did he say?”
“That the financial statements Margaret showed me were fake.”
Daniel’s anger shifted.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Vanessa looked toward the hallway.
“Because after Peter called, my mother showed me something else.”
“What?”
“A copy of Rachel’s will.”
Daniel froze.
Rachel’s estate had been simple. Their house, savings, and life
insurance had gone to Daniel, with a trust for Lily.
“What about it?”
“There’s a codicil.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“I handled probate.”
“It was sealed separately.”
Daniel stared.
“What does it say?”
Vanessa whispered, “Rachel left Lily forty-nine percent of something
called Alpine Meridian Holdings.”
Daniel had never heard the name.
“How much is it worth?”
“My mother claims hundreds of millions.”
Daniel sat slowly.
Rachel had been a public-school art teacher.
There was no logical reason she would own half of a company worth
hundreds of millions.
“Where did Rachel get it?”
“I don’t know.”
Lily spoke from the bed.
“Mommy’s mountain.”
Both adults turned.
Daniel crouched.
“What did you say?”
“Mommy’s mountain.”
“Where did you hear that?”
“Grandma Margaret.”
Daniel looked at Vanessa.
Lily continued.
“She told Aunt Claire that Mommy’s mountain was finally worth
something.”
Claire was Vanessa’s older sister.
Daniel had seen her downstairs.
“Anything else?”
“She said they only needed my name.”
Daniel felt the pieces beginning to connect.
Guardianship.
A six-year-old beneficiary.
Documents requiring signatures.
A remote lodge.
Then he remembered the lodge’s location.
It sat on thousands of acres Margaret’s late husband had purchased
decades ago.
“Who owns this land?” Daniel asked.
Vanessa frowned.
“My mother.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Check.”
“No internet.”
Daniel looked at the satellite phone.
Dead.
But the phone had downloaded call history.
He opened messages.
One remained cached.
From Claire.
MOM — MINERAL REPORT CONFIRMED. RACHEL’S PARCEL IS THE KEY. WITHOUT LILY
WE CANNOT CLOSE.
Daniel read it twice.
“Mineral report.”
Vanessa looked over his shoulder.
Her face changed.
“My God.”
“What’s beneath this mountain?”
“I don’t know.”
A soft knock came at the door.
Three taps.
Daniel opened it cautiously.
Claire stood outside.
Unlike Margaret, she looked frightened.
“You need to see something.”
Daniel did not move.
“Why should I trust you?”
“You shouldn’t.”
Claire looked toward the staircase.
“But if Margaret finds out I told you, she’ll destroy me too.”
She handed Daniel a flash drive.
“What is this?”
“Everything.”
“Everything about what?”
Claire swallowed.
“Why Rachel died.”
Daniel’s entire body went cold.
Vanessa stood.
“My mother had something to do with Rachel?”
Claire looked at her sister.
“No.”
Daniel exhaled once.
May you like
Then Claire finished.
“But our father did.”
