Chapter 8 - Maya
Maya Bennett had planned my wedding.
Not officially.
She handled the chaos professionals missed.
Guest flights.
My father’s medical schedule.
Richard’s last minute contract calls.
She knew which tea I drank when nauseated and which board members I refused to sit beside.
When I became pregnant, she reorganized my schedule so I could sleep.
I trusted her with my calendar.
Travel.
Family office communication.
Not my legal authority.
Her workstation created the forged documents.
Maya did not flee.
She came to the hospital voluntarily.
She cried before anyone accused her.
“My computer was compromised.”
Possible.
Adrian’s forensic team examined it.
No obvious malware.
Remote administration software installed legitimately by Hayes IT.
Access logs showed late night sessions.
Account:
MBENNETT.
Could someone use her credentials?
Yes.
Who knew the password?
Maya.
IT reset staff.
Possibly attackers.
Then cameras from Hayes headquarters showed something.
Richard entering Maya’s office repeatedly after hours.
He had building access through spouse executive privileges.
Maya knew?
“Sometimes.”
“Why?”
“He said he needed documents from Amelia’s calendar.”
“Did you give him permission?”
“Not to use my computer.”
“Did you report it?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“He was your husband.”
That answer kept returning in different forms.
Family proximity as authority.
Richard knew where everyone’s boundaries softened.
Maya admitted another thing.
She shared her login with him once.
Two years earlier.
He needed to print a document while she was at lunch.
She never changed the password.
Security failure.
Not conspiracy.
But enough.
Forensic typing patterns on the forged documents matched Richard’s other drafts strongly.
Not perfect proof.
Supporting evidence.
Then investigators found USB device history.
A storage key inserted into Maya’s workstation during three forgery sessions.
Device serial belonged to Richard’s personal encrypted drive.
The chain tightened.
Maya had not created the documents.
Richard used her office because activity from my assistant looked legitimate.
Why not his own?
Because the family office trusted Maya’s workstation for document routing.
Richard weaponized trust pathways rather than hacking high security systems.
That theme had become painfully familiar.
Maya then revealed something else.
“Richard was not the only person using my office.”
“Who?”
“Your cousin Nathan.”
Nathan Hayes.
My father’s sister’s son.
Chief operating officer of Hayes Advanced Systems.
He grew up almost like a brother.
Richard disliked him.
Nathan disliked Richard more.
Could Nathan be the person warning me?
Or helping Richard?
Maya did not know.
Nathan entered her office two days after Richard each time.
He said he was auditing unauthorized document activity.
“Did he tell you?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“He said he wanted proof first.”
Another protector hiding information.
I was done with that excuse.
Nathan arrived under subpoenaed corporate interview.
He admitted monitoring Richard.
Three years.
Why?
He discovered unusual searches for Avalon inside Richard’s account.
Nathan had no official Avalon clearance.
He asked Simon.
Simon told him to stay out.
Nathan did not.
He quietly tracked Richard’s activity.
When he saw forgeries coming from Maya’s workstation, he installed logging software.
Without telling Maya.
Improper.
Maybe illegal depending policy.
But it preserved evidence.
“Why not tell Amelia?”
Nathan looked at me.
“Because you would have confronted Richard.”
“Yes.”
“And he would have destroyed everything.”
“Maybe.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
I stared.
“Do not use that sentence.”
He looked ashamed.
“Fair.”
Nathan’s logs showed Richard creating the documents.
Clear.
They also showed someone else remotely reviewing them before final save.
User:
EVSHAW.
Evelyn Shaw.
Beta.
Someone using Evelyn’s credentials had access to Maya’s workstation.
Did Evelyn know about Richard’s plan and allow the forged documents?
Or monitor them?
The logs showed she never edited.
Only opened.
Read.
Closed.
Then, minutes later, Nathan received anonymous alerts containing partial warnings.
One warning led him to stop a trust filing.
Another instructed him to preserve my old tablet.
Nathan ignored that one because he could not access Monterey.
So Beta had been watching Richard.
Not helping him.
Why not stop him directly?
Maybe because Evelyn lacked proof.
Maybe because she wanted Richard to expose himself.
That sounded dangerously familiar to what I had done.
I had suspected betrayal and prepared silently instead of confronting him.
We had all been playing games around truth.
Then Nathan gave me the most important file.
Audio from Richard inside Maya’s office.
He was on the phone with someone.
Richard:
“Once Amelia is gone, the continuity amendment gives me majority.”
Unknown voice:
“Only if Beta transfers.”
Richard:
“Laura has the card.”
Voice:
“The card is useless without Evelyn.”
Richard:
“She is dead.”
Voice:
“Then prove it.”
Richard:
“Simon said she disappeared.”
Voice:
“Disappeared is not dead.”
Who was on the phone?
Nathan could not identify.
Then the voice said:
“If you cannot get Gamma alive, the child changes everything.”
Richard:
“The child is not born yet.”
Voice:
“That is not what the trust says.”
I stopped breathing.
My succession documents treated a viable pregnancy as contingent issue under certain provisions.
Could my unborn child already affect control?
Naomi opened the original trust.
A clause none of us had focused on:
Upon medically confirmed viability of a direct descendant, spousal continuity rights become subordinate to descendant preservation provisions.
My baby had been medically viable for weeks.
Richard’s trustee rights may already have been reduced.
He had been trying to kill me under a legal assumption that was wrong.
Whoever spoke to him knew that.
Then the unknown voice said one final thing.
“Ask Amelia’s doctor when viability was certified.”
My obstetrician, Lena Foster.
May you like
The same clinic from which my biometric fingerprint had been stolen.
Continue to the next part: Richard’s plan depended on Amelia’s pregnancy status, and someone inside her medical care knew exactly when his control disappeared.
