Chapter 6 - Three Ways
Police reached Rachel’s apartment twenty minutes later.
She was gone.
My father claimed he had never been there.
Building cameras proved otherwise.
They showed him entering at 11:58 p.m.
Rachel’s call to me ended at 12:03.
At 12:07, both of them left through the underground garage.
Rachel walked beside him willingly.
At least that was how it looked.
Detective Hale issued an alert for her vehicle.
By morning, it was found outside a motel near the state line.
Empty.
Her phone was inside.
So was her purse.
My father insisted Rachel was having an “emotional breakdown.”
I did not believe him.
Neither did Hale.
The phrase Rachel used stayed in my head.
Three ways.
What three ways could stop a trust attached to an unborn child?
Daniel and I sat with our attorney, Maya Collins.
She reviewed Grandma’s amendments.
“Death before birth is one.”
I hated hearing it said so plainly.
“What else?”
“Challenging paternity.”
Daniel looked at her.
“What?”
“If the trust specifies Claire’s biological descendant, someone could delay transfer by claiming the child is not legally qualified.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“Ridiculous claims can still create litigation.”
I remembered the missing fertility records.
My mother had taken them.
“They’re going to question whether Daniel is the father.”
Maya nodded slowly.
“That could be method two.”
“What’s method three?”
Nobody knew.
Then Margaret called.
She had found another box among Grandma’s archived files.
Inside were notes documenting a conversation between Grandma and my father six years earlier.
Robert had demanded that the trust be divided equally between his daughters.
Grandma refused.
According to the notes, my father said something that now sounded terrifying.
Then Claire simply shouldn’t have an heir.
Daniel read the sentence repeatedly.
Detective Hale added it to the investigation.
That afternoon, Rachel’s car was discovered thirty miles away from the motel.
Someone had moved it.
A gas station camera showed the driver.
Uncle Victor.
Hale brought him in.
Victor said Rachel asked him for help.
He claimed she wanted to disappear because everyone blamed her.
Then Hale asked about the medication bottle.
Victor’s story collapsed.
First he said it had been stolen.
Then misplaced.
Then he admitted giving it to my father months earlier.
“Why?”
“He couldn’t sleep.”
The medication was not primarily prescribed for insomnia.
Victor knew that.
He was a pharmacist.
And suddenly the plan looked larger.
That night, I woke around two in the morning.
Something downstairs had made a sound.
Daniel was sleeping beside me.
Our security guard was stationed outside.
I checked the camera app.
Kitchen.
Empty.
Living room.
Empty.
Hallway.
Empty.
Then the nursery camera flickered.
A shadow passed the doorway.
I shook Daniel awake.
“Someone’s upstairs.”
He was out of bed instantly.
He told me to lock the bedroom door.
Then he called security.
Footsteps moved in the hall.
Slowly.
Our bedroom handle turned.
Once.
Twice.
Someone whispered my name.
“Claire.”
I stopped breathing.
It sounded like Rachel.
Daniel stood beside the door.
“Rachel?”
“Please.”
Her voice cracked.
“Open the door.”
Daniel looked at the camera feed.
A woman stood outside.
Barefoot.
Dirty.
Terrified.
It was Rachel.
Daniel opened the door only after security confirmed she was alone.
Rachel stumbled inside.
There was dried mud on her jeans.
Her hands were shaking.
“I ran.”
“From Dad?”
She nodded.
Then she looked at me.
“You need to leave before tomorrow morning.”
“Why?”
Rachel started crying again.
“Because the kick failed.”
May you like
She looked at my stomach.
“And Dad already started the second plan.”
