Chapter 7 - What Jiso Needed Mason To Believe
Mason moved out of the mansion temporarily with Lisa.
Not because the house itself was unsafe.
Because every room carried Jiso’s access.
Rebecca recommended changing codes, reviewing staff permissions, and separating personal safety from estate investigation.
Mason did all of it.
Jiso’s guest-suite access ended.
Her attorney arranged collection of her belongings.
Mason did not attend.
Monday remained on medical leave.
She had not decided whether she would ever return.
That possibility hurt Mason more than he expected.
Monday had been there for Lisa’s first fever.
First tooth.
First attempt to stand.
Claire trusted her.
Lisa trusted her.
Mason had repaid that trust with violence.
He paid Monday’s medical expenses immediately through counsel without conditioning payment on silence or release.
Her attorney accepted the expenses but rejected a broader settlement offer for the moment.
“She isn’t ready to decide anything permanent,” Rebecca told him.
“Okay.”
“You keep saying okay.”
“What else should I say?”
Rebecca looked at him.
“That is progress.”
Meanwhile Allison reconstructed the nursery-related trust expenses.
Nearly $41,000 had been billed in six months.
Only about half could be verified.
Several vendors were real companies but had no record of serving Lisa.
One LLC was registered to a mailbox.
Its managing member was a former employee of Jiso’s consulting business.
The money moved again after payment.
Eventually, portions returned to Vale Family Advisory.
Mason stared at the chart.
“So she was recycling trust money back to herself.”
“We can say money from Lisa’s trust reached entities connected to Jiso,” Allison corrected. “Intent is a separate conclusion.”
Mason nodded.
Accuracy.
Always accuracy.
Then another document surfaced.
A draft petition prepared—but never filed—requesting that Mason be removed as trustee if he became “emotionally incapable of administration following Claire’s death.”
The petitioner named in the draft:
Jiso.
Mason felt something cold settle inside him.
“When was this written?”
“Two weeks after Claire died.”
Jiso had hugged him at the funeral.
Made him food.
Held Lisa while he cried.
And two weeks later she was preparing a legal argument that his grief made him unfit to manage his daughter’s trust.
The document had never been filed because Mason recovered faster than Jiso expected.
Then Monday became the obstacle.
Monday saw too much.
Asked too many questions.
And most dangerously, she made Mason’s home function.
If the nanny could be discredited and removed, Mason would look overwhelmed again.
An overwhelmed widower was useful.
A frightened father reacting to an injured baby was even better.
May you like
Jiso did not merely need Monday fired.
She needed Mason to believe firing her was his own idea.
Related Stories
