tried to say something, but for once in her life, her mouth wouldn’t work. Almost instantly shock turned into disbelief. It wasn’t true. It couldn’t be. With great effort, she found her voice.
“Let me get this straight. You’re telling me that the money I’ve been receiving is from Arthur Stanford and he’s my grandfather?”
He nodded. “That’s exactly what I’m telling you. There’s no doubt about it. You’re Arthur Stanford’s granddaughter.”
Her whole life, Carolyn had dreamed of belonging to someone of her own flesh and blood, longing to know what family genes she carried. She’d fought all her battles from a sense of aloneness, and as she looked into Adam’s reassuring face and gentle eyes, she pleaded silently, Please, let this be true.
He must have read the plea in her expression, because he smiled and took her hand. The warm contact gave her the reassurance she needed to believe the impossible.
“I have a complete report here,” Bancroft said, handing Carolyn a folder.
Both men fell silent as she read the file.
For the first time Carolyn learned the mystery of her birth. Her mother, Alicia Stanford, had been a sixteen-year-old who ran away when she discovered she was pregnant. Her affluent family’s efforts to find her ended unhappily a year later when she returned home with a terminal disease. She refused to say what had happened to the baby and would not identify the father. Apparently nothing was done to try to locate the baby until a few years ago.
Carolyn learned that she was just starting medical school when the investigators her widowed grandfather hired finally tracked her down, and the millionaire began to support her education.
“He knew for four years that I was his granddaughter!” Disbelief gave way to deep disappointment. Tears threatened to spill from her eyes. “Why didn’t he tell me? Why did he keep it from me?”
“We don’t know,” the lawyer admitted. “When your grandfather arranged for your financial grant, he insisted on total secrecy.”
“He received continuous updates about you,” Adam told her. “He knew that you went to work for the financial firm Champion Realty and Investments right out of high school and could have worked your way up in that company. From all the reports, Carolyn, you certainly could have a career in business, as well as medicine.”
Bancroft shoved his glasses up his nose and cleared his throat. “And that brings us to the legal matter at hand. The good news. The matter of his will.”
Both men looked at her in a way that made her breath catch. “He left me…something?”
Adam couldn’t resist a chuckle. “More than just something, I’d say.”
Bancroft beamed. “Arthur Stanford made a new will just a few months before his death. Carolyn, you’re the primary beneficiary.”
The lawyer proceeded to inform her that Stanford had bequeathed her fifty-one percent of Horizon Pharmaceuticals, his elegant mansion and other considerable monetary assets.
She stared at both men incredulously, her blue eyes rounding. What kind of macabre joke was this? She’d never been one to believe in fairy tales, and she certainly didn’t believe in this one. It had to be a hoax! A cruel manipulation of some kind.
Seeing a red flush mounting her neck, Adam said quickly, “It’s true, Carolyn. Your grandfather died several weeks ago, and all the legalities are settled. There were just a few necessary verifications to make before telling you.”
“You’re expecting me to believe that Arthur Stanford bypassed everyone else to leave a fortune to his long-lost granddaughter?”
“Yes, Carolyn, that’s exactly what has happened.”
“What about the other people in his life?” Carolyn demanded as a blessed logical detachment allowed her to get her emotions under control. She wanted facts. She wasn’t about to accept anything at face value. Especially not a Cinderella story like the one they were trying to lay on her. “There were other people in his life, weren’t there?”
“Yes,” Bancroft answered readily. “There is one son, your mother’s older brother, Jasper. He’s mentioned in the will, but in a lesser way.”
“Why would Arthur Stanford do that? I mean, I don’t understand why he didn’t leave his son the company and everything else.”
Adam spoke up. “Maybe because Jasper ran two companies and property of his own into bankruptcy, and his father had to bail him out. Obviously Stanford didn’t want the same thing to happen to Horizon.”
“And there’s no one else?” she asked with a dry mouth.
“No blood relation, other than Jasper. You’re the only one,” Bancroft answered. “Jasper is a laboratory scientist at Horizon, and your grandfather left him some stock, but you hold the controlling interest. Jasper never married, but he has maintained a five-year romantic relationship with Della Denison, a very capable career woman, who also works at Horizon. They live in the Stanford mansion, along with Della’s two children, both in their twenties.” He paused. “Apparently your grandfather found this arrangement amicable.”
“But it may not continue to be so when you take up residency there,” Adam warned her. “Remember, Carolyn, in the end you will be the one to decide if any changes need to be made. Everything has been put on hold since your grandfather’s death.”
“Until all the legalities are finalized,” Bancroft said, “I can arrange for generous funds to be available to you to take care of your immediate financial needs.” As he continued to expand on the details of the will, Carolyn’s doubts began to fade, and a flood of questions took their place.
Adam leaned toward her and waited for her eyes to meet his before he said, “It’s important that I share some disturbing facts with you now, Carolyn, before you move into the role of a wealthy heiress.”
Heiress. The word lacked any meaning for her. She’d never had enough money to cover her monthly expenses. Her secondhand car had more than a hundred thousand miles on it. At the moment she was unemployed since no one had jumped at her résumé or brand-new medical degree.
“Your grandfather’s death was a surprise to everyone,” Adam told her. “Very unfortunate.”
“Was he ill?” she asked, wishing she could have been at his side. Her medical training might have counted for something if she could have cared for him.
The way Carolyn’s expectant gaze was fixed on him made Adam wish he had more than just empirical facts to tell her. He knew she was in for another shock. “No, it wasn’t illness that ended his life. I’m sorry I have to tell you that your grandfather was a victim of a hit-and-run driver.”
She stared at him, a sickening lump lodged in her throat. Maybe her grandfather had planned to reveal himself to her, but met an untimely death before it happened. She felt an even greater loss, knowing how he’d died.
“Stanford was killed in a waterfront location, and there seems to be some question whether his death was accidental.”
At first his words refused to penetrate. Then she said in disbelief, “You mean someone deliberately hit him?”
“We
