Chapter 13 - The Inheritance
Ethan could not understand.
“My inheritance?”
Walter shook his head.
“Your mother never had much.”
Michael smiled.
“That is what she wanted everyone to believe.”
He handed Walter another document.
Walter read it.
Then sat down on the porch.
Ethan took the paper.
It was a trust.
Created in 1985.
The beneficiary was Ethan Hayes.
The value was enormous.
Ethan stared.
“This can't be real.”
“It is,” Michael said.
“Why didn't I know?”
“Because your mother believed knowledge would put you in danger.”
Walter looked at Michael.
“You knew about the trust.”
“Yes.”
“And Richard?”
“He wanted it.”
Ethan's voice became quiet.
“Why would my mother sign the money away?”
“She didn't.”
Michael pointed at the signature.
“It was forged.”
Walter looked again.
The signature looked almost perfect.
But Margaret had always signed her name with a small curve at the end.
The signature on the document did not have it.
Ethan remembered.
His mother had taught him how to recognize her signature.
Walter remembered too.
“This is a forgery.”
Michael nodded.
“Exactly.”
“Who forged it?”
“That is the question.”
Ethan looked at Vanessa.
She shook her head.
“My father didn't.”
Michael looked at her.
“Are you sure?”
Vanessa hesitated.
“My father was not alone.”
The silence became unbearable.
Walter whispered,
“Who helped him?”
Vanessa's eyes moved toward Ethan.
Ethan noticed.
“Who?”
She said nothing.
Then her phone rang.
She looked at the screen.
Her face went pale.
“Don't answer,” Walter said.
But Vanessa already had.
A voice spoke.
“You've said too much.”
Vanessa dropped the phone.
The call continued.
Everyone heard the voice.
It was a man.
Older.
Calm.
Familiar.
Ethan stared at the phone.
He recognized the voice.
He had heard it many times.
At family dinners.
At holidays.
At his wedding.
He whispered,
“No.”
Walter looked at him.
“Who is it?”
Ethan did not answer.
The voice came through the speaker again.
“You should have listened to me, Vanessa.”
Vanessa began crying.
Ethan stepped backward.
He finally understood why Vanessa had always been afraid of one particular family member.
Why she never talked about her childhood.
Why she had insisted Walter leave.
Why she wanted the house across the street empty.
The voice belonged to someone who had been inside their family for years.
Someone who had watched Ethan grow up.
May you like
Someone Ethan trusted.
And someone who had just realized Walter was getting too close to the truth.
