Chapter 9 - Why Christopher Approached Sabrina
Christopher admitted another lie.
He had known who Sabrina was before their first real date.
Not because Florence told him she was Diane’s daughter.
Florence told him something different.
“That Sabrina’s family owed ours money.”
Sabrina laughed bitterly.
“And you believed her?”
“At twenty-nine? Not completely.”
“Then why approach me?”
“Because she asked me to.”
There it was.
Christopher met Sabrina intentionally.
Florence believed Robert possessed information about Margaret’s trust.
She wanted Christopher close enough to learn what Sabrina knew.
“At first,” Christopher said, “I treated it like doing Mom a favor.”
“And later?”
“I fell in love with you.”
Sabrina stared.
Same pattern again.
Manipulated beginning.
Real feelings afterward.
That did not erase the first deception.
“Why marry me?”
“Because I wanted to.”
“Did Florence want you to?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“If you became my wife, she assumed you’d eventually bring family papers into the house.”
Sabrina thought of the suitcase searches.
Florence wasn’t only searching for the key.
She was waiting for Sabrina to unknowingly carry documents from Robert.
“What did you know about the trust?”
“Very little.”
“Yet you became trustee.”
Christopher nodded.
“Mom arranged it after Gregory’s death.”
“Why?”
“She said it was a family property trust.”
“And you never read it?”
His shame answered before words.
“Not properly.”
Sabrina almost laughed.
A man controlling an 8.7-million-dollar trust barely understood it.
That incompetence had enabled Florence.
But Christopher had eventually noticed unusual withdrawals.
“What did you do?”
“Nothing.”
“Why?”
“Because Mom said Gregory authorized them before he died.”
“You believed her.”
“I wanted to.”
That was the sharper truth.
Christopher’s guilt did not require him to be the mastermind.
He simply kept choosing not to look.
Then Naomi uncovered another fact.
Christopher had not legally become trustee.
The succession amendment naming him had a forged signature.
He had been acting without valid authority.
“That means?”
“The legitimate successor trustee may still be alive.”
Sabrina looked at the original trust.
Successor after Gregory:
Diane Carter Sloan.
Sabrina’s mother.
If Diane was alive, she controlled the trust.
Not Christopher.
Not Sabrina.
Not Margaret.
Diane.
Then Florence called Sabrina directly.
First time since the slap.
“You’re ruining everything.”
Sabrina said nothing.
“You think that key makes you powerful?”
Still nothing.
Florence grew angrier.
“You were always just Diane’s insurance policy.”
Sabrina’s chest tightened.
“What does that mean?”
Florence laughed.
“She had you because Margaret needed another heir.”
Sabrina froze.
Another lie?
Maybe.
Florence continued.
“Ask your precious Elaine why Diane really disappeared.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Diane didn’t run from me.”
Florence lowered her voice.
“She ran from Margaret.”
That contradicted everything.
And Florence sounded confident.
Then:
“Your grandmother is the one who put Diane in that warehouse.”
The line disconnected.
May you like
Sabrina turned toward Margaret’s number.
For the first time, she wondered whether everyone had been treating Margaret’s version of history as truth simply because Florence was easier to hate.
