Chapter 16
But nothing had prepared me for this.
Because for the first time in eight years, I was afraid that the greatest tragedy of my life had happened while I was unconscious in a hospital bed.
And someone had made certain I would never remember it.
My name is Commander Kesha Reynolds.
And that Christmas night, I discovered that the most decorated family I had ever known had built its reputation upon a crime against my children.
But they had forgotten one thing.
A mother who has already fought to keep four premature babies alive does not surrender when she discovers there was a fifth.
THE SCREAM INSIDE THE MANSION
I rushed back through the front doors.
Margaret was sitting on the floor, supported by her daughter Rebecca.
Daniel stood beside them, his expression pale.
“What happened?” I demanded.
Rebecca looked up.
“Mother tried to tell us something. Then she collapsed.”
Margaret grabbed my wrist.
“Kesha,” she whispered. “Please. You have to understand.”
“Understand what?”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Robert didn't order Elijah taken.”
My entire body went cold.
“Then who did?”
She looked toward Daniel.
For one terrible moment, I thought she was about to accuse him.
Instead, she whispered a name.
“Charles Whitcomb.”
Daniel staggered backward.
“No.”
Margaret began shaking.
“Robert wanted the children excluded from the trust. Charles wanted something much worse.”
I knelt beside her.
“Tell me everything.”
She closed her eyes.
“Charles discovered that your children were eligible beneficiaries under the education and medical trust. Robert had given the trustee authority to distribute substantial funds for descendants with extraordinary medical needs.”
I stared at her.
“What does that have to do with Elijah?”
Margaret swallowed.
“Charles was managing portions of the trust through a private investment company. He had been taking money for years.”
Daniel's face hardened.
“How much?”
Margaret whispered, “Nearly eleven million dollars.”
The room fell silent.
“And when the hospital reported five identification records connected to Kesha's delivery,” she continued, “Charles realized he could create a beneficiary nobody would ever question.”
My stomach twisted.
“He stole a child to steal money?”
Margaret shook her head.
“I don't know exactly what happened in that hospital. But Robert discovered irregular payments years later. Charles told him the fifth child had been placed elsewhere because Kesha was medically incapable of caring for five infants.”
I stared at her.
“I was never told there was a fifth baby.”