Chapter 6 - The Policy
The policy had been opened eleven months earlier.
Two million dollars.
Insured person: Lily Vance.
Policy owner: Vance Meridian Holdings.
Authorized signature: Maya Vance.
I had never seen it.
I had never signed it.
I had never agreed to insure my child’s life for the financial benefit of David’s failing corporation.
My attorney, Rachel Kim, arrived at the mansion less than twenty minutes after David was taken away.
She found me sitting on the bare floor.
Julianne had left with an investigator for a voluntary interview.
Rachel lowered herself beside me without caring about her expensive gray suit.
“Adrian told me.”
I stared ahead.
“How could someone insure Lily without me knowing?”
“They shouldn’t have been able to.”
“But they did.”
Rachel nodded.
“Which is why the federal team expanded the investigation.”
I looked at her.
“Was David the beneficiary?”
“Not directly.”
“Vance Meridian was.”
I felt sick.
“If Lily died, his company received two million dollars?”
“Yes.”
“Did he know?”
“We don’t know yet.”
I remembered the hospital calls.
The screenshot.
The blocked number.
A horrible thought entered my mind.
Rachel saw it immediately.
“No.”
She gripped my wrist.
“Do not go there without evidence.”
I could barely breathe.
“He blocked the hospital.”
“That makes him negligent and cruel.”
“It does not automatically mean he knew what was happening.”
“But the policy—”
“We need facts.”
I stood and walked toward the window.
Outside, a black SUV pulled away from the estate.
Probably David.
Probably heading toward a federal holding facility where someone would finally force him to sit in a room without champagne, sunlight, or Julianne and face what he had done.
Rachel came beside me.
“There’s another important detail.”
I did not turn.
“Tell me.”
“The policy was applied for using a medical authorization.”
My throat tightened.
“Whose?”
“Yours.”
“Forged?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“We think someone copied your signature from Lily’s school medical forms.”
My hands curled into fists.
Only a few people had access to those documents.
David.
Me.
Lily’s pediatrician.
And David’s executive assistant, who had handled family insurance paperwork for years.
“Who submitted the application?”
“A brokerage firm used by Vance Meridian.”
Rachel paused.
“The broker’s name is Martin Keller.”
I recognized it immediately.
Martin had attended our Christmas parties.
He had eaten at our dining table.
He had once given Lily a stuffed polar bear.
“Where is he?”
Rachel looked at me.
“Missing.”
I turned.
“What?”
“He failed to appear for an interview this morning.”
“His office is empty.”
“His wife says he told her he was going to Milwaukee yesterday.”
“He never arrived.”
The mansion suddenly felt colder.
Rachel looked toward the front door.
“This stopped being just a fraud case three hours ago.”
“Why?”
“Because someone accessed Lily’s policy online at 4:12 in the morning.”
My heart hammered.
“The night she died?”
May you like
Rachel shook her head.
“This morning.”
