Chapter 5 - What Judith Heard Near the Boardroom
After the last guests left, Maren helped Judith into a private sitting room off the east hallway.
A doctor from among the gala guests had already checked her and confirmed she was bruised but not seriously injured.
Garrett had locked himself in his study to change.
Evelyn was nowhere in sight.
Only then did Judith tell the truth.
Earlier in the evening, while looking for the powder room, she had passed the small boardroom connected to the ballroom wing.
The door was not fully shut.
Inside, Garrett and Evelyn were speaking.
Judith had not meant to eavesdrop—but then she heard her own daughter’s name.
She stopped.
Garrett sounded irritated.
“She keeps pushing me about the trust again.”
Evelyn replied, “Then end it before she gets control of anything.”
Judith frowned. “Control of what?”
Maren leaned closer.
Judith swallowed hard.
“There was something about your grandfather’s property account. About signatures. About amending beneficiary authority before the quarter closes.”
Maren felt cold all over.
Her late father had left assets in a maternal family holding structure that were still partly overseen through a trust arrangement—one Garrett had always complained was too “fragmented” to be efficient.
He had been pressuring Maren for months to let him consolidate management.
She had refused.
Judith continued, “Then Garrett said, ‘If Judith keeps talking to Maren, I’ll handle Judith myself.’”
Maren went still.
“And Evelyn?” she asked.
Judith’s eyes filled.
“She said… ‘Do what you need to do. Just don’t make a public mess.’”
Maren’s stomach dropped.
That was why Evelyn had looked unsurprised in the ballroom.
Because Judith’s fall beside the fountain had not shocked her.
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It had followed her instructions almost exactly.
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