Zoey unfolded her arms as she bent closer to the screen, her eyes widening. “There’s an awful lot of noughts on there.”
“Your father was a billionaire at the time of his death.”
“No, he wasn’t.” She drew back, laughing softly. “I loved my father, and so did my mother, but he was such a terrible businessman, we became used to our fortunes always being up and down,” she explained with affection. “My mother always put money by in the good times to sustain us through the bad ones.”
“Well, at the time of your father’s death, it was definitely on an up,” Hunter told her evenly. “He had given financial backing to a small company developing a travel app and several others that went viral worldwide and gave him a return on his initial investment many, many times over.”
“A billion times over from the look of those noughts,” her voice sounded hollow.
“Yes.” Hunter chewed on the inside of his lip before speaking again. “Tell me, did you see much of Edgar before your parents died?”
She shook her head. “I’d never met him before Edgar came to see me at the house of the schoolfriend I had been staying with when my parents died, and he told me he was now my guardian.He also told me that he and my Dad had shared a room for the first year they were at uni together, that they remained friends, that Edgar became his lawyer— What do you mean no?” she prompted when Hunter gave a firm shake of his head.
“They were at uni at the same time, but they never shared accommodation. They didn’t even have classes together,” he explained. “Wallis studied law, and your father took a degree in economics.”
“Edgar told me they were friends at uni and remained so during the years afterward, and that’s why he became Dad’s lawyer,” she insisted.
“And yet you never saw him or even met him once during that time?”
“Not that I recall, no…”
Hunter nodded. “That’s because during those university years, they were acquaintances at best. It is true that Edgar Wallis became your father’s lawyer shortly before your parents’ death. But I believe, after he discovered how wealthy your father was, that Wallis might have approached your father with that suggestion rather than the other way about. Wallis worked for a prestigious London law firm, but only as an associate.”
Zoey frowned. “I didn’t have any living grandparents, and Mum and Dad were only children, so Edgar, as Dad’s friend, was named as my guardian in my father’s will.”
Hunter was already aware that Zoey didn’t have any close family. “Wills can be tampered with, especially when you’re the lawyer who drew up that will.”
Her eyes went wide. “You think that’s what Edgar did?”
“I’m sure of it,” Hunter confirmed grimly.
“If that’s so, what happened to all that money— No!” she gasped as realization hit, her face paling as she stepped back. “No, no, no, no, no!”
Hunter stood to turn and face her, knowing that his mate deserved to know the truth. “The money was put into a trust for you, but as your father’s lawyer and trustee of that account, Wallis was able to access that money. Since your parents’ death, he has been systematically stealing from what is legally your money put in trust for you until you’re twenty-one. Initially with the purchase of Tregarthen House on the basis that he needed a suitable home for you to live in. In the years since, he has given himself an allowance of a million pounds a year to care for you.”
Zoey gasped again. “A million… That is obscene,” she protested, tears welling in her eyes. “There is no way he needed that amount of money to care for me. The only things he paid for were a nanny and food for the weeks when I was home from boarding school, and the school fees. He also paid my uni fees and gave me a strict allowance to live on. But he always implied I should be grateful to him for caring for me at all.”
Hunter grimaced. “There’s more, Zoey.”
“Worse than stealing from my parents?”
What Hunter had to tell her now was much, much worse than what he had already shared with her.
Zoey was still stunned,speechless, at learning that her beloved father had finally managed to invest in the right company, only to die before he could fully appreciate?—
“Oh my God. No.” She stumbled back until she was able to drop onto the chair behind her. “Are you working your way up to telling me that Edgar had something to do with my parents’ deaths?” It wasn’t such a giant leap for her to make when Hunter had already told her Edgar was responsible for killing Ben. “And please don’t attempt to lie to protect me,” she pleaded when she saw the indecision in Hunter’s expression.
He nodded. “In that case, I’m saying I believe he had everything to do with your parents’ deaths.”
She swallowed audibly. “How?”
“According to the flight plan your father registered that day, he was flying the two of them, in his plane, from a small private airport near London to another private airfield near Paris.”
“It was their wedding anniversary.” Zoey had been attending the local school that day, but she was due to have a sleepover with one of her friends—the same friend at whose house she had remained for several weeks after her parents died—the idea behind that being to allow her parents to celebrate their anniversary with an overnight stay in Paris while Zoey enjoyed being with her school friend.
The plane had crashed over the English Channel, killing both her parents. Their bodies had been recovered two weeks later. The plane was still at the bottom of the sea.
“Wallis was learning to fly a helicopter at the same airfield where your father kept his plane,” Hunter continued evenly. “It’s my belief, in view of what happened afterward, that he somehowsabotaged your father’s plane. It’s also my belief,” he continued when Zoey lifted her hand to cover her second gasp, “that he arranged for the accident to happen on a day when you wouldn’t be with them. That had to happen; otherwise, he couldn’t become your guardian and have complete access to your father’s fortune. Wallis immediately resigned from the law firm he worked for and moved the two of you to Cornwall. Far away from anyone who might ever question his motives or actions.”
