Chapter 3 - The Camera Above the Christmas Tree
The footage showed weeks of humiliation. Margaret ordered Lily to clean while everyone else relaxed. Vanessa confiscated her tablet. Aaron repeatedly stood by and did nothing. One recording showed Lily dropping a serving dish, recoiling in fear as Vanessa rushed toward her, then being ordered to clean while adults shouted.
Nathan stopped the video.
“I’ve seen enough.”
His attorney Dana Wells shook her head. “We need the rest.”
Another clip changed the investigation.
Margaret stood beneath the Christmas tree speaking to Aaron.
“You promised Nathan would sign before Christmas.”
Aaron replied, “He will.”
Nathan frowned. “Sign what?”
Dana discovered an unauthorized version of Colewell’s restructuring papers. It granted Aaron temporary voting authority if Nathan became legally unavailable.
“I never drafted this,” Dana said.
At the hotel, Lily was decorating a tiny Christmas tree.
When Nathan entered, she ran to him.
“Daddy!”
He caught her, nearly crying.
She showed him a crooked paper ornament. “It’s us.”
At lunch she asked, “Is Grandma going to jail?”
“I don’t know.”
“Are you mad at me because everybody’s fighting?”
Nathan put down his fork.
“Adults are responsible for what adults do. None of this happened because you were bad.”
“Even the broken glass?”
“Even the glass.”
Vanessa soon requested a meeting.
“I was cruel,” she admitted. “I have no excuse. But Aaron is planning something.”
She handed Dana a basement-safe key.
Inside investigators found returned presents, forged corporate documents, cash, and papers concerning Sarah’s trust.
Vanessa whispered, “Margaret promised Aaron your company.”
“My mother doesn’t own it.”
“She thinks she can control it through Lily.”
Dana searched the trust records.
An old amendment appeared.
On Lily’s ninth birthday, Sarah’s twenty-six-percent voting stake would enter a protected trust. Until then Nathan controlled it. If Nathan became incapacitated, temporary control passed to Margaret.
Lily turned nine in thirty-two days.
Nathan finally understood.
May you like
Margaret did not need permanent control.
She needed Nathan out of the way for one month.
