Chapter 6 - THE AUNT
Lena’s biological aunt was named Rebecca Cole.
She had not seen Lena in three years.
Rebecca was twenty-nine, sober for eighteen months, and working at a grocery distribution center in Tennessee.
Margaret’s investigator reached her first.
He offered money.
Legal support.
A place to live.
All Rebecca needed to do was petition for contact and state that Natalie had interfered with family reunification.
Rebecca called Natalie instead.
“I thought you should know.”
Natalie gripped the phone.
“What did he offer?”
“Fifty thousand.”
“For what?”
“To say you pressured me to disappear.”
“Did I?”
“No.”
Rebecca had disappeared because she was homeless, using drugs, and afraid she would destabilize Lena’s adoption.
She had written one letter.
Natalie kept it.
Lena had not read it yet.
Rebecca said, “I’m not trying to take her.”
“What are you trying to do?”
“Not become another person who sells her.”
Natalie closed her eyes.
“Thank you.”
Rebecca agreed to provide a sworn statement.
Then she asked, “Does Lena know I exist?”
“Yes.”
“Does she hate me?”
“She asks why you never came back.”
Rebecca cried quietly.
Natalie did not comfort her with lies.
“She has a right to that question.”
“I know.”
The call ended.
Mara traced the investigator’s payment source.
Brooks Family Advisory LLC.
Created ten days before the birthday.
Funded by a loan from Daniel’s company.
Daniel had not merely signed an affidavit.
He financed the operation.
Natalie confronted him at his office.
He closed the door.
“You should not be here.”
“You paid someone to manipulate Lena’s biological aunt.”
Daniel looked toward the glass wall.
Employees moved outside.
“Lower your voice.”
“Why?”
“You do not understand what Mom found.”
“What did she tell you?”
“That you are sitting on an empire while Dad’s company dies.”
David’s business was failing again.
Not publicly.
Banks had extended credit because they assumed family wealth supported him.
Margaret discovered Natalie’s ownership and decided the assets belonged where they had always emotionally belonged.
With the Brooks family.
Daniel said, “You let us struggle.”
“I paid your tuition.”
“That was years ago.”
“I saved Dad’s company.”
“You kept control.”
“No. I kept records.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“You could solve everything.”
“At what cost?”
“Some properties. Voting shares. Nothing you need.”
Natalie looked at him.
“Lena needs a mother who does not teach her that love means surrendering whenever family threatens loss.”
Daniel shook his head.
May you like
“This is not about the child.”
“That is why you will lose.”
