Chapter 4 - The Friend Behind Northstar
“You need to leave,” Ethan said.
Vivian did not.
“I came for Owen’s medication.”
“You could have asked me to send it.”
“I also came because apparently my family is holding a trial without me.”
Elena stood.
“No one is holding a trial.”
Vivian looked at her.
“Elena Park.”
“You know me?”
“I know who Ethan calls when he wants someone else to turn his guilt into paperwork.”
Ethan stepped between them.
“This is not about me.”
Vivian laughed.
“That is exactly why this happened.”
Lily felt the room tighten.
Vivian looked at her.
“I am sorry for what I said outside.”
“Which part?”
“All of it.”
“Do you mean it?”
“No.”
The answer surprised Lily.
Vivian continued.
“I wanted you frightened enough to get into the car.”
Ethan’s face hardened.
“That is not helping you.”
“I am done trying to help myself.”
Vivian placed Owen’s overnight bag on the floor.
Then looked at Lily again.
“You were never unwanted.”
“Then why send me away?”
Vivian closed her eyes.
“For time.”
“Seventy-two hours.”
“Yes.”
Elena spoke.
“To accomplish what?”
Vivian looked at Ethan.
“Ask him about Daniel Crowe.”
Lily turned.
Ethan rubbed his forehead.
“I know Daniel.”
“How?”
“He and Vivian went to college together.”
“That isn’t what she means.”
“No.”
Ethan sat.
“Daniel became a family-business consultant.”
Vivian corrected him.
“He became your consultant.”
Lily stared at her father.
“What?”
Ethan looked ashamed.
“After your school suspension.”
“I wasn’t suspended.”
“Your in-school disciplinary day.”
“For shoving Madison.”
“Yes.”
“Because she lied about Mom.”
“I know why.”
“Now.”
Ethan took that.
“I called Daniel because Vivian recommended him.”
“What did he do?”
“Reviewed family stress.”
Lily laughed bitterly.
“Did he meet me?”
“No.”
“So he reviewed me without meeting me.”
“That was a mistake.”
Vivian said:
“He billed you twenty-five thousand dollars.”
Ethan looked at her.
“For a family assessment.”
“And you signed it.”
“Yes.”
Elena became very still.
“The first Northstar payment.”
Ethan nodded.
Lily’s anger sharpened.
“So one of those charges was real.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I thought I was getting advice as a parent.”
“About sending me away?”
“About whether a different school might help.”
There it was.
Again.
Lily looked down.
Vivian spoke more quietly.
“Daniel told Ethan that a structured academic environment could reduce conflict.”
“Without meeting me.”
“Yes.”
“Then what?”
Ethan answered.
“I told him we weren’t pursuing residential care.”
Vivian laughed softly.
“You told him that after paying for school-placement research.”
“Which I canceled.”
“But Daniel had already created Northstar.”
Elena asked:
“Did you know that?”
Ethan shook his head.
Vivian walked to the desk.
“Northstar did not exist when Ethan first hired Daniel. He invoiced through Crowe Family Strategies.”
Sarah Lin’s voice remained on the phone.
“I can confirm that. The earliest trust reimbursement went to Crowe Family Strategies.”
Everyone looked at Ethan.
“How much?” Elena asked.
Sarah checked.
“Twenty-five thousand.”
Ethan had told the truth.
Then Sarah continued.
“Four months later, reimbursements began going to Northstar.”
Vivian looked toward the floor.
Elena said:
“You submitted them.”
“Yes.”
“How many?”
“I don’t know.”
“That is not credible.”
Vivian’s voice hardened.
“Then six.”
Sarah replied:
“Nine.”
Vivian closed her eyes.
Ethan stared at her.
“Nine?”
“Some were split invoices.”
“How much total?”
Sarah began calculating.
Lily watched Vivian.
Her stepmother looked frightened.
Not because Lily had discovered the plan.
Because numbers were about to become undeniable.
Sarah spoke.
“Excluding today’s blocked request, approximately eight hundred forty-three thousand dollars over twenty-two months.”
Ethan went pale.
Lily whispered:
“From my trust?”
