Chapter 7 - The Nursery Theft
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Before Garrett could attempt another pathetic excuse, the hotel manager approached my father with a second security tablet.
“Mr. Vance, I believe you need to see this,” the manager said gravely. “This occurred an hour before the christening began.”
The tablet showed a crystal-clear security recording of the hallway outside the hotel's private nursery suite, where Theo had been napping with his nanny.
The video clearly showed Margaret Lawson looking both ways down the corridor before slipping into the nursery. Two minutes later, she emerged holding a thick, sealed manila envelope. She quickly shoved it inside her oversized handbag.
“Hotel security recovered the envelope from her suite before she could leave the premises,” the manager explained, handing the physical envelope to my father.
My father opened it with a silver letter opener.
Inside were highly complex legal documents authorizing a complete, permanent transfer of all of Theo’s Vance Global trust shares into a new, unregulated holding company.
The papers contained my forged signature.
They also contained Ruth’s.
I looked at Ruth, who was still resting on the stretcher, receiving preliminary first aid from the paramedics before transport. She was watching the drama unfold with wide eyes. I walked over and held the documents down so she could see them.
Ruth looked at the complex legal jargon and the fake signatures.
Her expression instantly changed. It wasn't confusion. It was profound, terrifying recognition.
“They tried this once before,” Ruth whispered, her voice trembling with sudden fear.
I moved closer, gripping the metal rail of the stretcher.
“What do you mean, Mom?”
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Ruth looked up, her gaze bypassing me and locking directly onto Margaret Lawson, who was now surrounded by hotel security.
“Twenty-five years ago,” Ruth said, her voice carrying an eerie clarity through the hushed ballroom. “She used this exact same legal scheme to try and steal your biological mother’s inheritance.”
