Chapter 5 - The paper with my name
Reed returned with a copy.
Not original.
Emily had secretly photographed part of the document before her phone was taken.
The image was blurry.
But enough.
A company name appeared near the top.
Crescent Strategic Holdings.
I knew it.
Twenty years earlier, Crescent had been a shell entity used in the Prescott logistics investigation.
It should have been dissolved.
It wasn’t.
The document Emily had been pressured to sign would transfer her interest in a family trust into Crescent.
But Emily had no known interest in any Prescott family trust.
At least, she didn’t think she did.
“Why would Ethan need your signature?” Reed asked.
Emily shook her head.
Margaret, still outside, refused further questions without counsel.
Then Reed showed me another line.
Beneficiary contingency:
Emily Hart Prescott.
My daughter.
“Why is she a beneficiary?”
Reed’s expression changed.
“That’s what we’re trying to determine.”
Hours later, a trust attorney arrived.
Not hired by Emily.
Not by Ethan.
By a deceased man.
William Prescott.
His estate instructions required notification if Crescent Strategic Holdings was ever reactivated.
It had been reactivated three months ago.
The attorney introduced himself as Thomas Hale.
He opened a sealed letter.
William had created a separate trust before his death.
Beneficiaries were not his wife.
Not Brandon.
Not Ethan.
The primary beneficiary was someone identified only by initials:
E.H.
Emily Hart.
My daughter had been thirteen when William Prescott died.
She had never met him.
At least, not knowingly.
I stared at Hale.
“Why would William Prescott leave money to my daughter?”
He hesitated.
Then asked me something that made my skin go cold.
“Colonel Hart… did you know William Prescott before the investigation?”
“No.”
“Are you certain?”
“Yes.”
Hale opened the letter.
Inside was a photograph.
Me.
Much younger.
In uniform.
Standing beside William Prescott.
My heart stopped.
May you like
The photograph was real.
But I had no memory of that day.
