She Slapped Her Stepmother Before the Whole Ballroom
CHAPTER 3 - The Daughter Beatrice Controlled
Isabelle admitted the truth.
Two years earlier, she discovered that Beatrice transferred pension money into companies registered under false names.
The stolen fund belonged to retired factory workers, widows, and employees facing serious illnesses.
Isabelle confronted her mother.
Beatrice responded by threatening to have her declared emotionally unstable and cut off from everyone she loved.
Isabelle remained silent until Thomas noticed the same missing payments. Together, they copied records and placed them inside the safe-deposit box.
Thomas also changed his will.
Elena would receive fifty-one percent of Vale International. Isabelle would receive fifteen percent, not as a reward for Beatrice, but because Thomas had come to regard her as a daughter.
The remaining shares would belong to an employee trust.
The new arrangement would end Beatrice's control permanently.
Before Thomas could remove her, he collapsed.
Beatrice insisted he be treated by Dr. Raymond Cole, a private physician she selected. Cole certified the death as natural and discouraged an autopsy.
Investigators compared Thomas's medication with the bottle found in Beatrice's purse.
Several tablets had been replaced with pills that looked identical but contained none of the drug protecting his heart.
Dr. Cole confessed after financial records revealed payments from Beatrice.
He admitted helping her alter the prescription. However, he claimed Thomas's death was not planned.
Beatrice had intended to weaken him, force him to resign, and assume control through a medical power of attorney.
The prosecutor called that explanation meaningless.
Beatrice knew the consequences.
She also knew Elena would inherit at midnight if the original will surfaced. Her final plan was to steal the brooch, hide the key, and frame Elena for theft before the birthday announcement.
As officers arrested her, Beatrice looked at Isabelle.
"You betrayed your own mother."
Isabelle's voice shook.
"No. I stopped helping you betray everyone else."
Beatrice turned to Elena.
"She will betray you too."
Elena did not offer Isabelle immediate forgiveness. Her stepsister had known about the financial crimes for two years and waited until Thomas discovered them.
But Elena also understood what it meant to live beneath Beatrice's control.
The original will was accepted provisionally while the criminal investigation continued.
Then Margaret discovered a sealed page attached to it.
Thomas had written separate instructions regarding the mansion.
The house Beatrice treated as her private kingdom had never legally belonged to Thomas or Beatrice.
