Chapter 14 - The Blackwood Will
Suspicion entered the family like poison.
Nathan immediately denied involvement.
“I was nineteen.”
“I worshipped Dad.”
Ethan wanted to believe him.
Claire did too.
But Hale needed evidence.
Richard’s original will had been replaced shortly before his death.
The new version gave Eleanor temporary control of the Blackwood voting shares.
Nathan received cash.
Ethan received real estate.
No one had questioned it.
Samuel Price did now.
He examined archived corporate filings.
“The signature on this amendment may be forged.”
Claire looked at Nathan.
“Did Eleanor have access to Richard’s legal documents?”
Nathan laughed bitterly.
“She had access to everything.”
Hale ordered forensic testing.
Meanwhile, Claire received another surprise.
Sophie flew from Chicago to Boston.
She walked into Claire’s house carrying a small suitcase.
The moment she saw Ethan and Nathan, she cried.
They were her half-brothers.
Richard was her biological father.
Rebecca was her biological mother.
Claire hugged her before anyone knew what else to do.
Two women connected by a terrible exchange stood together for the first time.
Claire had been raised by Sophie’s mother.
Sophie had been raised by the woman who stole Claire.
Sophie spoke quietly.
“Eleanor loved me.”
Claire stared at her.
“I believe you.”
“That’s what makes it harder.”
Sophie had spent forty years calling Eleanor Aunt Eleanor.
She remembered bedtime stories.
Birthday cakes.
College tuition.
Comfort after Margaret’s death.
Eleanor had done monstrous things.
She had also been capable of tenderness.
That contradiction hurt Sophie deeply.
Then she revealed why she had come.
“When I was fifteen, I heard Eleanor and Margaret arguing.”
“She said Richard could never know what happened on the boat.”
Ethan leaned forward.
“What exactly did Margaret say?”
Sophie closed her eyes.
“She said, ‘You changed the fuel line yourself.’”
The room went silent.
Hale now had a new lead.
Eleanor had sabotaged Richard’s boat.
But Sophie remembered one more thing.
“Eleanor answered, ‘I only did what Nathan asked me to do.’”
Nathan stood so fast his chair fell backward.
“That’s a lie.”
Sophie looked terrified.
“I know what I heard.”
Ethan stared at his brother.
Nathan’s face went white.
Then Nathan whispered.
May you like
“There’s something I never told anyone about the morning Dad died.”
And for the first time, Ethan wondered whether his brother might have helped kill their father.
