Chapter 23 - OUR CHILDREN OWNED NOTHING
Roman’s first reaction was exactly what I feared.
“We renounce it.”
Agent Avery shook his head.
“You cannot renounce assets on behalf of minors without court review.”
“Then I’ll petition.”
“Doing that alerts every trustee.”
“Good.”
“No,” I said.
Roman looked at me.
I continued.
“You’re reacting.”
“My children are attached to one hundred eighty million dollars of poisoned money.”
“Yes.”
“I want it gone.”
“So do I.”
“Then—”
“But running from it doesn’t make it disappear.”
He stopped.
I understood his instinct.
Money had been used as control his entire life.
His father’s money.
Carlo’s money.
Our marriage.
Security.
Power.
He wanted Clara and Nicholas free.
So did I.
But freedom required understanding what they were being freed from.
Agent Avery showed us the land.
Warehouses.
Parking structures.
Old industrial sites.
One riverfront property.
Roman recognized the address.
His face changed.
“What?”
“That land was supposed to be sold twenty years ago.”
“Why wasn’t it?”
“My mother stopped the sale.”
“Why?”
Roman stared at the map.
“I don’t know.”
Environmental reports gave us the answer.
Contamination.
Buried solvents.
Heavy metals.
Possibly decades of illegal dumping.
The land was not worth one hundred eighty million because of what stood there.
It was worth that much because the city planned a redevelopment corridor through the area.
If contamination became public before transfer, cleanup liability could exceed the value.
Whoever controlled the trust controlled both money and disaster.
Devereux wanted Clara and Nicholas positioned as owners before the contamination surfaced.
Two children.
Perfect liability shields behind family trustees.
Roman looked physically ill.
“He’s putting it on them.”
Avery nodded.
“Potentially.”
Roman stood.
“No.”
I had never heard one word contain so much rage.
Then Clara ran into the room.
We all stopped.
She held a drawing.
“Daddy?”
Roman turned.
Every hard line disappeared.
“What is it, baby?”
“Our family.”
She showed him.
Four stick people.
One enormous dog.
We did not own a dog.
Roman examined it.
“Who is this?”
“Me.”
“This?”
“Mommy.”
“This handsome gentleman?”
“That’s Nicholas.”
I laughed.
Roman looked offended.
“Where am I?”
Clara pointed to the dog.
The room broke.
Even Avery laughed.
Roman picked her up.
For one minute, one hundred eighty million dollars meant nothing.
After she left, Roman sat down.
Calmer.
“What do we need to do?”
Not what will I do.
What do we need.
Avery looked at us.
“We prove Devereux knowingly concealed the contamination.”
I nodded.
“And then?”
“We take the trust away from him.”
Roman looked toward the doorway where Clara had disappeared.
“And after that, my children don’t keep a cent.”
I looked at him.
This time I agreed.
“Not a cent.”
May you like
But Isabella had created that money for a reason.
We were about to decide whether refusing an inheritance was enough—or whether we owed something to the people it had been taken from.
