Chapter 9 - The Woman Who Knew Every Schedule.
At 2:00 a.m., Serena Cole finally answered Mason's call.
Her voice was composed, but the faint background noise told him she was not at home.
"Mason, this is late."
He stared at the dark window across the sitting room.
"Where are you?"
A pause.
"Out."
"With Northstar?"
The silence on the line became an answer.
Mason put the call on speaker.
Clara, Patricia, Graham, Lena, and Daniel listened.
Serena exhaled.
"You don't understand what is happening."
Mason almost laughed.
"That sentence is becoming very popular tonight."
"The merger protects the company."
"By falsifying trust documents?"
Serena's voice sharpened.
"I did not falsify the trust."
Lena leaned toward the phone.
"Then who did?"
Serena went quiet again.
Mason spoke slowly.
"You knew Clara existed before I hired her."
"Yes."
Clara's expression changed.
"How?"
Serena answered more softly.
"Evelyn told me."
Mason closed his eyes for a second.
Another person had known.
Another person had chosen silence.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because Evelyn asked me not to until the DNA results were confirmed."
Patricia stepped closer.
"The results were confirmed."
Serena sounded surprised that Patricia was present.
"Then you know what Evelyn planned."
Patricia's hands tightened.
"I know she planned to destroy the structure holding this family together."
Clara looked at her.
"You mean the structure where everyone knew who I was except me."
Serena interrupted.
"Clara, Evelyn did not hire you as a nanny."
Clara froze.
Mason's eyes narrowed.
"Explain."
"She arranged for your name to be placed with the agency."
Clara stared at the phone.
"Evelyn died four years ago."
"She prepared the placement long before that."
Mason felt something settle coldly into place.
"She expected Clara to end up here after her death."
"Yes."
Clara stepped away from the table.
"That means my entire job was arranged without my knowledge."
Serena's voice softened.
"Evelyn believed Avery should know her aunt someday, even if nobody was ready to tell her the truth immediately."
Clara looked toward the ceiling as if Avery's room were visible through it.
"Aunt."
The word seemed to hurt and comfort her at the same time.
Mason returned to the problem in front of him.
"Where is the original amendment?"
Serena hesitated.
"I don't have it."
Graham scoffed.
"Convenient."
"I never entered your safe."
"Someone did."
"Then ask the person who knew you moved the document there."
Everyone looked at Graham.
His face changed.
"Only one person knew."
Patricia stared at him.
"Who?"
Graham looked at her with sudden suspicion.
"You."
Patricia stood.
"I never touched your safe."
The room threatened to split into another argument.
Mason raised one hand.
"Enough."
He returned to Serena.
"Why were you with Northstar tonight?"
"Because I'm trying to delay them."
"By helping them?"
"By making them believe they can still get the vote."
Lena frowned.
"That is a dangerous strategy to run without telling your client."
"I tried telling Mason six months ago."
Mason stared at the phone.
"No, you didn't."
"I put a briefing in your travel packet before the Singapore trip."
Mason remembered the trip.
He also remembered Patricia reorganizing the household documents after a plumbing leak had damaged part of his office.
He looked at her.
Patricia shook her head.
"I never saw it."
Serena continued.
"Northstar has someone inside the family structure, and it isn't me."
Mason's voice was cold.
"Give me a name."
"I don't have one."
"Then give me something useful."
A longer pause followed.
"Check Avery's school file."
Clara looked up sharply.
"Why?"
"Because somebody submitted a request this afternoon to withdraw her at the end of the week."
Mason's face went still.
"Withdraw her where?"
Serena answered.
"A private residential academy in Switzerland."
Clara's hand flew to her mouth.
Patricia looked genuinely horrified.
Mason watched her reaction carefully.
"You didn't do that."
"No."
For the first time all night, he believed her immediately.
Serena spoke again.
"The form uses Patricia's signature."
Patricia whispered, "That is not mine."
Mason looked at the clock.
Six hours remained before the board vote.
May you like
Someone was no longer trying only to remove Clara.
Someone was trying to remove Avery from the house too.
