The following morning, Dad asked Martin to arrange a meeting with Vanessa and Grant. He wanted to hear their explanations in the same room, with the disputed documents available for reference.
Martin warned him that a joint meeting could become confrontational, particularly if the two of them blamed each other. Dad understood the risk but insisted that he needed to know whether Grant would acknowledge what he had done.
The meeting was scheduled for Friday afternoon.
Before it began, Martin reviewed the documents with us one last time. The older will had not transferred ownership of the house. The unsigned draft did not grant authority over Dad's accounts. Vanessa had signed a form that Dad had never approved, and Grant had contacted the bank to ask about using such a document.
The security footage showed Grant removing the envelope from Dad's desk. Diane had admitted giving him an old copy of the will. Peter had described Grant's questions about the missing verification page.
Each piece of evidence supported the others, but the most important document was still missing.
We did not know whether Grant had created a completed version of the form, whether he had submitted it anywhere, or what he intended to do if the bank had accepted it.
Dad sat quietly as Martin explained the remaining questions.
“I don't want to accuse him of something we can't prove,” Dad said. “But I also won't pretend this was harmless.”
Martin agreed.
At two o'clock, Vanessa arrived at the office alone.
She looked at the empty chair beside her and asked whether Grant was coming.
“He said he would,” Martin replied.
Vanessa folded her hands.
“I don't know what he'll tell you.”
Dad looked at her.
“Then tell us what you know.”
She took a deep breath.
“Grant has been in trouble financially for months. I knew he owed money, but I didn't know how much. He kept saying things would improve after a contract came through. When it didn't, he started talking about your house.”
Dad's expression remained steady.
“He said he could use the property to secure a loan,” she continued. “I told him it wasn't ours. He said it would eventually belong to us, so we should prepare.”
“Did you tell him I had changed my estate plan?” Dad asked.
“No. He told me you had changed it.”
That caught my attention.
“Why would he say that?”
Vanessa shook her head.
“He claimed Diane had shown him an older will and that you were planning to replace it. He said we needed to act before you signed anything new.”
Dad glanced at Martin.
The attorney wrote down the statement but didn't interrupt.
Vanessa explained that Grant had asked Diane for the old document because he wanted to compare it with the paperwork in Dad's study. He believed the older will might help establish what Dad had intended to do with the house.
She admitted that she had known the document was outdated.
“Then why did you tell Natalie it left everything to you?” Dad asked.
“Because Grant said the current paperwork would be challenged if we waited. He told me that if we acted quickly, nobody would question the arrangements.”
I looked at her.
“You were willing to tell me Dad was dead because you thought I might interfere with your inheritance?”
She flinched.
“Yes.”
The answer was quiet, but it was the first time she had admitted the truth without blaming Grant for the entire decision.
Dad stared at her.
“Do you understand what that means?”
She nodded, tears slipping down her cheeks.
“I know.”
“No, Vanessa. I don't think you do. You didn't simply lie about a document. You told your own sister that our father had died while he was sitting at her table. You tried to make her believe she had lost him, then used that lie to keep her away from his house.”
Vanessa covered her face.
“I thought I could fix it later.”
“After what?”
She had no answer.
At three o'clock, Grant finally arrived.
He entered the conference room wearing a dark suit and carrying a leather briefcase. He greeted Dad politely, nodded at Martin, and barely acknowledged me.
“I understand there's been a misunderstanding,” he began.
Dad gestured toward the empty chair.
“Sit down.”
Grant sat.
Martin explained that the purpose of the meeting was to clarify the disputed documents and establish the timeline of events. He asked Grant whether he had contacted the bank before Vanessa called me.
Grant admitted that he had made an inquiry.
He claimed he had been gathering information in preparation for a possible future emergency.
“Why did you ask about the accounts of a deceased customer?” Martin asked.
“Because I wanted to understand the process.”
“Why did you ask whether a relative could use an authorization form without the account holder's signature?”
Grant shifted in his chair.
“I was asking hypothetical questions.”
Dad looked at him.
“Were you also asking hypothetical questions when you took the envelope from my desk?”
Grant's face changed.
“What envelope?”
Martin placed a still image from the security footage on the table.
Grant looked at it for several seconds.
“I was reviewing paperwork.”
“Did you have permission to remove it?”
“I don't remember taking anything important.”
Dad leaned forward.
“The envelope contained a document that had been marked as incomplete. You took it from my desk without my knowledge.”
Grant's jaw tightened.
“Diane gave me an old copy of the will. I was trying to understand what was going on.”
“Then why didn't you ask me?”
“Because you wouldn't have told me anything.”
Dad's expression hardened.
“That was my decision to make.”
