Chapter 9 - Olivia’s Version
Grace drove us to a small house in Topanga Canyon owned by her sister.
Sophie slept in the back seat with her head against a pillow.
I barely spoke.
When we arrived, I carried Sophie inside and tucked her into a guest bed.
Then I faced Grace in the kitchen.
“Start talking.”
Grace clasped both hands around a mug she never drank from.
“Olivia contacted me six months ago. She was terrified. She asked me to watch Sophie whenever you traveled.”
“Why from me?”
“She didn’t know what you remembered.”
“I never hurt Sophie.”
“I know.”
“Did Olivia?”
“No.”
“Then why keep her mother away from her?”
Grace’s voice softened.
“Because Olivia thought if she came back publicly, Lucas would use the guardianship order against both of you.”
“What guardianship order?”
Grace slid a folder across the table.
Inside was a draft petition.
If I were found mentally incompetent, Sophie’s temporary guardian would be Vanessa.
The trustee controlling Sophie’s assets would be Lucas.
The medical witness attached to the petition was Dr. Mercer.
The police witness was Detective Bell.
I felt sick.
“They built this before Vanessa moved in.”
“Yes.”
“Why Sophie?”
Grace looked toward the hallway.
“Olivia wouldn’t tell me.”
A car engine sounded outside.
I stood.
Grace reached into a drawer and pulled out a small revolver.
I stared at her.
“Seriously?”
“I worked nights in Los Angeles for fifteen years. Don’t judge me.”
A figure crossed the porch.
Then came three knocks.
Grace looked through the side window.
Her shoulders dropped.
“It’s her.”
I opened the door.
Olivia stood in the rain.
For eighteen months I had mourned her.
I had packed away her clothes.
I had watched Sophie cry herself to sleep asking whether Mommy could still hear her.
Now Olivia was ten feet away, thinner, pale, with a scar near her hairline.
Neither of us moved.
Then Sophie appeared behind me.
“Mommy?”
Olivia broke.
She dropped to her knees and Sophie ran into her arms.
I turned away because watching them hurt too much.
After Sophie fell asleep between us on the couch, Olivia finally looked at me.
“I’m sorry.”
“For which part?”
“All of it.”
“Were you afraid of me?”
“Yes.”
“Are you now?”
She studied my face.
“No.”
“Then tell me what happened.”
Olivia took a breath.
“The night before the crash, I found proof Lucas was moving money through shell companies under your identity.”
“I know that much.”
“No. You know the money existed.”
She reached into her coat and pulled out a photograph.
It showed me at a bank conference room table signing documents.
Beside me was Lucas.
Behind us stood Vanessa.
The timestamp was during the forty-eight hours I couldn’t remember.
Olivia whispered, “You didn’t just sign one order, Ethan.”
“How many?”
“Everything they needed.”
She turned the photograph over.
There was a list of companies.
At the bottom, one name made my skin go cold.
SOPHIE CARTER IRREVOCABLE TRUST.
Olivia looked at our sleeping daughter.
“That’s why they still need her.”
Olivia touched the list of shell companies with one finger.
“One of these is different.”
“Why?”
“It predates Lucas joining finance.”
I checked the incorporation date.
Twelve years old.
Lucas had still been in business school.
“Dad.”
Olivia nodded.
“The fraud didn’t begin with your brother.”
I looked toward Sophie sleeping on the couch.
“Then why is Lucas risking everything to protect it?”
“Because he inherited the machine.”
“And Vanessa?”
“She learned where the bodies were buried.”
I studied the oldest company name: PACIFIC CREST HOLDINGS.
My father had once told me Pacific Crest was an abandoned land venture.
Olivia opened a property database on her phone.
The company still owned one asset.
A private medical facility outside Santa Barbara.
Harbor Ridge.
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