Chapter 2 - THE SECOND BABY
The following morning, Margaret arrived at my house before sunrise.
She did not knock.
She used the emergency key she had never returned after Nathan’s funeral.
I was already waiting in the living room with attorney Evelyn Shaw and the sealed second envelope on the coffee table.
Margaret stopped when she saw Evelyn.
“You called a lawyer?”
“I followed Nathan’s instructions.”
Her eyes dropped to the envelope.
“Give me that.”
“No.”
She stepped closer.
“Lucy, you embarrassed this family yesterday. Do not make it worse.”
“You told my son he did not belong.”
“He grabbed food.”
“Why does Carter belong more than Dany?”
“Because Carter is Chelsea’s legitimate son.”
The word legitimate landed exactly where she intended.
Evelyn opened her notebook.
“Mrs. Parker, are you suggesting Dany is illegitimate?”
Margaret glanced at her.
“This is private.”
“Not anymore.”
I held up the old photograph.
“Who is the second baby?”
Margaret’s face hardened.
“You.”
“Who gave birth to me?”
No answer.
“Who?”
She sat slowly.
For the first time in my life, my mother looked old.
“Her name was Elena Ward.”
“Why did you raise me?”
“Because she couldn’t.”
“Couldn’t or wouldn’t?”
Margaret stared at the carpet.
Evelyn broke the seal.
Inside were clinic records, adoption papers, and a trust amendment signed by my grandfather.
The documents showed Elena Ward had given birth to twin girls.
Chelsea and Lucy.
Margaret had not given birth to either of us.
She had been Elena’s older sister.
Elena died two days after delivery under disputed circumstances.
Margaret became guardian of both babies.
But the family trust allowed only one adopted heir to inherit the Parker estate.
Margaret registered Chelsea as her legal daughter.
I was registered as a dependent relative under a different file.
She raised us in the same house while preserving Chelsea’s inheritance.
That explained every difference.
Chelsea received family jewelry.
I received practical gifts.
Chelsea’s mistakes became “strong personality.”
Mine became ingratitude.
Then Evelyn found another page.
Nathan had petitioned to correct my legal status before his death.
He argued that Margaret had concealed the twin birth and fraudulently excluded me.
If accepted, half of the Parker estate would pass to me.
More importantly, Dany would become an equal beneficiary beside Carter.
Margaret looked at me.
“Nathan wanted to destroy this family.”
“No. He wanted the truth.”
“He wanted money.”
“He had money.”
“He wanted control over you.”
I almost believed her for half a second.
That was her oldest skill.
Turning anyone who loved me into a threat.
Then Evelyn unfolded a bank receipt.
Three days before Nathan’s crash, Margaret transferred two hundred thousand dollars to a private investigator named Jason Brooks.
The same man who had followed Nathan during the final week of his life.
Margaret stood.
“That proves nothing.”
“Where were you the night he died?” I asked.
“At home.”
Evelyn placed a toll-road photograph on the table.
Margaret’s car followed Nathan’s vehicle twenty minutes before the crash.
Her voice disappeared.
Then Dany walked into the room holding his stuffed dinosaur.
He looked at Margaret.
“Grandma, are you taking my breakfast too?”
Margaret flinched.
The question was innocent.
May you like
The truth inside it was not.
Read Chapter 3 to discover what Nathan had learned before his fatal crash.
