Chapter 3 - NATHAN’S LAST WEEK
Nathan had not been investigating inheritance alone.
The private investigator’s file showed repeated meetings between Margaret, Chelsea, and Dr. Samuel Vance, the physician who signed Elena Ward’s death certificate.
Nathan believed Elena had not died from complications after childbirth.
He believed someone allowed her condition to worsen because her death simplified the trust.
The clinic had been owned by the Parker family.
Margaret controlled the medical decisions.
The records showed Elena asked to keep both daughters together.
Margaret signed an emergency guardianship form while Elena was sedated.
Then one nurse reported hearing Margaret say:
“One child is enough to secure the estate.”
That nurse disappeared from the clinic payroll the next day.
Nathan located her decades later.
Her name was Mrs. Harris.
She lived two towns away.
Before we could visit, Chelsea arrived.
She stormed into my house wearing sunglasses despite the rain.
“You sent Mom some threat?”
“I sent one word.”
“She has not slept.”
“Neither did Dany after your barbecue.”
Chelsea laughed.
“You are still acting like yesterday was some tragedy.”
“You pointed at my four-year-old and told him he had no right to stand at the table.”
“He is not a Parker.”
“He carries Nathan’s name.”
“Nathan is dead.”
The room went silent.
Chelsea removed her glasses.
She realized how cruel the sentence sounded only after speaking it.
Then she saw the documents.
Her face changed.
“What is that?”
“Our birth records.”
She grabbed the photograph.
“We are twins?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“Margaret knew.”
Chelsea turned toward our mother.
Margaret had followed her inside.
“You told me Lucy was a cousin.”
“I told you what protected you.”
“Protected me from what?”
“Losing everything.”
Chelsea looked at me.
For the first time, superiority gave way to fear.
“If you are legally equal, Carter loses half the trust.”
“Carter loses nothing that was actually his.”
“That money belongs to him.”
“It belongs to both boys.”
Chelsea shook her head.
“You planned this.”
I almost smiled.
“You think I planned being humiliated at a barbecue?”
Nathan’s file contained another recording.
His voice.
“I found the nurse. She says Elena survived longer than the official chart shows. Margaret stopped a transfer to the public hospital.”
Then a second voice.
Jason Brooks.
“You should stop asking questions.”
Nathan answered:
“If anything happens to me, Lucy gets everything.”
The audio ended with a car door slamming.
Chelsea whispered:
“Jason works for Mom.”
Margaret said nothing.
Evelyn looked toward her.
“Mrs. Parker, we need your full cooperation.”
Margaret stood.
“You have no authority.”
She walked out.
Chelsea remained.
Then her phone vibrated.
A message from an unknown number.
STOP LUCY OR CARTER LOSES HIS NAME.
Chelsea looked at me.
May you like
I saw the panic before she hid the screen.
Read Chapter 4 to discover why Carter’s birth certificate threatened Chelsea’s entire story.
