I opened the envelope with steady hands.

Inside were legal adoption and co-guardianship filings, stamped with the seal of the Texas family court.

Below that lay a certified corporate resolution.

Forty percent of Whitmore Global Holdings voting stock, transferred irrevocably into my name.

My hands began to shake.

“Mr. Whitmore, I can't take this.”

“You didn't ask for it,” he said, leaning against the desk. “That is the only reason I trust you with it.”

“I’m a twenty-six-year-old nanny from east Texas,” I said, looking up from the numbers.

“The board of directors will tear me apart.”

“The board is going to be restructured by noon today,” Julian countered calmly.

“Anyone who enabled Thomas and Greg is being removed.”

“I need someone sitting beside me whose loyalty cannot be bought.”

Noah crawled over to my knees, tugging at the cuff of my jeans.

I reached down and lifted him onto my lap.

He rested his head against my chest, blowing soft bubbles against my shirt.

“What happens to Vanessa?” I asked.

Julian’s eyes turned to cold steel.

“Her defense attorney requested a private meeting at the county courthouse this afternoon.”

“Why?”

“She claims she has physical evidence that can shorten her sentence.”

“Evidence against whom?”

“Against the man who financed the entire takeover from overseas.”

I stared at him in disbelief.

“There was someone else?”

Julian nodded grimly.

“Thomas didn't have the capital to arrange Eleanor's accident or pay off the mechanics.”

“Greg didn't have the international connections to move sixty million dollars untracked.”

“Someone backed them with private foreign capital.”

Julian checked his watch.

“Detective Miller will be here in twenty minutes to escort us to the courthouse.”

“Us?”

“Vanessa demanded you be in the room, Rachel.”

“Why me?”

“She said she will only hand over the encryption key to the woman who put her behind bars.”