Chapter 5 — The Second Will
Chapter 5 — The Second Will
The photograph remained in Ethan's hand.
He couldn't look away from the little girl standing beside Emily.
The child had Emily's eyes.
That was the first thing he noticed.
The second was the expression.
She wasn't smiling.
She was staring directly at the camera with the solemn, almost frightened expression of a child who had already learned that adults could not be trusted.
Ethan looked at Celeste.
“Who is she?”
Celeste didn't answer.
“Where is she?”
Nothing.
“Celeste.”
She finally whispered:
“Her name is Lily.”
Ethan's heart tightened.
“Lily what?”
Celeste shook her head.
“She doesn't use the Brooks name.”
“Why?”
“Because if anyone discovers who she is, she'll become a target.”
Ethan looked at the photograph again.
“How old?”
“Eight.”
Ethan's expression changed.
Eight.
Emily had been dead for eighteen months.
The girl was older than Sophie.
That meant—
Ethan stopped.
“No.”
Celeste knew what he was thinking.
“She isn't your daughter.”
“Then whose is she?”
Celeste looked away.
“That is the question Emily died trying to answer.”
Ethan's eyes narrowed.
“Died?”
“You know what I mean.”
“No.”
His voice hardened.
“I don't know anything anymore.”
Before Ethan could ask another question, the study door opened.
Michael entered carrying a thick leather folder.
His face was grim.
“I found something.”
Ethan turned.
“What?”
Michael placed the folder on the desk.
“Your father's second will.”
Ethan stared.
“What second will?”
“The one nobody told you about.”
Celeste stepped backward.
Ethan noticed.
“You know about this.”
Celeste shook her head.
“No.”
“Then why are you afraid?”
“Because I know what it contains.”
Michael looked at her.
“You've seen it?”
“Once.”
“When?”
“Before Emily disappeared.”
Ethan opened the folder.
Inside was a document dated twelve years earlier.
His father's signature appeared at the bottom.
The legal language was complicated, but one paragraph immediately caught Ethan's attention.
Upon the death of Richard Brooks, the entirety of the Brooks family trust shall be transferred according to the provisions outlined herein.
Ethan read further.
His father had divided the estate into three parts.
The first belonged to Ethan.
The second belonged to a child.
The third was held by an unnamed beneficiary.
Ethan frowned.
“Who's the child?”
Michael didn't answer.
Ethan looked at him.
“Michael.”
“Keep reading.”
Ethan did.
The next sentence made his blood run cold.
The identity of the child shall remain sealed until the primary heir produces a legitimate successor.
Ethan stared.
“That's Sophie.”
Michael nodded.
“She was supposed to activate the second portion of the trust.”
“So Sophie owns it.”
“Not exactly.”
“What does that mean?”
Michael pointed to the next paragraph.
Ethan read.
If the primary heir dies before the age of twenty-five, the child's inheritance shall pass to the designated guardian.
Ethan's eyes narrowed.
“Who's the guardian?”
Michael looked at him.
“That's the problem.”
Ethan read the name.
His face went pale.
Celeste Brooks.
Silence.
Celeste shook her head.
“No.”
Ethan slowly looked up.
“You were named guardian of Sophie's inheritance.”
“I didn't know.”
“You just said you had seen the will.”
“I didn't know that clause existed.”
Michael interrupted.
“You signed the acknowledgment.”
Celeste turned toward him.
“When?”
“Ten years ago.”
Celeste stared.
“I don't remember.”
“You signed it.”
Ethan stood.
“You could legally control my daughter's inheritance.”
“I never wanted it.”
“But you had it.”
Celeste's voice broke.
“Only if something happened to you.”
Ethan stared at her.
“Something almost did.”
She looked down.
“I know.”
“And Emily knew.”
“Yes.”
“That is why she didn't trust you.”
“No.”
Celeste shook her head.
“That isn't why.”
“Then why?”
Celeste whispered:
“Because the second will had another condition.”
Michael's expression changed.
He slowly opened the next page.
Ethan read.
Then stopped.
His entire body went cold.
The designated guardian shall inherit full control of the trust only if the primary heir's death is determined to be accidental or natural.
Ethan stared.
“So if I die…”
Celeste would control Sophie's inheritance.
“Yes,” Michael said.
“And if my death is ruled intentional?”
“The trust goes elsewhere.”
“Where?”
