Chapter 4 - Ethan’s Attorney
The man who entered the yard was in his fifties.
Dark coat.
Leather briefcase.
Calm face.
“Claire Parker?”
“Yes.”
“I’m David Mercer. I was Ethan’s personal attorney.”
Claire stared.
“No one ever contacted me.”
David looked at Walter.
“That was not my choice.”
Walter lowered his head.
David saw Lily chained to the post.
His expression hardened instantly.
“Who did this?”
Vanessa crossed her arms.
“This is a family matter.”
“No.”
David walked toward her.
“This is potentially a criminal matter.”
He took out his phone.
Vanessa lifted the key.
“Call anyone and I throw this into the pool.”
David didn’t react.
“Do that.”
Vanessa blinked.
“There are three duplicates.”
Walter looked surprised.
David turned to Claire.
“Ethan planned for people like this.”
“People like what?”
“People who confuse ownership with family.”
Vanessa snapped:
“Ethan would never say that about me.”
David opened his briefcase.
“He did.”
He removed a sealed envelope.
Ethan’s handwriting was across the front.
FOR CLAIRE — IF MY FAMILY CHALLENGES LILY’S TRUST.
Claire’s knees almost weakened.
She touched Ethan’s handwriting.
“Why didn’t I get this?”
David’s jaw tightened.
“Because your father-in-law told me you had moved away and wanted no involvement with Parker Development.”
Claire stared at Walter.
“You lied to him too?”
Walter looked ashamed.
“I thought I could fix it.”
Vanessa laughed.
“You thought you could control both sides.”
David asked Claire for permission to call police.
Claire looked at Lily.
“Yes.”
Vanessa rushed toward him.
Walter stepped in front of her.
“No.”
She shoved him.
“You coward.”
Walter didn’t move.
For the first time, he looked directly at his daughter.
“I already lost one child because I was afraid of you.”
Vanessa went still.
Claire caught the sentence.
“What does that mean?”
Walter’s face changed.
David looked at him.
“You never told her?”
“Told me what?”
Walter’s voice dropped.
“Ethan didn’t die because of an ordinary construction accident.”
Claire stopped breathing.
“No.”
“Dad,” Vanessa warned.
Walter ignored her.
“He was investigating missing money from the company.”
David closed his eyes.
Claire whispered:
“Missing money?”
Walter nodded.
“And he believed Vanessa was taking it.”
Vanessa’s face turned cold.
Claire finally understood.
The inheritance wasn’t the beginning.
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It was the evidence Ethan left behind.
👉 Vanessa wasn’t fighting for Lily’s money simply because she wanted it—Ethan’s trust was tied to a financial investigation that could expose what happened before his death.
