Chapter 12 - THE FIRE THAT DIDN’T START
Police reached the warehouse twenty minutes after Rebecca.
She was standing beside a metal trash barrel.
Several financial documents had already been soaked in lighter fluid.
A box of matches rested in her hand.
She claimed she was disposing of old company records.
Detectives arrested her for attempted destruction of evidence and obstruction.
Inside the warehouse, they found the missing Bennett folders.
They also found computers, forged letterheads and copies of Maya’s identification documents.
One folder contained a medical evaluation form.
A psychologist’s name appeared at the bottom.
The form claimed Maya suffered from paranoia, emotional instability and impaired judgment.
Maya had never met the psychologist.
Investigators contacted him.
He denied writing the report.
His signature had been forged.
Rebecca and David had planned to use the false evaluation if Maya resisted the trust transfer.
They intended to argue that she lacked the capacity to manage her inheritance.
“It was never only about getting me to sign,” Maya said.
Charles nodded.
“If you refused, they planned to remove your authority entirely.”
The encrypted hard-drive file was opened later that afternoon.
It contained a spreadsheet of money transferred from Langford Dining Group through shell companies.
Some payments went to Rebecca.
Others paid David’s gambling debts and personal loans.
The largest transfers were connected to properties owned by the Bennett trust.
David had collected rental income from subtenants and hidden it rather than paying the trust.
Over four years, the missing amount had grown to nearly $3 million.
But Charles found something even more significant.
At the bottom of the warehouse box was a sealed letter written by Samuel Bennett shortly before his death.
It was addressed to Maya.
According to the instructions, it could be opened only if the Langfords attempted to alter the trust.
Maya held the envelope against her chest.
May you like
Her father had known.
👉 Samuel’s final letter would reveal that David’s family had targeted Maya long before she ever met her husband.
