Elena led Maya out of the mansion, driving straight to her friend Clara's house across town.
Clara was an experienced family law attorney who specialized in high-conflict custody and divorce cases.
Clara: Are you okay, Elena? What happened at the party?
Elena: Julian revealed his true face tonight in front of everyone.
Elena gently placed a soothing ice pack over the faint red mark on Maya's small arm.
Maya: Is Mr. Julian going to come after us, Mommy?
Elena: Never again, baby. We are going to make sure he can never hurt anyone else.
Clara pulled out her laptop computer and sat down at the kitchen table beside Elena.
Clara: We need to look into Julian's legal records right now.
Elena: He acted like he owned the law because of his family's vast estate.
Clara: Wealthy men like him usually hide a long trail of quiet legal settlements.
Clara typed rapidly into the state court database, pulling up sealed records and public filings.
Within twenty minutes, several document files appeared on the bright computer screen.
Clara: Look at this, Elena. Julian isn't the sole owner of the family trust fund at all.
Elena: What do you mean?
Clara: The inheritance belongs equally to his late brother's estate until a legal heir turns seven.
Elena gasped as she read the detailed court papers displayed on the screen.
Julian had been using his temporary control of the bank accounts to pay off personal business debts.
If the true heir stepped forward, Julian would lose complete access to the entire fortune instantly.
Elena: Who is the legitimate heir to the estate?
Clara: His late brother's missing daughter... who was placed in private adoption six years ago.
Elena felt a strange chill run down her spine as she stared at the adoption file dates.
The dates on the court documents matched the exact day she had adopted little Maya six years ago.