Michael turned another page.
There was no name.
Only a sealed section.
Ethan frowned.
“What's that?”
“The final beneficiary.”
“Why is it sealed?”
“Because your father required a blood verification.”
Ethan's eyes narrowed.
“Blood verification of whom?”
Michael looked at him.
“The beneficiary.”
A knock came at the door.
Everyone turned.
Richard entered.
He looked exhausted.
“Ethan.”
“What?”
“I found something.”
Michael frowned.
“What?”
Richard placed a small metal box on the desk.
“Emily gave me this.”
Ethan stared.
“Why didn't you give it to me before?”
“I forgot.”
Ethan's expression hardened.
“You forgot?”
“I was afraid.”
“You keep using that word.”
“Because it's true.”
Richard opened the box.
Inside was a key.
A tiny brass key.
And a folded piece of paper.
Ethan opened it.
Emily's handwriting.
The second will isn't the real danger.
His eyes moved to the next line.
The person who wrote it is.
Ethan frowned.
“My father?”
Emily's message continued:
If you find the second will, do not trust the beneficiary named inside it.
Ethan looked at Michael.
“What beneficiary?”
Michael shook his head.
“I don't know.”
Ethan looked at Celeste.
She was staring at the key.
Her face had gone completely white.
“You recognize it.”
“No.”
“Celeste.”
She backed away.
“I've never seen it.”
Richard spoke.
“I have.”
Ethan turned.
“Where?”
Richard swallowed.
“In Emily's room.”
The key opened a locked drawer in Emily's old writing desk.
Inside was another document.
Older.
Yellowed.
Handwritten.
Ethan unfolded it.
It wasn't a will.
It was a letter.
From his father.
To Emily.
You were right to distrust me.
Ethan's heart stopped.
He read on.
But you are wrong about the children.
His hands trembled.
Sophie was never the threat.
The threat is the child who comes after her.
Ethan looked toward the nursery.
His son.
But the letter continued.
If Ethan ever discovers the second child, the trust must be transferred immediately.
Ethan whispered:
“Why?”
The next sentence answered him.
Because the second child carries the bloodline that can destroy everything I built.
Ethan stopped reading.
Michael took the paper.
He looked horrified.
“What?”
Michael didn't answer.
Ethan grabbed it back.
“What does it mean?”
Michael pointed to the final line.
The child is not mine.
Silence.
Ethan looked at Celeste.
“What does that mean?”
She began crying.
“I don't know.”
“Whose child is he?”
“I don't know.”
“You know something.”
Celeste shook her head.
“No.”
Ethan's voice became louder.
“Who is the father?”
Celeste finally looked at him.
“I was never told.”
“Then why did Emily hide him?”
“Because she believed the father was dangerous.”
“Who?”
Celeste whispered:
“The man who owns the trust.”
Ethan's face hardened.
“My father.”
Celeste shook her head.
“No.”
“Then who?”
She looked at the second will.
“The person your father named as the true beneficiary.”
Michael suddenly opened the sealed section.
“Wait.”
Ethan turned.
“What?”
Michael had found a hidden clause.
“There is a name here.”
“What name?”
He slowly read it.
“Jonathan Vale.”
Ethan frowned.
“I don't know anyone named Jonathan Vale.”
Celeste collapsed into a chair.
Richard stared at her.
“You know him.”
Celeste covered her face.
Ethan stepped closer.
“Who is Jonathan Vale?”
Celeste whispered:
“Your father's attorney.”
“So?”
“He died eleven years ago.”
Ethan stared.
“What does he have to do with the trust?”
Celeste looked at him.
“He wasn't just your father's attorney.”
“Then what was he?”
“The man who created the second will.”
The room became silent.
Michael examined the document.
“This signature is genuine.”
Ethan looked at the date.
Ten years before Emily's death.
“Why would a dead lawyer still be listed as beneficiary?”
Michael shook his head.
“He shouldn't be.”
“Then someone changed the document.”
“No.”
Michael pointed.
“Look here.”
A second signature.
Beneath Jonathan Vale's name.
Ethan stared.
It was his father's.
But the ink was different.
Michael whispered:
“This was amended later.”
“When?”
“Eight years ago.”
Ethan calculated.
That was four years before Emily died.
Someone had altered the inheritance structure while everyone believed the original will was still valid.
And whoever did it had deliberately placed a mysterious beneficiary at the center of the trust.
