Chapter 3 - THE PETITION
The petition accused me of emotional neglect.
It said I traveled too much.
It said Ruby's treatment had become "medically excessive."
It said my grief over my late wife, Isabella, made me overprotective.
And it asked the court to appoint an independent temporary guardian if I became "unavailable or incapacitated."
I looked at Daniel.
"Why would Lucinda file this before we're even married?"
"She says it protects Ruby if something happens to you."
"She never discussed it with me."
Daniel turned a page.
"There's more."
Attached was a trust summary.
Isabella had left Ruby a protected inheritance tied to shares in Bellandi Logistics.
I knew that.
What I did not know was the emergency-control clause.
If I became legally incapacitated, Ruby's guardian could vote her shares until she turned eighteen.
Twenty-six percent of my company.
I stopped breathing for a second.
"Lucinda knew this?"
Daniel nodded.
"She requested the trust copy six weeks ago."
"On whose authority?"
He looked ashamed.
"Mine."
I stared at him.
"You gave my fiancée my daughter's trust?"
"She said you asked her to help with wedding estate planning."
"And you didn't call me?"
Daniel had no answer worth hearing.
That evening, Marco recovered deleted files from Lucinda's laptop.
Search history.
Guardianship standards.
Medical incapacity.
Voting proxies.
And one document that made my hands shake.
A draft affidavit describing Ruby as manipulative, attention-seeking, and "possibly exaggerating pain to control her father."
I read the last paragraph aloud.
"Continued accommodation may reinforce dependency and psychological instability."
Ruby was six.
Six.
Marco looked sick.
"Boss, there's an attachment."
A photograph opened.
Ruby asleep in her bed.
Her brace lying on the floor.
Time stamp: 2:14 a.m.
May you like
I looked toward the upstairs hallway.
Lucinda had been entering my daughter's bedroom at night.