“Yes,” Sarah said.
Ethan turned to Vivian.
“Where did it go?”
“Daniel handled the program accounts.”
“That is not an answer.”
“Some paid real expenses.”
“For what?”
“Tutoring.”
Lily laughed.
“My tutor is sixty dollars an hour.”
“Therapy.”
“I see Dr. Patel twice a month.”
“Educational consulting.”
“What consulting?”
Vivian had no answer.
Ethan stepped closer.
“You stole from Lily.”
Vivian’s face hardened.
“Do not pretend this began with me.”
“What does that mean?”
“You used her trust for private-school tuition.”
“That is allowed.”
“Travel to academic programs.”
“Allowed.”
“Security.”
“Allowed under the instrument.”
“You normalized using that money whenever Lily cost more than you wanted.”
Ethan stared.
“Her trust was created for her.”
“Yes.”
“But I never routed payments to myself.”
“No.”
Vivian’s voice dropped.
“You simply stopped looking.”
That landed.
Ethan looked away.
Lily understood with sudden clarity.
Vivian may have stolen.
But Ethan had left the door open.
Not because he wanted the money.
Because he trusted systems he did not supervise.
Trusted Vivian.
Trusted accountants.
Trusted that wealth could handle itself.
Elena asked:
“Where is Owen?”
“At my sister’s.”
“Does he know why you came back?”
“No.”
“Good.”
Vivian looked at Lily.
“I need you to understand something.”
“I don’t.”
“You found that statement three weeks ago.”
“Yes.”
“I knew Monday’s meeting would show you everything.”
“So you invented a breakdown.”
“I did not invent everything.”
Lily flinched.
Vivian continued quickly.
“You have been angry. You have been skipping assignments. You have barely slept since the anniversary of your mother’s death.”
“Those things don’t make me crazy.”
“No.”
“Then why write that I was unstable?”
Vivian’s voice broke.
“Because Daniel said if your questions looked like symptoms, the trustee might delay giving you financial details.”
Silence.
Sarah Lin spoke from the phone.
“He was wrong.”
Vivian looked toward the device.
Sarah continued.
“We would never suppress a beneficiary’s information rights solely because a household member described her as emotionally distressed.”
Vivian closed her eyes.
Elena said:
“Daniel told you what you wanted to hear.”
“Yes.”
“Why did you need time?”
Vivian’s face crumpled.
“Because I was going to repay it.”
Ethan stared.
“With what?”
“The Ashford house.”
“What Ashford house?”
Vivian looked at him.
“My mother’s property.”
“She left that to you?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Eight months ago.”
“You told me the estate was still unresolved.”
“I was trying to sell privately.”
“For how much?”
“Maybe nine hundred thousand.”
The amount was painfully close to what had vanished.
Lily understood.
Vivian had believed she could put the money back before anyone discovered it.
“What did you spend mine on?”
Vivian looked at her.
For once, she did not hide behind adult language.
“My debt.”
Lily swallowed.
“What debt?”
“A company I owned before I married your father failed.”
Ethan stared.
“You told me that was settled.”
“I lied.”
“How much?”
“Over a million.”
“And Daniel helped you?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because he thought I could repay it.”
Elena said:
“Or because he made money from it.”
Vivian looked at her.
“You should ask him.”
Lily touched her locket.
“When did you know I photographed the statement?”
“Two days after.”
“How?”
“I checked your tablet backups.”
Lily felt violated all over again.
“And then you asked for my locket.”
Vivian’s face changed.
Ethan noticed.
“What locket?”
“This.”
Lily held the silver heart.
“She asked to borrow it.”
Ethan looked at Vivian.
“Why?”
Vivian said nothing.
Lily’s heart began beating faster.
“Why did you want Mom’s locket?”
Vivian backed toward the doorway.
“It doesn’t matter.”
Ethan’s voice hardened.
“Then why are you afraid of the question?”
Vivian looked at the small silver heart around Lily’s neck.
And Lily suddenly knew the locket was not only sentimental.
Vivian had been looking for something.
May you like
Something she believed Nora had left behind.
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