Chapter 10 - EWAN LEFT A SON
I read the birth certificate until the letters blurred.
“You have a son.”
Delia nodded.
“My brother has a son.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because Ewan told me not to trust anyone in your family if he died.”
The sentence hurt.
“He included me?”
“He didn’t know what side you would choose.”
I looked away.
That was the cruelest part.
Ewan had died unsure of me.
Delia told me Theo lived with her sister.
He believed his father had died before he was born.
He knew nothing about the Moretti name.
Nothing about money.
Nothing about Chicago.
Nothing about men who would calculate his value based on voting shares.
“He stays out of this.”
Delia watched me carefully.
“Do you mean that?”
“Yes.”
“Even if he controls the trust?”
“He’s five.”
I pushed the birth certificate back toward her.
“He should control toy cars.”
For the first time, Delia smiled.
Small.
Tired.
Real.
Then Miriam ruined the moment.
“There’s a problem.”
Of course there was.
If Theo’s claim was authenticated, he became the contingent beneficiary of nearly thirty percent of Moretti Harbor Holdings.
Until adulthood, a trustee would manage those interests.
According to the trust, that trustee was—
me.
Ewan had named me.
I stared at Miriam.
“He named me before he died?”
“Yes.”
“Then he trusted me.”
Miriam hesitated.
“Enough to give you a choice.”
That changed the meaning of everything.
Ewan had not excluded me.
He had left me responsibility.
And my father had tried to erase it.
Later that evening, I sat beside my mother.
I used the letter board.
“Did you know about Theo?”
One blink.
Yes.
“Did Ewan ask me to protect him?”
One blink.
My mother began to cry.
I held her hand.
Then she spelled something.
Slowly.
Painfully.
F.
I.
R.
E.
I waited.
N.
O.
T.
I frowned.
She continued.
F.
O.
R.
E.
W.
A.
N.
I stared at the board.
“The fire was not for Ewan?”
One blink.
Then who was it for?
My mother spelled one final word.
PAPERS.
The Pier 44 fire had not been arranged primarily to kill my brother.
It had been arranged to destroy evidence.
Ewan had simply been inside.
That made his death worse.
May you like
He had not even been the target.
He had been acceptable collateral.
