Chapter 1 - The Black Envelope
The fried chicken hit my father square in the face.
Sauce splattered across Robert Carter’s polo shirt as the heavy serving tray clattered onto the patio.
The entire birthday party went silent.
“He’s my son,” I snapped, pulling eighteen-month-old Samuel behind me. “It’s not your place to discipline him.”
My father wiped sauce from his cheek.
Before he could answer, my mother stepped forward.
“How dare you strike your own father!”
Behind me, my three children were shaking.
Rebecca’s eyes were swollen from crying. Samuel’s arms trembled after carrying a tray that was far too heavy for him. Little Jacob still had a cleaning cloth clutched in one fist.
I ripped the ridiculous white aprons off Samuel and Jacob.
Then Helen pointed at them.
“That trash ought to know their place.”
Something inside me broke.
My palm struck her cheek.
Helen stumbled backward into the banquet table.
Plates crashed.
Glasses shattered.
And her expensive handbag fell from a chair.
A thick black envelope slid across the patio and stopped against my shoe.
The instant Helen saw it, her face changed.
Not anger.
Fear.
Robert lunged.
“Give me that!”
I got there first.
I opened the envelope.
There were legal documents inside.
My eyes dropped to the bottom of the first page.
Thomas Carter.
My name.
My signature.
Except I had never signed it.
“Why is my signature on this?”
Neither of my parents answered.
Robert’s face went rigid.
Helen stared at the envelope like it was a loaded gun.
Then she whispered something to Robert.
I almost didn’t hear it.
“He wasn’t supposed to see that until Monday.”
Monday.
Three days away.
I looked down again.
The heading had been partially covered by another page.
I pulled it free.
And read three words that made my stomach turn.
VOLUNTARY GUARDIANSHIP CONSENT.
I slowly looked at my children.
Then at my parents.
“You tried to take my kids?”
Robert finally spoke.
“You don’t understand what you’re looking at.”
But Helen grabbed his arm.
Too late.
Because beneath the guardianship form was another document.
May you like
And this one had an account number on it.
An account containing more money than I had ever seen in my life.
