Chapter 4
Margaux’s attorneys reacted before Benedict contacted her.
They sent a letter accusing him of turning a family argument into financial harassment.
According to Margaux, every trust expenditure had been legitimate and properly approved.
The birthday gifts were supposedly transferred to Cecily because Posy had been “ungrateful and disruptive.”
Grant read that sentence twice.
“A trustee’s beneficiary property is not a behavioral reward.”
“She isn’t the trustee.”
“No.”
Grant adjusted his glasses.
“But she seems to have forgotten that being distribution adviser doesn’t make her owner.”
Benedict wanted Margaux removed immediately from every role connected to Posy.
The professional trust company refused to act on anger alone.
That irritated him.
Grant approved of the refusal.
“They need documentation.”
“She threw Posy’s cake onto the ground.”
“That proves cruelty.”
“She took gifts bought from Posy’s account.”
“That may prove misuse.”
“May?”
“We need chain of purchase, delivery, and possession.”
Benedict hated the word may.
Grant liked it.
It kept cases alive.
An inventory began.
The custom piano had already been delivered to Margaux’s home two days before Posy’s party.
The bicycle was in Margaux’s garage.
The jewelry box remained unopened at the Carrow estate.
Two designer coats purchased six months earlier for “Posy winter wardrobe” appeared in photographs of Cecily.
An expensive riding helmet billed to Posy’s trust matched Cecily’s equestrian equipment.
Benedict stared at the photographs.
“Margaux has been charging Cecily’s things to Posy.”
“Possibly.”
Grant waited for Benedict’s glare.
“Fine. Very likely.”
The professional trustee temporarily suspended new discretionary reimbursements submitted by Margaux while the accounting continued.
Margaux responded by claiming Benedict was financially punishing Cecily.
Benedict refused to engage publicly.
Cecily was ten.
She was not responsible for her mother’s accounting.
That distinction mattered.
Then Denise found something in a locked family-office cabinet.
Boxes of unopened beneficiary statements addressed to Benedict as Posy’s legal guardian.
Twenty-one envelopes.
Most more than a year old.
Benedict looked at them.
“Why didn’t I receive these?”
Denise answered quietly.
“Mrs. Margaux had family financial mail routed through her office after Mrs. Elizabeth died.”
Benedict remembered approving that too.
Another convenience.
Another blind spot.
He opened the oldest statement.
The numbers inside had never reached him.
May you like
Margaux had not hidden the existence of Posy’s inheritance.
She had hidden what was happening inside it.
