Chapter 1 - THE CABINET CORINNE DIDN’T WANT OPENED
Corinne’s fist was tangled in Maisie’s hair when Ethan walked into the living room.
For half a second, his mind refused to understand what he was seeing.
His fourteen-month-old daughter was barefoot beside the sofa, clutching the stuffed rabbit she slept with every night.
Corinne was pulling her toward the hallway.
Maisie screamed.
“Dada!”
Ethan crossed the room.
Then he saw Corinne’s other hand wrapped around Maisie’s upper arm.
A fading purple mark sat beneath her fingers.
Something inside him changed.
“Let go of her.”
Corinne turned.
Her expression shifted immediately.
“Ethan, she was throwing another tantrum—”
He pulled her hand away from Maisie and scooped his daughter against his chest.
Maisie buried her face against him.
Corinne reached again.
“Give her to me.”
“No.”
“She needs to learn—”
“She’s fourteen months old.”
Corinne stopped.
Maisie’s rabbit trembled between them.
Ethan looked at the bruise again.
“How did she get that?”
“She fell.”
“Where?”
Corinne hesitated.
That was enough.
Ethan moved Maisie behind him and pointed toward the hallway.
“Back up.”
Corinne’s face hardened.
“You walk in after being gone all day and suddenly you’re Father of the Year?”
He ignored the insult.
Maisie peeked around his leg.
Her eyes moved toward the locked walnut cabinet against the hallway wall.
She made a frightened little sound.
Then pointed.
“Ma.”
Ethan followed her finger.
The cabinet had belonged to Rachel.
His first wife.
Maisie’s mother.
Rachel had died eleven months earlier after a pulmonary embolism following emergency abdominal surgery.
The cabinet had remained locked since.
At least Ethan thought it had.
A small brass key was already sitting in the lock.
Corinne saw him notice.
She moved toward it.
Too fast.
Ethan stepped between her and the cabinet.
“Why is Rachel’s key in there?”
“I was organizing.”
“That cabinet has been locked since she died.”
“Exactly. Somebody had to deal with it.”
Ethan turned the key.
Corinne grabbed his arm.
“Don’t.”
He looked at her.
Fear had replaced anger.
Not embarrassment.
Fear.
Ethan opened the doors.
Inside sat a thick stack of sealed legal papers.
On top was Rachel’s handwriting.
FOR ETHAN — ORIGINALS.
He pulled them out.
Corinne’s face drained of color.
“Those aren’t what you think.”
Ethan opened the first document.
His eyes moved across the page.
Then stopped.
SECOND AMENDMENT TO THE RACHEL MORGAN CARTER FAMILY TRUST.
Below it was a clause set apart by Rachel’s attorney.
Under no circumstances shall Corinne Hayes exercise authority over the person, medical care, property, custodial assets, or trust distributions of Maisie Carter.
Ethan read it again.
Corinne Hayes.
Corinne’s maiden name.
The document had been signed six days before Rachel died.
Eight months before Ethan married Corinne.
His daughter whimpered behind him.
Ethan looked at the woman standing in his hallway.
May you like
His wife.
And realized his dead wife had legally tried to keep Corinne away from their child.
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