Because twelve minutes earlier she had held a frightened child still while cutting her hair against her will.
Andre continued.
“I explained that adoption alone would not automatically make her trustee.”
Daniel asked:
“What about the house?”
Another pause.
Andre said:
“Three weeks ago, my office received a proposed request for early distribution.”
“How?”
“Email.”
“From who?”
Andre hesitated.
“It appeared to come from you.”
Daniel stared at his phone.
“I never sent anything.”
“I suspected that.”
“Why?”
“Because the wording didn’t sound like you. And the request made little financial sense.”
Andre continued.
“It stated that using nine hundred and forty thousand dollars from Lily’s trust to purchase a larger residence would benefit the child because she required ‘enhanced family stability following remarriage.’”
Daniel’s mouth went dry.
Simone said:
“We talked about moving.”
“Yes,” Daniel said. “We talked about buying a house together.”
She nodded desperately.
“For the family.”
“With our money.”
“I thought—”
“You thought my seven-year-old daughter should buy us a house?”
“No!”
Daniel’s voice rose.
“Then explain it.”
“I thought the trust was for her benefit.”
Andre said quietly:
“A family residence can theoretically qualify in very limited circumstances, but not like this.”
Simone glared toward the phone.
“Nobody asked you.”
Andre’s voice remained calm.
“Actually, somebody did.”
Daniel felt cold.
Andre continued.
“The draft request listed Simone as proposed co-owner of the property.”
Daniel turned.
Simone stopped speaking.
The ballroom music below them shifted.
A string quartet had begun the prelude.
The wedding was supposed to start soon.
Somewhere downstairs, guests were smiling.
Daniel looked at the woman in the wedding dress.
“What house?”
Simone whispered:
“The one in Briar Ridge.”
He knew it.
Of course he knew it.
Simone had shown him photographs for months.
Six bedrooms.
Pool.
Marble kitchen.
Gated entrance.
Nearly a million dollars.
Daniel had told her it was too expensive.
She insisted they could “make it work.”
He had assumed that meant mortgages, savings, maybe selling his existing house.
He had never imagined she meant Lily.