Chapter 3 - Claire’s Warning
Thomas met me in his office.
He placed a sealed envelope between us.
My name was written on the front in Claire’s handwriting.
I hadn't seen it in almost two years.
My throat tightened.
“When did she write this?”
“Three weeks before she died.”
“Why didn't I get it?”
“She instructed me to hold it unless someone tried to interfere with Maisie’s trust or guardianship.”
I opened it carefully.
Claire began with love.
For me.
For Maisie.
Then the tone changed.
**Daniel, your mother has never accepted me. I can live with that. What frightens me is that she has begun talking about Maisie as though she is an asset rather than a child.**
I stopped reading.
Thomas waited.
I continued.
Claire described arguments I never knew happened.
Evelyn had asked how much Maisie would inherit.
Who controlled it.
Whether I could move the money.
Whether a guardian could make distributions.
Claire refused to answer.
Then came the line that made my jaw tighten.
**Evelyn told me that if anything happened to you, “Carter money should stay with a Carter.”**
Maisie was a Carter.
Why would Claire write it that way?
Then I reached the final paragraph.
**Evelyn has questioned whether Maisie is biologically yours. She claims people have been talking. There is no truth to it, but I believe she may use that lie someday if money is involved.**
I looked up.
“My mother questioned Maisie’s paternity?”
Thomas nodded.
“Claire mentioned it once.”
“Why didn't anyone tell me?”
“Claire asked us not to burden you unless Evelyn acted.”
My anger became colder.
Evelyn hadn't merely wanted control of the trust.
She had apparently been building two contradictory stories.
To the court:
I was an unfit father.
Privately:
Perhaps I wasn't the father at all.
Either way, she wanted me separated from Maisie.
Thomas opened another file.
“There’s more.”
Several months earlier, Harrison & Cole had requested information about whether trust assets could be used to purchase real estate controlled by a guardian.
Thomas refused to provide confidential information.
But the question mattered.
“What real estate?”
“We don't know.”
I did.
Evelyn owned part of an old shopping center outside Columbus.
It was failing.
Vacancies everywhere.
She had spent years trying to sell it.
If she became Maisie’s guardian and somehow gained influence over trust distributions…
“No.”
Thomas nodded.
“That's what I'm worried about.”
My mother may have wanted my daughter's money to rescue her own collapsing investment.
Then Thomas handed me something else.
A photocopy.
A DNA report.
It stated there was a zero-percent probability that I was Maisie’s biological father.
My chest stopped moving.
“Where did you get this?”
“Evelyn sent it to us last month.”
I stared at the page.
Claire had sworn there was no question.
My mother had a laboratory report saying otherwise.
May you like
One of them had to be wrong.
And Evelyn had been hiding that report while building a case against me.
