Chapter 7
Mark looked toward the hallway.
His father was no longer there.
Security had escorted Richard to a private waiting room after the hospital requested distance.
Mark’s face changed.
“He told me this started after Ethan died.”
Emma stared at him.
“He lied.”
Mark’s breathing became rough.
“He told me the email came after the accident.”
Vittorio looked at the draft date again.
Someone had anticipated the possibility of Ethan’s death.
That thought was dangerous.
Too easy.
The attorney caught it.
“There is no evidence Richard knew Ethan would die.”
Vittorio nodded.
Important.
No invention.
No revenge filling gaps.
Then why prepare the petition?
Emma knew before anyone asked.
“Because Ethan was going to leave.”
Everyone looked at her.
She pressed one hand against her abdomen.
The anesthesia made movement slow.
But her voice strengthened.
“Ethan had been meeting with Dad.”
Vittorio’s expression changed.
“You knew?”
“No.”
She swallowed.
“But the week before he died, Ethan asked me whether I would ever consider living in Connecticut.”
Mark looked up.
Richard owned a large property there.
Emma continued.
“I thought he was asking about schools.”
Her eyes filled.
“He said he wanted the twins to grow up somewhere nobody cared what their last name meant.”
Vittorio looked away.
Again, his son’s fear.
Again, he had missed it.
Emma watched him.
“Don't make this about guilt yet.”
His eyes returned to her.
“We need facts.”
Vittorio nodded.
She sounded more like a boss than any man in the room.
Mark unlocked his phone.
“I know where Dad met Ethan.”
He hesitated.
“A private club in Greenwich.”
Richard used it for business.
Mark called a manager he knew.
Meeting logs showed Richard and Ethan together three times in the final month.
At the last meeting, Ethan brought an attorney.
That was the day the custody petition draft was created.
The attorney was contacted.
He refused to reveal privileged communications without proper authority.
But Ethan’s death changed certain estate permissions.
The executor could request specific documents relevant to guardianship.
Vittorio looked at Emma.
“Who is executor?”
She hesitated.
Then her face changed.
“Dad.”
Mark went pale.
Richard controlled Ethan’s estate documents.
That explained too much.
Perhaps the black envelope.
Perhaps the selective filing.
Perhaps documents Emma had never seen.
Then Mark quietly added:
“There’s another executor.”
Vittorio looked at him.
“Who?”
Mark swallowed.
“Me.”
Emma stared at her brother.
“You've had access to Ethan’s files for four days.”
Mark’s eyes lowered.
“Yes.”
“And you let Dad tell me my husband wanted my son taken away.”
Silence.
Mark’s voice finally came.
“I didn't read everything.”
Emma laughed once.
Painfully.
“You were willing to block a woman in labor, but reading was too much?”
Mark closed his eyes.
Then admitted the truth.
“I was afraid of what Ethan wrote about me.”
Emma went still.
“What would he write?”
Mark looked toward Vittorio.
May you like
Then back at his sister.
“Because Ethan knew I had been taking money from Bell Holdings.”
