Chapter 4 - THE PROMISE
Ethan confronted Margaret first.
She cried almost immediately.
“Yes.”
“You knew Dad pressured Aaron.”
“Yes.”
“You let all of us believe he just chose to go.”
“He did choose.”
“That isn’t the point.”
Margaret wiped tears.
“Your father has punished himself every day since.”
“No. He’s punished everyone else.”
She flinched.
Ethan continued.
“You turned Blake into a memorial.”
“That’s cruel.”
“Is it wrong?”
Margaret had no answer.
Ethan asked about the inheritance.
Richard’s estate included:
investment accounts,
the family home,
a lake cabin,
and retirement assets.
No secret trust.
No hidden corporate empire.
A comfortable estate.
Richard had told everyone for years it would be divided fairly.
Was that still true?
Margaret said:
“Your father changed the will after Melissa died.”
“How?”
“Blake receives sixty percent.”
Ethan stared.
“And June?”
“Through you.”
“What does that mean?”
“Your share is twenty percent. Helen’s is twenty.”
Ethan laughed once.
“So Blake gets three times what I do.”
“He lost both parents.”
“That explains generosity. It doesn’t explain using him as a weapon.”
Margaret snapped:
“Money isn’t the point.”
“Then why threaten me with it?”
Silence.
Ethan leaned forward.
“You’ve both been telling June her entire life that she deserves less because Blake suffered first.”
Margaret shook her head.
“We never said that.”
“You say it every time she wants equal treatment.”
Then Margaret said something unexpected.
“Blake knows.”
Ethan froze.
“Knows what?”
“About the will.”
“At twelve?”
“Richard told him.”
“When?”
“Last year.”
Ethan’s stomach dropped.
“What exactly did he tell him?”
Margaret looked ashamed.
“That the family would always protect him because his father paid the price for everyone else.”
Ethan stared.
“Paid what price?”
May you like
Margaret whispered:
“Richard told Blake Aaron died proving family comes first.”
