Chapter 4 - THE TRUST HE NEVER SAW
After Grant and Vanessa were removed, the NICU became quiet again.
The soft rhythm of the monitors returned.
My grandfather sat beside me while the medical team checked the twins.
Noah’s oxygen level had dipped during the confrontation.
Elise’s heart rate remained elevated.
Guilt pressed against my chest.
I should never have allowed Grant into the unit.
Dr. Hannah Pierce, the neonatologist overseeing their care, reassured me.
“They are stabilizing.”
She adjusted Noah’s blanket.
“Premature babies react to changes in their environment, but both twins are responding well.”
My grandfather looked toward her.
“Give them everything they need.”
Dr. Pierce smiled faintly.
“We already are, Chairman Whitmore.”
After the team stepped away, my grandfather opened the legal folder again.
“You knew the papers were unfair,” he said.
“Yes.”
“Then why sign them?”
“Because Grant would have changed his story later.”
I rested my hand against the edge of Elise’s incubator.
“He would have claimed he offered to support us.”
My grandfather nodded slowly.
“You wanted his intentions documented.”
“I wanted him to believe he had won.”
A small smile touched his face.
“You sound like your grandmother.”
That was the greatest compliment he could have given me.
My grandmother had been gentle in public and unbreakable in private.
She had helped build Beacon Crest when it consisted of one struggling community hospital.
My grandfather opened the settlement to the section concerning Halston Medical Supply.
Grant claimed full ownership of the company.
What he did not know was that the company had never truly belonged to either of us.
Seven years earlier, my grandfather created the Elise Foundation Trust in honor of my late mother.
When Grant and I launched the medical supply business, the trust provided ninety percent of the initial funding.
It also retained controlling interest through a holding company.
Grant saw my signature on documents and assumed I was only a passive spouse.
He never read beyond the first page.
“He tried to transfer an asset he does not control,” my grandfather said.
“He believes the shares are in my name.”
“They are held for you.”
He looked toward Noah and Elise.
“And eventually for them.”
The hospital’s general counsel, Miriam Cole, stepped closer.
“We’ve already contacted the trust’s outside attorneys.”
She handed my grandfather a tablet.
“Grant attempted three transfers from company accounts during the past forty-eight hours.”
My stomach tightened.
“How much?”
“Nearly four million dollars.”
My grandfather’s expression hardened.
“To where?”
“One payment went to a private investment company.”
Miriam paused.
“The company was registered six weeks ago under Vanessa Lane’s name.”
I closed my eyes.
Grant had not simply left me.
He had used the hours after my emergency surgery to steal money.
Miriam continued.
“A second transfer went to an overseas account.”
“What about the third?” I asked.
She looked at me carefully.
“It was directed to a clinic offering private maternity services in Switzerland.”
Vanessa had told Grant she was carrying his child.
Apparently, they had planned to disappear before anyone examined the company records.
My grandfather placed the tablet on the table.
“Freeze every account connected to Grant Halston.”
Miriam nodded.
“It has already begun.”
I looked through the glass at my twins.
May you like
Grant had called them burdens.
He had no idea that the children he rejected were the future beneficiaries of the trust financing his entire life.
