SERIES : The Nanny He Slapped Saved His Baby And Exposed The Woman He Planned To Marry

For several seconds, the only sound in the library was the rain striking the windows.

Adrian read Grace’s sentence again.

Then again.

Olivia stood beside him.

“What does it mean?”

“I don’t know.”

“You have to know.”

“I don’t.”

Malcolm stepped forward.

“Adrian, grief makes people write strange things.”

Adrian looked at him.

“Do not explain my wife to me.”

“I am trying to prevent a misunderstanding.”

“You are mentioned by name in a warning written six weeks before her death.”

“Which proves nothing.”

Clara crossed her arms.

“It proves she did not trust you.”

Malcolm looked at her with open contempt.

“You are the nanny.”

“Yes.”

“This is a family matter.”

Clara’s jaw tightened.

Adrian spoke quietly.

“She stays.”

Clara looked at him.

Malcolm did too.

Adrian did not repeat himself.

Vanessa’s attorney leaned toward her and whispered something.

Vanessa stood.

“I am leaving.”

Adrian looked at Marcus.

“Has her car been checked?”

“Yes.”

“Did you find the envelope?”

“No.”

Vanessa looked exhausted now instead of frightened.

“Because there is no envelope.”

Olivia pointed at the television in the next room.

“We watched you take it.”

“You watched a blurred video from across a room.”

“It had Grace’s attorney seal on it,” Clara said.

Vanessa’s eyes flashed.

“You do not know what you saw.”

Adrian stepped closer.

“Then tell me.”

“I already did.”

“No. You lied about the stroller. You lied about Clara. Now you are telling me not to trust my own eyes.”

Vanessa looked at him for a long time.

Then she said, “Ask Malcolm.”

Everyone turned.

Malcolm’s face hardened.

“Excuse me?”

Vanessa gave him a bitter smile.

“You wanted to pretend you did not know anything about Grace’s letters. Fine. Explain the seal.”

Her attorney touched her arm.

“Vanessa.”

She pulled away.

“No. I am done being the only person in this room everyone gets to accuse.”

Adrian’s gaze moved to Malcolm.

“What seal?”

Malcolm shook his head.

“I have no idea.”

Vanessa laughed.

“You designed it.”

Silence.

Adrian’s expression became dangerous.

“Malcolm.”

The attorney adjusted his cuffs.

“Years ago, my firm used a blue embossed seal for private estate correspondence.”

“Grace’s correspondence?”

“Sometimes.”

“And you did not think that mattered when I asked about the envelope?”

“I had not seen it clearly.”

“You were standing ten feet from the screen.”

Malcolm said nothing.

Olivia picked up the cedar box.

“There are more letters.”

Adrian turned toward her.

“Wait.”

“Why?”

“Because I want copies made before anyone touches anything else.”

Marcus nodded.

“I’ll photograph every page.”

Clara looked at Adrian.

“That is probably wise.”

He met her eyes.

“Something I should have tried earlier.”

She looked away.

Marcus documented the box contents while Vanessa and her attorney remained near the door.

Malcolm sat in an armchair, angry now, but too controlled to leave.

The second letter was addressed to Olivia.

She stared at it.

“I was ten.”

Adrian’s voice softened.

“You do not have to read it now.”

“Yes, I do.”

She opened it.

Her mother’s handwriting filled three pages.

Olivia read the first line and stopped.

Clara moved closer.

“Do you want me to—”

“No.”

Olivia wiped her cheek.

“I can do it.”

She continued aloud.

“My darling Liv, if you are reading this, then something happened before I could explain the promise I made to you when you were little.”

Olivia looked at Adrian.

“I don’t remember a promise.”

“Keep going.”

She did.

“When you were four, you asked why you did not have a sister. I told you that someday, if life was kind, you might.”

Olivia’s voice broke.

Adrian turned away for a moment.

The letter continued.

“Your father and I froze embryos after my cancer treatment because the doctors warned us I might not be able to carry another child safely. We did not tell anyone except Malcolm because the legal documents were complicated.”

Clara looked at Adrian.

His face had gone completely still.

Olivia whispered, “Embryos?”

Adrian sat down.

“Grace had ovarian cancer when you were three.”

“You told me she had surgery.”

“She did.”

“You never told me this.”

“You were little.”

“And Emma?”

Adrian stared at the letter.

Emma had been born through a gestational surrogate ten months earlier.

Clara understood before Olivia did.

“Oh.”

Olivia’s eyes widened.

“Emma is Mom’s daughter.”

Adrian’s voice cracked.

“Yes.”

Vanessa closed her eyes.

Clara turned toward her.

“You knew.”

Vanessa did not answer.

Adrian looked at her.

“Did you?”

“I knew Grace had frozen embryos.”

“How?”

She looked toward Malcolm.

He stood abruptly.

“Do not drag me into this.”

“You told me,” Vanessa said.

“That is a lie.”

“You told me two years ago when Adrian started asking about the storage agreement.”

