Chapter 6 - THE SECOND PLAN
I did not move.
For several seconds, I thought I had misunderstood Carla.
“What did you say?”
Carla started crying harder.
“I didn’t agree to that part.”
“What part?”
“I didn’t.”
“What part?”
My voice made the officer outside the room glance through the window.
Carla pressed both hands against the table.
“Mom kept saying the baby changed everything.”
“How?”
“She said once you had a child, you would never let anyone else control the family trust.”
I stared at her.
That was true.
My father’s trust had an unusual succession clause.
If I died without children, several voting interests could eventually pass through other branches of the Wentworth family.
If I had a child, the succession line became direct.
My mother’s leverage disappeared almost completely.
Carla continued.
“She wanted Irene stressed.”
I cut her off.
“What exactly did she do?”
“I don’t know everything.”
“Then tell me what you do know.”
Carla admitted Margaret had deliberately interfered with Irene’s life for weeks.
She canceled appointments without telling her.
She hid messages.
She created arguments.
She repeatedly told Irene that I was reconsidering our marriage.
I felt nauseated.
“Did she ever put anything in Irene’s food?”
“No.”
Carla answered immediately.
“Never.”
I believed the speed of that answer.
At least I wanted to.
“What did you mean by making sure she lost the baby?”
“Mom said if Irene became frightened enough, overwhelmed enough, maybe nature would solve the problem.”
I closed my eyes.
It was cruel.
But more importantly, it revealed the entire motive.
The company.
The trust.
The unborn child.
My mother was watching control slip away and had decided Irene was responsible.
I left the room without another word.
Ramirez followed me into the hallway.
“Carla’s statement doesn’t prove intent by itself.”
“I know.”
“We need evidence.”
“Irene has forty-seven files.”
“We’re reviewing them.”
I looked at her.
“Find everything.”
“We will.”
I returned to the hospital shortly before midnight.
Irene was sitting upright, eating soup.
When she saw my expression, she put down the spoon.
“What happened?”
I sat beside her.
“I need to ask you something.”
She waited.
“Did Mom ever tell you the baby was a problem?”
Irene went pale.
That answered my question.
“What did she say?”
“Austin.”
“What did she say?”
Irene looked toward the dark window.
“She said children make men irrational.”
I waited.
“She said your father had made the same mistake.”
“What mistake?”
“Choosing his children over his wife.”
That sentence unlocked a memory I had buried for years.
My father and mother had fought constantly during his final year.
I had always assumed it was about money.
One night, I overheard him say something through the office door.
You will never control this company through me.
I had forgotten it.
Until now.
Irene reached toward me.
“There’s more.”
“What?”
“Your father knew.”
I stared at her.
“Knew what?”
“That Margaret was trying to control Wentworth Holdings.”
“How could you know that?”
“Because three weeks ago, I found a letter.”
“Where?”
“In the false bottom of the safe.”
I felt the room shift around me.
“What letter?”
May you like
Irene’s next words changed the investigation again.
“One your father wrote to you before he died.”
