Chapter 9 - The Doll’s Final Gift
The mourners slowly filed out of the chapel, hushed and shaken.
The formal service had been completely derailed, but the truth had taken its place.
Only Ricardo, Bia, and Clara’s closest legal counsel remained near the casket.
The attorney was Arthur Pendelton, an elderly man who had represented the Vance family for forty years.
Arthur wiped his glasses with a clean silk square, visibly moved.
"Ricardo," Arthur said softly, resting a hand on the casket.
"Clara called me three days before she passed."
Ricardo turned his head. "She did?"
"She asked me to amend her final testament secretly," Arthur explained.
"She knew Helena was monitoring her official communications."
"So Clara gave me an envelope. She said it should only be opened if she died suddenly."
Arthur reached into his leather briefcase and pulled out a sealed wax envelope.
He turned toward little Bia, kneeling down so they were eye to eye.
"Your mother loved you more than the entire universe, Bia," Arthur said gently.
"She made sure that no one—not Helena, not even your father—could take your home."
Arthur opened the envelope and produced a notarized document.
"Everything Clara owned passes directly into an irrevocable trust for Bia."
"Full physical and legal custody of Bia is assigned solely to Ricardo Vance."
Bia looked up at Ricardo with wide, questioning eyes.
"Uncle Ricardo?" she whispered. "Am I coming with you?"
Ricardo knelt down beside her, his tough exterior melting entirely.
He wrapped his arms around the little girl, holding her tight.
"You are coming with me, sweetheart," Ricardo promised, his voice cracking.
"Nobody is ever going to hurt you again."
Bia buried her face into Ricardo’s shoulder.
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For the first time since Clara’s death, Bia finally began to cry.
The heavy, held-back tears of a child who had carried the heaviest secret in the world.