Malcolm’s face reddened.

“I never discussed privileged information with you.”

“You discussed plenty when you wanted me to convince Adrian not to move the trust.”

Adrian rose.

“What trust?”

Vanessa stared at him.

“You really don’t know.”

“Know what?”

She laughed once, shakily.

“Grace did not leave everything to you.”

Adrian’s voice became flat.

“I know that.”

“No. You know about the public estate.”

Malcolm stepped toward her.

“Vanessa, stop talking.”

She looked at her own attorney.

“Can he tell me to stop?”

“No,” the gray-haired lawyer said. “But I advise you to stop unless you intend to make a formal statement with counsel present.”

Vanessa looked back at Adrian.

“I’m not confessing to anything.”

“Then why are you afraid?”

“Because I made a terrible decision today.”

“You pushed Emma.”

“I released the brake.”

“You watched the stroller move.”

“Yes.”

“You blamed Clara.”

Vanessa’s eyes filled.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because I needed the envelope.”

Clara felt a chill.

Adrian stepped closer.

“Where is it?”

“I don’t have it.”

“Who does?”

Vanessa looked at Malcolm.

He went pale.

Her attorney said sharply, “Vanessa.”

But she continued.

“I put it in the umbrella stand near the garage door. Someone was supposed to collect it.”

“Who?” Adrian demanded.

“I never saw him.”

Malcolm laughed in disbelief.

“This is ridiculous.”

Vanessa turned toward him.

“You said there would be no cameras.”

Every person in the room froze.

Malcolm’s face hardened.

“I said no such thing.”

“You said the system would be dark for ten minutes.”

Adrian’s hands clenched.

“Marcus.”

The security chief was already moving.

“Daniel Frost had access.”

Adrian nodded once.

“Find him.”

Marcus left.

Malcolm reached for his coat.

“I will not stand here while a frightened woman invents accusations.”

Adrian blocked his path.

“You will stand wherever you choose. But if you leave, you leave knowing I am auditing every trust, every filing, every account, and every document you touched after Grace died.”

Malcolm stared at him.

“You are threatening your own attorney.”

“No.”

Adrian’s voice dropped.

“I am firing him.”

Olivia inhaled sharply.

Malcolm’s face twisted.

“You have no idea what you are doing.”

“That sentence stopped working on me about an hour ago.”

Malcolm left without another word.

Vanessa watched him go.

Clara looked at her.

“What was in the envelope?”

Vanessa shook her head.

“I never opened it.”

“No one risks a baby’s life for paperwork they haven’t read.”

“I knew what it could contain.”

“What?” Adrian asked.

“A codicil.”

Adrian frowned.

“To Grace’s will?”

“Yes.”

“Why would it be in Emma’s stroller?”

“It wasn’t supposed to be.”

Clara leaned forward.

“Then who put it there?”

Vanessa stared at her.

“I think Clara did.”

Everyone went silent.

Clara’s face went blank.

“What?”

“I saw you with Grace’s cedar box last week.”

“I found it in the nursery closet.”

“And you moved some papers.”

“I organized blankets around it.”

“You could have found the envelope.”

“I did not.”

Vanessa looked at Adrian.

“Maybe she does not remember. Maybe she tucked it somewhere while cleaning.”

Clara stared at her.

“You are doing it again.”

“What?”

“Trying to put your actions inside my hands.”

Vanessa’s eyes dropped.

Adrian spoke quietly.

“Enough.”

He picked up Grace’s third letter.

This one was addressed to him and marked PRIVATE.

He opened it.

Inside was not a letter.

It was a photocopy of a trust amendment.

Adrian read the first paragraph.

Then he sat down heavily.

Olivia stepped closer.

“What is it?”

He handed the page to her.

She read silently.

Clara watched her face change.

“What?”

Olivia looked up.

“Mom created a separate trust.”

“For you?” Clara asked.

Olivia shook her head.

“For both daughters.”

Adrian nodded.

“The Grace Vale Children’s Trust.”

Vanessa closed her eyes.

Clara asked, “How much?”

Adrian looked at the date and the asset schedule attached to the copy.

“At the time she signed it? About eighty million dollars.”

Olivia stared.

Adrian continued.

“With the growth of the holdings, possibly more than two hundred million now.”

Clara looked at Vanessa.

“And who controls it?”

Adrian’s jaw tightened.

“The surviving parent until the younger child turns eighteen.”

“Meaning you.”

“Yes.”

“Unless?”

Adrian looked at the next clause.

His face changed.

“Unless I am dead, incapacitated, or found legally unfit.”

Olivia whispered, “Then who?”

Adrian read the name.

No one breathed.

“Successor trustee: Malcolm Pierce.”

Vanessa lowered herself into a chair.

Clara finally understood why a nanny needed to be discredited, why a baby’s stroller needed to roll, and why an envelope connected to Grace had to disappear.

But one part still made no sense.

She looked at Vanessa.

“If Malcolm wanted control of the trust, why would he help you marry Adrian?”