Chapter 2 - The Keys Were Never Ethan's
Ethan stared at the keys in his mother’s hand.
They were not copies.
They were the original brass keys from the front hall hook.
The same keys his father had used for thirty years.
Margaret did not raise her voice.
“You don’t live here anymore.”
Lauren stepped forward.
“Excuse me?”
Margaret looked at her.
“You heard me.”
Ethan dropped his travel bag.
“Mom, what is this?”
Robert appeared behind Margaret holding a stack of documents.
Ethan recognized him immediately.
Robert Hayes had been his father’s oldest friend and the family attorney for as long as Ethan could remember.
That made everything worse.
“Robert?”
Robert nodded once.
“Ethan.”
Lauren laughed nervously.
“This is insane. This is our house.”
Margaret looked at her.
“No. You were allowed to live here.”
Lauren’s expression hardened.
“Allowed?”
Ethan looked between them.
“What does that mean?”
Margaret handed Robert the keys, then raised the brown envelope.
“It means your father never transferred this house to you.”
Ethan felt a strange pressure in his chest.
“That’s not true.”
“You assumed it was true.”
“He told me it would be mine.”
“Yes.”
“Then what changed?”
Margaret held his gaze.
“He died before he signed the final transfer.”
Lauren crossed her arms.
“That doesn’t matter. Ethan inherited his estate.”
Robert finally spoke.
“Not this property.”
Ethan turned.
“Why not?”
Robert lifted the documents.
“Because this house was placed into a separate trust fifteen years before your father died.”
Silence.
Ethan laughed once.
He did not believe it.
“My father hated trusts.”
Robert’s expression did not change.
“Not this one.”
Margaret opened the envelope.
Inside was an old deed.
Ethan recognized his father’s signature.
Below it was another name.
Margaret Collins.
His mother.
Sole lifetime beneficiary.
Ethan looked up.
“What the hell is this?”
Margaret answered quietly.
May you like
“The first thing your father ever did to protect me from you.”
And the certainty in her voice frightened Ethan more than anger ever could.
