She thought of Vivian saying family did not keep score.
She thought of every emergency that somehow became Harper’s obligation.
Then another possibility formed.
Perhaps Vivian had not merely accepted Harper’s help.
Perhaps she had used Harper’s inheritance and then trained Harper to replace it from her salary.
Dylan crouched beside her chair.
“We do not know that yet.”
“She knew the firm’s name.”
“Yes.”
“And she was afraid.”
“Yes.”
Harper called Mara.
By Monday afternoon, the formal demand for an accounting had been delivered.
Vivian responded through a general-practice attorney who claimed the trust assets had been used for Harper’s benefit, including housing, education, food, clothing, and family expenses.
Mara rejected the explanation.
A trustee could not simply label ordinary parental obligations as trust distributions, especially without records.
The first set of documents Vivian produced contained vague spreadsheets created recently.
Several entries had no receipts.
