Chapter 12 - The Hidden Clause
The legal summons arrived three days later via courier. It wasn’t a standard civil suit; it was a petition for joint guardianship and estate management filed by a woman named Eleanor Vance—no relation to the attorney, but rather the estranged maternal aunt of Sarah and Nathan whom they hadn't seen or heard from in over fifteen years.
Nathan stared at the court document in disbelief. Eleanor had abandoned the family long before their parents passed away, running off to Seattle to align herself with high-society elites and corporate wealth. Why crawl out of the woodwork now?
"She’s a proxy," Nathan said aloud to Sheriff Miller, who had dropped by the estate to review the security enhancements. "Marcus must have made a deal with Eleanor years ago. If anything happened to Sarah and him, Eleanor would step in to claim the trust fund and split the profits with the syndicate."
Miller crossed his arms, leaning against the stone fireplace. "And she’s using Lily, Ethan, and Owen as legal leverage. If she gets joint guardianship, she controls their inheritance, and she controls access to you."
"Not on my watch," Nathan growled, his surgical calm fracturing under a wave of protective rage. "She abandoned Sarah when we were kids. She has no right to step foot in this house, let alone touch my niece and nephews."
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"Legally, Nathan, family courts can be unpredictable," Miller warned gently. "If she plays the card of the 'stable, professional relative' versus a single uncle who just survived a shootout in his living room, a sympathetic judge might grant her visitation rights. And once she's inside the door, the syndicate gets what they want."
Nathan looked down at his wrist, his fingers brushing against Sarah’s silver bracelet and the plastic pink band Lily had given him. He needed to find out what Eleanor was really hiding, and he needed to do it before the family court hearing scheduled for the end of the week.
