The world seemed to shift beneath my feet.
“That’s impossible.”
“Is it?”
“My father loved Evan.”
“No, Claire. Your father loved control.”
I shook my head.
“You’re lying.”
Margaret walked into the house.
I followed.
In her study, she unlocked a cabinet and removed a yellowed folder.
Inside were photographs.
Bank records.
Letters.
And one handwritten agreement signed thirteen years earlier.
My father’s signature was at the bottom.
Margaret’s husband’s signature beside it.
I read the firstpage.
Then the second.
By the third, I could barely breathe.
The agreement concerned the merger of two struggling investment entities.
Rowan Meridian and my father’s private holdings.
But buried in the final paragraphs was a condition.
If Evan Rowan failed to produce a biological heir, voting control of the combined business would permanently pass to the trust established for me.
I looked up.
“You’re saying my father poisoned Evan so he couldn’t have children?”
“I’m saying your father intended to make certain you controlled the company someday.”
“Why would you cover it up?”
Margaret’s jaw tightened.
“Because my husband was dying. Rowan Meridian was collapsing. Your father offered salvation.”
“You let him poison your son?”
“I didn’t know until afterward.”
“And when you found out?”
“I had a choice. Expose him and destroy both families, or protect Evan from learning that the man who would become his father-in-law hadmutilated his future.”
My stomach turned.
“You protected yourself.”
“Yes,” she said quietly. “Perhaps I did.”
I wanted to hate her.
But something still didn’t fit.
“If you knew Evan was sterile, why did you believe Leah’s babies were his?”
Margaret looked at me.
For the first time, I saw uncertainty.
“I didn’t.”
That stopped me.
“What?”
“I never believed they were Evan’s.”
“Then why the eighty-million-dollar check?”
Her expression hardened.
“To get you out of that house.”
“Why?”
“Because Leah wasn’t there for Evan.”
A chill climbed my spine.
“She was there for you.”
Daniel’s phone rang while I was still at Margaret’s estate.
