Chapter 10 - Diane Wanted Control Before Sophie
Rebecca reconstructed the timeline.
Diane’s first goal had not been Sophie.
It had been me.
She encouraged me to quit forensic work.
She isolated me from foundation records.
She described my questions as anxiety.
Then I became pregnant.
That created a new problem.
Under Charles Harrow’s estate plan, Ethan’s first child would eventually
receive a protected beneficial interest in certain family assets.
Sophie’s birth reduced Diane’s long-term control.
If I remained Sophie’s active parent and continued examining the
foundation, Diane faced both financial scrutiny and loss of influence.
The guardianship strategy solved both problems.
Discredit me.
Control access to Sophie.
Keep Ethan dependent on Diane’s version of events.
Ethan looked physically ill when Rebecca explained it.
“My mother was trying to take my daughter.”
I corrected him.
“She was trying to control all three of us.”
That distinction mattered.
Diane had spent years making Ethan believe obedience was loyalty.
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Now she had tried to build the same structure around Sophie before our
daughter was even born.
