Chapter 16 - THE MAN JAMES USED TO BE
James stared at me.
“I never signed that.”
I wanted to believe him.
The problem was that belief had become expensive.
We returned to the hospital.
Reeves was weaker.
But his mind was clear.
James stood beside his bed.
“Tell her.”
Reeves looked at me.
“James did not knowingly sign Charles’s name.”
James frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“Your mother used documents you signed during your father’s illness.”
“What documents?”
“You were his medical proxy.”
James went still.
I remembered.
Charles had suffered a stroke during his final months.
James signed forms constantly.
Insurance.
Treatments.
Private nursing.
Experimental therapies.
Reeves continued.
“Margaret obtained a sheet containing James’s proxy signature written as Charles Whitmore’s authorized representative.”
Sarah’s forensic finding suddenly made sense.
The handwriting was James’s.
The legal signature represented Charles.
Margaret had transplanted it onto the embryo form.
James sat down.
“She built everything from stolen signatures.”
“Yes.”
Reeves looked at me.
“I helped her.”
“Why?”
“Money at first.”
He closed his eyes.
“Then fear.”
“How much?”
“Almost nine hundred thousand dollars over twelve years.”
James whispered a curse.
Reeves continued.
“She controlled the clinic’s debt.”
“She threatened my license.”
“She threatened my wife.”
“But you still did it.”
“Yes.”
He did not ask for forgiveness.
I respected that more than excuses.
“Why the car accident?”
I asked.
His eyes opened.
“It wasn’t an accident.”
James stiffened.
“Who hit you?”
“I don’t know.”
“Margaret?”
“I don’t think so.”
That surprised us.
“Why?”
“Because Margaret still needed me.”
“For what?”
Reeves looked toward the door.
“The second test.”
“What second test?”
“Evan.”
My stomach tightened.
“She wanted you to verify him?”
“No.”
“She already verified him privately.”
Claire had switched the first sample years earlier.
But Margaret eventually found Evan.
Three months ago, she collected DNA from a drinking glass.
The result confirmed he was Charles and Margaret’s biological son.
He was born first.
He controlled the trust.
“So why go after Lily?”
I asked.
Reeves swallowed.
“Because Evan has a medical condition.”
My chest tightened.
“What condition?”
“Nothing immediately life-threatening.”
“But?”
“It may disqualify Margaret from obtaining guardianship under the trust’s competency clauses.”
Martin shook his head.
“That makes no sense.”
Reeves looked at him.
“You haven’t seen the amended trust.”
Martin froze.
“There is no amended trust.”
“Yes, there is.”
“Who amended it?”
“Charles.”
“When?”
“Three days before he died.”
Martin looked stunned.
“I was his attorney.”
“Not for that document.”
Reeves reached for water.
James helped him.
Then Reeves whispered.
“Charles hired someone else because he had stopped trusting everyone around him.”
“Including Martin?”
“Especially Martin.”
Martin stared at the floor.
“What does the amendment say?”
Reeves looked at me.
“I don’t know all of it.”
“But you know something.”
“Yes.”
“The first biological child does not automatically inherit.”
I leaned closer.
“Then who does?”
Reeves answered.
“The child Charles’s independent trustee determines was raised without Margaret’s control.”
May you like
Every eye in the room turned toward me.
Lily.
