Mark reached out with one hand and grabbed the vibrating phone from the counter.
He pressed the answer button and put the caller on speaker mode immediately.
Richard Vance: Victoria, is the child secured before Mark returns from his morning meeting?
Mark felt a cold chill run through his body as his friend's voice came through the speaker.
Richard Vance had managed his late father's massive legal estate for over fifteen years.
He had also handled the complicated terms of Mark's family inheritance documents.
Mark: Richard, I am standing in my kitchen holding my daughter right now.
Silence hung over the phone line for three long seconds before Richard spoke again.
Richard Vance: Mark, you need to remain calm and think about the financial trust fund terms.
Mark: Get your lawyer team over to this house immediately, Richard!
Mark ended the call and tossed the phone onto the kitchen marble island.
Victoria slumped against the kitchen cabinets with complete exhaustion written across her face.
Victoria: The trust fund conditions required you to remain childless to pass funds to me!
Mark stared at her in utter disbelief as the wicked plan started becoming clear.
Under his late father's legal will, if Mark had no surviving heirs, the entire estate passed to his spouse.
Victoria had staged the child's disappearance three years ago with Richard's direct help.
They paid a corrupt caretaker to hold Lily in a private countryside estate for years.
When the caretaker died suddenly last week, Victoria had brought the young girl into the hidden pantry vault.
She planned to move Lily to another country once the final estate paperwork was signed on Monday.
Mark: You stole three years of my daughter's life for money?
Victoria: We were going to give her a good life overseas with a wealthy family!
Mark: You are a monster, Victoria!
Victoria: I did what was necessary to secure forty million dollars!
Mark held Lily closer while walking toward the front living room area.
He placed his daughter gently on the plush sofa next to young Ethan.
Ethan put his small arm around Lily and held her hand with deep brotherly care.
Ethan: Is she going to be safe now, dad?
Mark: Yes, Ethan, she is safe forever now.