Chapter 4 - The Waiver
The document was inside Victoria’s champagne-colored handbag.
Ethan found it beneath a lipstick case and gala seating cards.
Prenatal Inheritance Waiver.
Leah’s unborn child would renounce any claim connected to Jacob Reed, Mercer Holdings or the family estate.
In exchange, Leah would receive fifty thousand dollars and six months of housing.
Ethan stared at the number.
Victoria’s diamond earrings were worth more.
“You offered her this?”
“She is a maid carrying a dead contractor’s child.”
Leah flinched.
Ethan slowly turned toward Victoria.
“That child may be my niece or nephew.”
“That has not been proven.”
“You believed it enough to prepare a waiver.”
Silence.
Leah explained that Victoria had summoned her into the foyer during the gala.
She told Leah to sign quietly.
When Leah refused, Victoria accused her of stealing the comb.
Then she ordered her to kneel and apologize before the guests.
“I still refused,” Leah said.
Victoria’s jaw tightened.
“She threatened to expose private family allegations.”
“No.”
Leah’s voice steadied.
“I said I would tell Ethan his brother had a child.”
Victoria looked toward the guests.
“You wanted money.”
Leah laughed through tears.
“I asked for Jacob’s name on his grave.”
The answer silenced the room.
No mansion.
No board seat.
No fortune.
Only the truth.
Then Ethan noticed a second signature line on the waiver.
Someone had already approved the payment.
May you like
His mother, Margaret Mercer.
The woman who had told Ethan she was too ill to attend the gala.
