Chapter 1
Benedict ended Posy’s birthday party before anyone attempted to save the cake.
The musicians were dismissed.
The caterers stopped service.
Cars were brought around for the relatives who had stood in the garden pretending not to understand what they had just witnessed.
Some had laughed nervously when Margaux ruined the cake.
Others had stared at their shoes.
None of them had stopped her.
Benedict noticed that.
He noticed everything now.
Posy sat in the kitchen wrapped in one of the housekeeper’s cardigans while frosting was gently cleaned from her hair.
Her pink dress was ruined.
She did not care about the dress.
She kept asking about the gifts.
“Daddy, why does Cecily’s name say on mine?”
Benedict crouched beside her.
Cecily was Margaux’s ten-year-old daughter and Posy’s cousin.
“I don’t know yet.”
“Aunt Margaux said they’re hers now.”
Benedict looked toward the doorway.
His family lawyer, Grant Holloway, stood there holding the same sealed file from the garden.
“Did she say why?”
Posy nodded.
“She said Grandpa only wanted real Carrows to get family things.”
Benedict’s expression hardened.
Posy was a Carrow.
Biologically.
Legally.
Publicly.
There had never been any question.
Her mother, Elizabeth, had died four years earlier, but Benedict’s name was on every document from Posy’s birth onward.
There was no paternity dispute.
No adoption issue.
Nothing complicated.
Only Margaux’s cruelty.
Grant waited until Posy left with the housekeeper before speaking.
“She threatened the inheritance very confidently.”
“She always speaks confidently.”
“That isn’t what bothers me.”
Benedict looked at him.
Grant placed the file on the kitchen island.
“Your father’s trust has two grandchild branches.”
Benedict knew that much.
Victor Carrow had died two years earlier.
Instead of leaving the majority of his long-term family assets directly to his adult sons, he created trusts for future generations.
One branch followed Benedict’s descendants.
The other followed Benedict’s late younger brother, Julian.
Julian’s only child was Cecily.
Benedict’s only child was Posy.
“Posy has her branch.”
“Yes.”
“So Margaux cannot cut her out.”
“No.”
Grant paused.
“Which means we need to ask why she wanted Posy to believe she could.”
Benedict looked toward the garden.
Grant continued.
“There’s another problem.”
“What?”
“The gifts.”
Benedict frowned.
Grant removed three purchase records from the file.
The jewelry box.
The custom bicycle.
The expensive beginner piano.
Every one had been purchased through an account designated for Posy’s beneficiary expenses.
Benedict slowly looked up.
“Then why was Cecily’s name on them?”
May you like
Grant closed the file.
“That is what I came here to discuss before the cake hit the ground.”
