Chapter 2 - Natalie’s Name
Ethan read the first page twice.
Natalie Carter.
His first wife.
Maisie’s mother.
Dead for eleven months.
Her name appeared across the top of a legal declaration dated three weeks before her death.
Ethan’s fingers started trembling.
Corinne stepped toward him.
“Give me the file.”
“No.”
“You don’t understand what you're looking at.”
“That seems to be your favorite sentence today.”
Maisie began crying again.
Ethan immediately lowered his voice.
He picked her up with one arm.
“Daddy’s here.”
She buried her face against his shoulder.
He carried her to the sofa, then returned to the file.
Corinne moved toward the front door.
“Where are you going?”
“I need air.”
“No.”
She looked at him sharply.
Ethan didn’t block the door.
He simply lifted the documents.
“You spent months keeping this cabinet locked. You just put your hands on my daughter trying to keep her away from it. You're not walking out before I understand why.”
Corinne folded her arms.
“Then read it.”
He did.
The declaration concerned the Carter Family Trust.
Ethan had created it years earlier after his father died.
Natalie had been one of its trustees.
According to the papers, Natalie had requested an emergency review of several beneficiary changes.
Ethan frowned.
He had never heard about any review.
Then he saw another document.
An amendment.
His signature appeared at the bottom.
He stared.
“I never signed this.”
Corinne didn’t answer.
The amendment removed Natalie as a controlling trustee.
It also named a replacement.
Corinne Carter.
Ethan looked up slowly.
“You weren’t even my wife when this was dated.”
Corinne’s breathing changed.
They had married seven months after Natalie died.
At the time this document was supposedly executed, Corinne had been Natalie’s close friend.
The woman who brought food after the funeral.
The woman who helped Ethan with Maisie.
The woman who told him Natalie had trusted her completely.
Ethan flipped to the next page.
His signature appeared again.
And again.
Each one looked almost perfect.
Almost.
But Ethan knew his own handwriting.
“These are forged.”
Corinne snapped.
“You don’t know that.”
“I know I didn’t sign them.”
Her face hardened.
“Then maybe Natalie did something you didn’t know about.”
Ethan stopped.
“What did Natalie know?”
Corinne said nothing.
Then Maisie slid off the sofa.
Still clutching her rabbit, she walked toward the cabinet.
She reached inside.
And pulled out a small photograph Corinne had missed.
Ethan took it.
Natalie stood beside Corinne.
May you like
Behind them was a lawyer Ethan recognized.
And Natalie looked terrified.
