Isobel’s manicured fingertips darted toward the spouse section of the open registry folder. I slammed the leather cover shut, trapping empty air just an inch from her knuckles.
"Keep your hands off the original," I warned, pulling the folder against my chest.
"Give it to me, Maeve," Isobel demanded. Her voice echoed off the towering bookshelves of the estate’s archive room, where we had retreated to avoid the flashing cameras in the chapel. "That paper is a clerical error. Declan already assured me it would be annulled."
"An error that lasted twelve years?" I asked, sliding the folder into my leather tote bag. "You can't tear up a legal marriage just because it inconveniences your return to high society."
Finn stepped in front of the heavy oak door, blocking my exit. His dark eyes narrowed, mirroring the exact expression his father wore when closing a ruthless business deal.
"Hand over the folder," Finn said. "You've caused enough of a scene today."
"I caused a scene?" I laughed, a harsh, hollow sound that startled even me. "Your father erased a decade of my life in front of the Archbishop. I merely provided a fact check."
"My father paid your salary," Finn countered, stepping closer. "Every month, on the dot. You got your money. We are even. Stop pretending you belong in our family."
I dropped my tote onto the long mahogany table. "Even?"
"Generously compensated," Isobel chimed in from the corner, adjusting her black lace veil. "Let’s not pretend you suffered, living in a palace on the Duke’s dime."
I ignored her and unzipped the side compartment of my bag. I reached inside and pulled out a stack of fourteen blue cloth-bound notebooks. I slammed them onto the polished wood. They hit with a heavy thud, kicking up a small cloud of dust.
"What is this garbage?" Finn asked, eyeing the worn covers.
"Your grandfather's life," I said.
I reached into the bag again and produced a thick manila envelope. I dumped eighty-four signed authorization forms next to the notebooks, spreading them out across the table like a deck of cards.
"Fourteen volumes," I said, my voice steady, though my hands shook as I pointed at the stack. "Do you know what's in volume nine, Finn? The winter you caught pneumonia. I spent three weeks sleeping on the floor next to your bed, documenting your fever every hour. Was that part of my nursing contract for your grandfather?"
Finn swallowed hard, his gaze dropping to the floorboards. "You were paid extra for overtime."
"I never submitted a single invoice for you," I shot back. "I did it because you were crying for a mother who wouldn't answer her phone."
I tapped the top blue cover. "For the past seven years, Aisling and I recorded Ronan's medication in these pages. Every single night at two-ten in the morning. While you slept in the West Wing, while your father drank himself into a stupor in London, we were awake."
Finn stared at the blue fabric. "That was your job. You were hired to nurse him."
"I opened the final page," I continued, flipping the cover back to reveal the black ink. "Look at the signatures. The night he died, Aisling and I signed this together. We held his hands while his lungs failed. Where were you, Finn?"
"And where was your mother?" I asked, turning my focus to Isobel.
"I was born Lady Isobel," she sneered. "I do not play nurse to dying old men."
"No, you play the victim," I fired back. "You smile for the cameras and pretend you never left."
"I had to leave for my mental health," Isobel said. "Declan and I needed space."
"Space?" I grabbed one of the eighty-four authorization forms and slid it across the table toward Finn. "Read it. Thirteen years ago, your mother walked out of this estate with a six-hundred-thousand pound departure settlement."
Finn’s head snapped up. "What?"
"Don't listen to her," Isobel hissed, stepping forward.
"Read the signature, Finn," I demanded, pointing to the bottom of the page. "She signed away your long-term care. She took the cash and gave up her parental rights on paper so she could vacation in Monaco. I raised you from the age of six. I was the one who stayed when she sold you for six hundred thousand pounds."
Finn picked up the yellowed paper. His thumb traced the embossed seal of the estate lawyers.
"Six hundred thousand," Finn said, quieter now.
"Tax-free," I added. "She negotiated for an extra fifty thousand to cover her travel expenses out of the country. She priced your childhood, Finn. She put a number on leaving you behind, and then she signed on the dotted line."
"It wasn't like that!" Isobel shouted, stepping forward to snatch the paper.
I slapped my hand over the document, pinning it to the table. "Don't touch it. It's an official estate record."
"You manipulated the lawyers," Isobel accused, glaring at me.
"I didn't even know Declan when you signed this," I said. "I was just a junior nurse at the time. You made this bed all on your own."
Finn folded the authorization form in half. He tossed it back onto the pile of blue notebooks.
"Ancient history," Finn said. His voice lacked any warmth.
My chest tightened. "Ancient history? She sold you."
"She secured her financial independence," Finn replied smoothly, echoing a line he must have heard his father use a hundred times. "Business is business."
He reached into his tailored jacket pocket and pulled out a single sheet of crisp white paper. He flattened it out and slid it across the mahogany table toward me.
"This is the official family statement for the press," Finn said. "It lists Isobel as the grieving widow-to-be and mother of the heir. It lists you as the head caregiver."
I stared at the black ink. "You want me to sign away my marriage."
"I want you to stop embarrassing us," Finn replied. He pulled a silver pen from his pocket and tapped it against the paper. "Sign it, take your final paycheck, and leave Blackwater."
"You're asking me to erase myself," I whispered, staring into the eyes of the boy I had loved like a son.
"I am telling you to know your place," Finn corrected. "Sign the paper."
Isobel smiled, a victorious smirk that made my stomach turn. "Be a good employee, Maeve. Don't make this harder than it has to be."
I looked at the blue cloth logs. I looked at the eighty-four authorization forms. I looked at the boy who had just reduced a decade of unconditional love to a business transaction.
"I won't sign a lie," I said, pushing the paper back across the table.
Before Finn could argue, a sharp buzz vibrated against the wood.
My phone screen lit up next to the blue cloth logs.
It was a high-priority message from Siobhan Gallagher, the estate's senior executor.
The subject line flashed in bold red text.
Mandatory Will Reading Notification: All interested parties must be present in exactly 72 hours; the green-bound appendix will be read alongside it.
