Chapter 2 - THE HIDDEN FILE
Thirty minutes later, Mark sat inside his private study with Sarah across from him.
Noah slept upstairs under the supervision of the estate’s longtime housekeeper, Mrs. Patterson.
The papers lay between Sarah and Mark.
They appeared to be amendments to the Reed Family Trust.
According to the documents, Noah had supposedly been removed as a beneficiary three months earlier.
The reason listed was shocking.
The papers claimed Noah was not legally related to the Reed family.
Mark read the paragraph for the third time.
“That is impossible.”
Sarah nodded.
“I know.”
Noah was the only child of Daniel Reed, Mark’s younger brother.
Daniel and his wife, Emily, had died in a highway accident five months after Noah was born.
Mark had taken legal guardianship immediately.
The original trust established by Mark and Daniel’s father guaranteed Noah twenty percent of the family holdings when he reached adulthood.
If anything happened to Mark, that percentage increased.
The document in front of them would erase all of that.
Mark pointed at the signature.
“This looks like mine.”
“It is not.”
“How can you be sure?”
Sarah pulled another sheet from the folder.
“Because this was attached.”
It was a printing log from the home office.
The forged trust amendment had been printed at 2:13 a.m. eleven days earlier.
Mark had been in Boston that night.
Victoria had been home.
Mark leaned back.
“How did you get this?”
“I saw Victoria take papers from your office yesterday.”
“You entered my office after her?”
“I know I should not have.”
“You should not have.”
Sarah lowered her eyes.
“But I would do it again.”
Mark studied her.
Sarah had worked at the Reed estate for fourteen months.
She was twenty-nine, quiet, dependable, and rarely spoke unless something needed to be said.
Mark had never once caught her lying.
“I found the trust papers inside the bottom drawer.”
Sarah continued.
“There was another folder beneath them.”
“What folder?”
Sarah hesitated.
“A medical file.”
Mark’s expression hardened.
“Whose?”
“Noah’s.”
Mark stood.
“What was in it?”
“Copies of his pediatric records.”
Sarah paused.
“And an application for a private medical guardianship transfer.”
Mark stared at her.
“A what?”
“It would authorize someone outside this house to take custody of Noah for what the document called specialized treatment.”
Mark’s voice dropped.
“Who?”
“The receiving guardian’s name was blank.”
A terrible silence settled over the room.
Mark walked toward the window.
Rain had begun falling across the estate grounds.
“What was Victoria doing beside Noah’s crib?”
Sarah reached into her apron pocket.
She removed a small amber bottle.
“I saw this in her hand.”
Mark took it.
There was no prescription label.
Only a handwritten sticker.
Three drops.
Mark’s face drained.
“Did she give him any?”
“I stopped her before she touched him.”
Mark grabbed his phone.
“I am calling Dr. Benson.”
Sarah nodded.
“Good.”
Then she pulled a small flash drive from her pocket.
“But you need to see this first.”
Mark stared at the drive.
“What is it?”
“Victoria thought she deleted the security recording from the nursery hallway.”
May you like
Sarah placed the drive on the desk.
“She did not know I made a copy.”
