Chapter 6 - The Signature That Wasn't Mine
Laura Chen arrived at Dr. Patel's office twenty minutes after we did.
Dr. Patel examined Ella privately first, then asked me to join them. He was careful with his words.
"She is physically stable," he said. "But what she is describing is not discipline."
I shut my eyes.
"I should have known."
Ella reached for my hand.
That nearly destroyed me.
Laura plugged Maria's flash drive into her laptop.
The first file was an application to St. Catherine's Residential Academy in Vermont.
Boarding start date: January 8.
Student: Ella Grace Brooks.
Parent signature: Ethan Brooks.
It looked like mine.
It was not.
The second file was worse.
PETITION FOR TEMPORARY EDUCATIONAL GUARDIANSHIP.
Vanessa Brooks requested authority to make school, medical, and residential decisions for Ella during periods when I was traveling.
Attached was a statement supposedly written by Ella.
Daddy gets angry when he drinks.
Daddy leaves me alone.
I am scared of Daddy.
The exact words from the card on the kitchen floor.
Laura looked at me. "She was building corroboration."
"For what?"
"To make a judge believe this came from Ella, not Vanessa."
I felt sick.
Dr. Patel asked, "Why would she want guardianship?"
Laura did not answer immediately.
Instead, she opened the third document.
It was a trust summary from Grace's estate.
Ella owned twenty-two percent of Brooks Hospitality through a protected trust. I controlled the voting proxy as her father.
If I became legally unavailable and Ella's primary guardian changed, an interim trustee could be appointed.
Laura scrolled to the handwritten notes in the margin.
Next to the words INTERIM TRUSTEE was one name.
Vanessa Brooks.
But someone had written another name beneath it.
May you like
Lucas Vale.
Vanessa's brother.
