Chapter 16 - The New Will
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I stared at Chloe, feeling a cold chill run down my spine. "How much money are they trying to move?"
"Fourteen million dollars," Chloe whispered, wiping her face with a tissue. "They have an offshore wire transfer set for Monday morning. Mom said once the money clears in the Cayman Islands, she’s leaving the country and taking Dad with her as soon as his house arrest appeal goes through."
"Why are you telling me this, Chloe?" I asked, looking at her intently. "You’ve always taken Mom's side."
Chloe looked up, her eyes filled with profound regret.
"Because I watched the security video again last night, Sarah," she choked out. "The one from Grandpa's foyer. I watched Dad pull you down. I saw the look on his face. He didn't care if you died. He didn't care if Grace died."
She reached across the desk, grasping my hand desperately.
"I was terrified of being left out in the cold like you were," Chloe cried. "So I lied and I complied. But I can't do it anymore. Mom is going to ruin all of us, and she doesn't care who she takes down with her."
I squeezed Chloe's hand gently. "Thank you for coming to me."
Twenty minutes after Chloe left my office, David Miller arrived with a legal courier.
He placed a thick parchment document in front of me, bearing my grandfather’s firm signature and the red wax seal of the probate court.
"What is this, David?" I asked.
"Arthur’s updated Last Will and Testament," David announced solemnly. "Executed this morning from his hospital room."
I scanned the pages. My grandfather had officially disinherited both Richard and Evelyn entirely. He left his entire personal fortune, the family estate, and forty-nine percent of the voting shares in Sterling Enterprises directly to Grace, placed in a protected trust managed exclusively by me until her twenty-first birthday.
"He left everything to Grace," I murmured, overwhelmed with emotion.
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"He knows you will protect it," David said smoothly. "Now, what did Chloe tell you about Monday’s wire transfer?"
I looked up, my eyes narrowing with iron determination. "They want to move fourteen million dollars on Monday? Let's make sure federal agents are waiting when they hit send."
