From what Mallory had read, she believed her stepsister had broken several clauses, including the fact the copies of Renee’s marriage certificate and Maddox’s birth certificate lodged with the trust had both been altered.
Mallory had copies of the originals but those on file with the Dawson estate lawyers didn’t match. For some reason her stepsister had doctored them. The marriage certificate was easy to work out. She’d filed it and gained access to the funds designated for her marriage a year before she’d actually gotten married.
No guesses as to whose name was on the altered document. She bet Jacob and Rylan would both be shocked to discover how rich Renee had become the year before she’d convinced Rylan to marry her. Then again, they probably wouldn’t be. Her stepsister had spent every day of her life telling lies. A lot of the time getting away with it.
Not this time.
This time Mallory was determined to see that Renee’s schemes and manipulations didn’t get her what she wanted. Or hurt anyone ever again. Especially the little boy she’d given birth to.
Flipping open her notebook, Mallory sat at the table and began her lists. The first was all the details she needed to double check with Davis. Next came the list of possible fraud charges Jeffery Dawson’s estate could level against her stepsister. And finally, the list for what Maddox needed in order to gain access to the money her father had put aside for him.
A niggle of guilt about keeping Jacob in the dark about who she was and what Maddox was entitled to scratched at her mind but she pushed it away. She’d tell him once she had a better idea of everything and a plan.
If she went to him armed with all the information and a plan, he’d be more receptive. More understanding of why she hadn’t revealed who her stepsister was before now.
Mallory could only hope he didn’t throw her out. Even if he did she’d continue to see that Maddox got what was his and her stepsister didn’t get a chance to harm him more than she already had.
Her phone rang and for a split second dread filled her. But then the tone registered and she knew it was a message, not a call. Although Donna could text her, it was unlikely. She’d never done it before and Mallory didn’t think she would start now.
Getting up she headed across the room to the couch. Plopping down, she scooped up her phone but didn’t recognize the number. It only took a few words of the message to realize Mazey Conners had somehow gotten her number. Somehow the invite to lunch seemed far stranger than Mazey having her number.
Mallory wanted to say yes, even though she knew it wasn’t a good idea. She was deceiving all these people. Although out of all of them, Mazey had been the least affected by Renee. Maybe she could find an ally in Rylan’s wife. If she told her some of what was going on.
Could she risk telling the other woman about her stepsister?
Would Mazey understand why Mallory had kept her connection to her husband’s first wife—Maddox’s mother—a secret until now?
Tapping out a quick reply, she accepted the invite and agreed on the time and place.
She had a couple of hours to decide what to do. For now she’d go back to her lists and get the ball rolling on securing a lawyer to represent Maddox.
13
“Problem?” Ry asked.
“I’m not sure.” Jake stared at the phone in his hand. “That was Maz.”
“Maz? Why is she calling you?” Ry fished his own phone out of his pocket. “I haven’t missed a call,” he mumbled more to himself than Jake.
“No. She wanted to let me know she just had lunch with Lory.”
“Lory?”
“Mallory.”
“Ah, right. So how’d that happen? Her and Maz having lunch.”
Jake shrugged. “Don’t know. But something was off.”
“Off. With Maz?” Ry glanced at his phone again.
“No. Lory. Maz said she was really cagey about the new nanny and if she’d seen Maddox today. Said she was going to head over later today to see how everything is going at home.”
“Just because Mallory hasn’t seen them doesn’t mean anything is wrong.”
“I know. But Maz is worried.” Jake frowned at his best friend. “And now I’m worried.”
“Don’t you have that baby monitor where you can check in on your phone? I’m sure you were the one that recommended it to us.”
