Chapter 2 - The Name Her Mother Erased
The stranger didn’t step farther into the house.
He kept both hands visible.
“My name is Nathan Cole.”
Brooke felt nothing.
Then he added:
“I’m your father.”
Ethan looked up.
Brooke laughed once.
Not because it was funny.
Because it was impossible.
“My father left before Ethan was born.”
Nathan’s face tightened.
“That’s what she told you?”
Brooke looked at her mother.
“Mom?”
Her mother folded her arms.
“He lost the right to call himself your father years ago.”
Nathan reached slowly into his jacket.
Gary moved.
“Don’t.”
Nathan stopped.
“It’s paperwork.”
He handed Brooke an envelope.
Inside were copies of court filings.
Letters.
Returned birthday cards.
And photographs.
One showed Nathan holding a toddler.
Brooke.
She recognized the stuffed rabbit in her own hands.
Another showed Nathan at Ethan’s first birthday.
Brooke stared.
“You were there?”
Nathan shook his head.
“Outside.”
Her mother interrupted.
“He was obsessed.”
Nathan looked at her.
“I was following the custody order.”
Brooke turned another page.
There it was.
A family-court order granting Nathan supervised visitation after a bitter separation.
Not no contact.
Not abandonment.
Visitation.
Then another document.
A later petition supposedly signed by Brooke’s mother claiming Nathan voluntarily gave up contact.
Nathan pointed to the signature.
“I never signed that.”
Brooke stared at her mother.
“What is this?”
Gary snapped:
“You’re seventeen. You don’t understand legal paperwork.”
Nathan looked at him.
“She understands enough to know a forged signature.”
Brooke’s mother finally lost her calm.
“Get out.”
Nathan didn’t move.
“I will.”
Then he looked at Brooke.
“But first you need to know why they’re terrified I came back this week.”
Brooke’s heart started pounding.
“Why?”
Nathan’s eyes moved toward the kitchen drawer beside the phone.
Gary immediately stepped in front of it.
That was all Brooke needed.
She opened the drawer before he could stop her.
Inside was a thick folder.
Her name was written across the top.
BROOKE COLE.
Under it:
PETITION FOR APPOINTMENT OF CONSERVATOR.
Brooke looked up.
“What’s a conservator?”
Nathan answered:
“Someone who controls money that belongs to you.”
Gary’s face went hard.
Brooke’s mother said nothing.
May you like
Then Brooke remembered.
Her eighteenth birthday was six weeks away.