Grant opened his briefcase and removed several sheets of paper. He said the form had been prepared to help Vanessa manage Dad's affairs if necessary. He insisted he had never intended to take money from the accounts or claim the house without proper documentation.
Martin asked whether Grant had submitted the form to the bank.
“No.”
“Did you send it to anyone else?”
“No.”
“Do you still have the document?”
Grant hesitated.
Then he said, “I may have a copy.”
Martin asked him to preserve it and provide it for review. Grant agreed, though his tone suggested he considered the request unnecessary.
Dad asked why he had told Vanessa that the old will would help them claim the property.
Grant said he believed Dad had promised the house to Vanessa years earlier. He argued that Vanessa had remained nearby and helped with family matters while I had built a life elsewhere.
I felt my anger rise, but Dad raised one hand to stop me.
“Grant,” he said, “you have known me for years. You know I don't make decisions about my property based on who lives closest to me. You also know that Natalie has helped me in ways you have never bothered to ask about.”
Grant looked away.
Dad continued.
“You were so certain that my house would eventually belong to you that you began asking the bank how to access my accounts before I had even died. Then you persuaded my daughter to tell people I was dead.”
Grant shook his head.
“I didn't tell her to say it like that.”
Vanessa looked up sharply.
“You told me to keep Natalie away until we sorted everything out.”
“I said we needed time.”
“You said it would be easier if everyone thought Dad was gone.”
Grant turned toward her.
“Because you agreed with me.”
The words landed heavily.
For the first time, Vanessa did not look at Dad or me. She looked directly at her husband.
“Yes,” she said. “I agreed. I was wrong. But don't pretend you weren't the one who kept telling me we could take control of the situation.”
Grant's face reddened.
Martin interrupted before the argument could escalate. He reminded both of them that the documents and bank inquiry needed to be addressed through the proper channels.
Then he asked Grant about the missing verification page.
Grant said he had never seen it.
Dad watched him carefully.
“Then why did you ask Peter Lawson whether it was necessary?”
Grant's mouth opened, then closed.
He looked at Vanessa.
She stared back at him.
Finally, Grant said, “Peter misunderstood what I was asking.”
Martin placed Peter's written statement on the table.
“Peter has documented the conversation. He states that you asked whether a signed form could be used without the account holder's signature and whether the missing verification page could prevent the form from being accepted.”
Grant leaned back.
“I was trying to understand the rules.”
“Then why did you tell Vanessa the form would protect your financial position?” Dad asked.
Grant rubbed his forehead.
“Because I thought we might need it.”
“Need it for what?”
Grant did not answer.
The meeting ended without an admission of wrongdoing beyond the inquiries he had acknowledged. Martin asked Grant to provide the documents he retained and warned both him and Vanessa not to alter or destroy any records.
Dad left the office looking tired.
On the drive home, he said very little. I wanted to ask whether he regretted giving Vanessa so many chances, but I knew he was already asking himself that question.
When we reached his house, he went into the study and closed the door.
I stayed in the kitchen, thinking about the meeting. Grant had denied having the missing verification page, but his reaction to Peter's statement had been immediate and unmistakable.
He had known exactly what Martin was talking about.
My phone rang.
The anonymous number appeared on the screen again.
I answered without speaking.
The woman on the other end sounded different this time. She wasn't whispering. She sounded tired.
“Did Grant admit he had the form?”
“He says he never had the verification page.”
A pause followed.
“Of course he did.”
“Who are you?”
“I can't tell you everything yet.”
“Then why keep sending messages?”
“Because I know what he did with the original.”
I gripped the phone.
“What original?”
“The verification page. He didn't lose it, Natalie. He took it from someone who trusted him.”
I looked toward Dad's closed study door.
“Who?”
The woman hesitated.
Then she said, “Your father isn't the only person Grant has tried to take advantage of.”
The call ended.
I stood motionless in the kitchen, listening to the faint hum of the refrigerator.
The missing page had become the center of everything: the unsigned draft, the bank inquiry, the old will, and the false announcement of Dad's death.
But the caller's final words suggested that Grant's plan had begun long before Vanessa made that morning call.
I opened the message thread and typed a single question.
“Who are you, and what did Grant take?”
The reply came less than a minute later.
“My name is Laura Bennett. I worked with Grant, and I have the document he thinks no one will ever find.”
Click here to continue reading: PART 13: Laura Bennett Revealed the Document Grant Had Stolen, and Natalie Discovered His Financial Problems Were Far Worse Than Vanessa Knew
My Sister Announced Our Father’s Death While He Sat Across From Me, and Her Next Words Revealed What She Really Wanted
Part 12 of 20