Ethan looked at Celeste.
“Did Emily know?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“She found the amendment.”
“Then why didn't she expose it?”
Celeste closed her eyes.
“Because she couldn't.”
“Why?”
“Because the amendment was witnessed.”
“By whom?”
Celeste whispered:
“Me.”
Ethan stepped backward.
“You witnessed it?”
Celeste nodded.
“When?”
“Eight years ago.”
“Why?”
“I didn't know what it was.”
“You signed a legal document without reading it?”
“I trusted your father.”
Ethan laughed bitterly.
“You trusted everyone.”
Celeste looked at him.
“Not everyone.”
“Who?”
“Emily.”
Suddenly the security alarm screamed.
Everyone jumped.
Michael rushed to the monitor.
“Someone's entered through the east gate.”
Ethan grabbed his phone.
“Security?”
“No response.”
“How many?”
“One vehicle.”
“Who?”
Michael zoomed in.
A black sedan.
No license plate.
Ethan's stomach tightened.
“Lock the house.”
“Already trying.”
The lights flickered.
Then went out.
Sophie screamed upstairs.
Ethan ran.
He reached her bedroom.
The door was open.
The bed was empty.
“Sophie!”
A window swung in the wind.
Ethan's heart stopped.
He ran toward it.
A rope hung outside.
Someone had climbed up.
He looked down.
Nothing.
Then he heard a small voice behind him.
“Daddy?”
Ethan spun around.
Sophie was standing in the closet.
Alive.
Terrified.
He rushed to her.
“Are you okay?”
She nodded.
“There was a man.”
“What man?”
“He came to get me.”
“What did he look like?”
“He had a scar.”
Ethan remembered.
The same man Richard had described.
The same man Sophie had seen before.
“What did he say?”
Sophie whispered:
“He said I wasn't the real heir.”
Ethan froze.
“What?”
“He said the other child was.”
Ethan stared at her.
“Who told you that?”
“The woman.”
“What woman?”
“The one who looks like Mommy.”
Ethan's blood ran cold.
He picked Sophie up.
“What did she tell you?”
“She said I should give Daddy a message.”
“What message?”
Sophie looked directly at him.
“She said…”
The child hesitated.
Then whispered:
“Don't trust the second will.”
Ethan closed his eyes.
Too late.
The second will was already changing everything.
At dawn, Michael discovered the final problem.
The second will had been filed legally.
But the original trust had not.
Which meant the inheritance could be challenged.
And someone had already filed a petition in court.
The petitioner?
Celeste Brooks.
Ethan stared at the document.
“She filed this yesterday.”
Michael nodded.
“Before Sophie disappeared.”
“So she planned this.”
“Possibly.”
Ethan looked toward Celeste.
She stood at the far end of the room.
“I didn't file it.”
The room went silent.
“Then who did?”
Celeste looked at the signature.
Her face became pale.
“I know that handwriting.”
Ethan stepped forward.
“Whose?”
She whispered:
“Emily's.”
Ethan's heart stopped.
Michael examined the signature.
It was perfect.
Almost too perfect.
Then he noticed something.
“This isn't ink.”
He held the page beneath the light.
“It was printed.”
Ethan stared.
Someone had forged Emily's signature.
And they hadn't forged it to steal the inheritance.
They had forged it to make the court believe Emily was still legally controlling the trust.
Michael looked at Ethan.
“Whoever did this wants the court to believe your wife is alive.”
Ethan's blood ran cold.
“Why?”
Before Michael could answer, Ethan's phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
A familiar woman's voice whispered:
“Because I am.”
Ethan couldn't breathe.
“Emily?”
“Yes.”
“Where are you?”
“I can't tell you.”
“Why?”
“Because the moment you find me, they'll know where Sophie is.”
Ethan's heart pounded.
“What do you mean?”
Emily's voice trembled.
“The second will isn't about money.”
“Then what is it about?”
Silence.
Then:
“It's about proving who my children really belong to.”
Ethan froze.
“My children?”
Emily whispered:
“Both of them.”
The call ended.
Ethan stared at the phone.
Michael looked at him.
“What did she say?”
Ethan couldn't answer.
Across the room, Celeste slowly sat down.
She was crying.
Because she knew exactly what Emily meant.
May you like
And she knew the truth about the second will—
a truth that could destroy Ethan's family forever.
