UNCLE HAROLD’S ESTATE

David Chen, Uncle Harold’s lawyer, stood up and opened a thick folder he’d already had waiting on the table.

“Before we go any further, I think there are a few documents Mr. and Mrs. Carter need to be reminded of,” he said, his voice calm but carrying real weight.

He set a yellowed copy of a legal document on the table.

“This is a voluntary termination of parental rights, signed by Gerald Carter and Susan Carter, notarized, dated December 14th, 2010 — less than six weeks after Diana moved in with Harold Meyers.

Under this document, you both formally and voluntarily relinquished all legal rights and responsibilities toward Diana Carter, then thirteen years old.”

My mother’s face went white, her hands shaking as she gripped her purse in her lap.

“That was… that was just a formality, to avoid legal complications, we never meant—” Her voice broke off, unable to finish a single sentence.

“Whatever the original intent was,” Mr. Chen cut in, his voice still calm, but with a new sharpness underneath it now, “legally speaking, from that date forward, you were no longer Diana Meyers’s legal parents.”

He flipped to another document.

“And this is the finalized adoption order from King County Family Court, completed June 3rd, 2012, confirming Harold Meyers as the sole legal father of Diana Meyers, formerly Diana Carter.”

He looked up, meeting Wallace’s eyes directly.

“In other words, your clients have had no legal relationship whatsoever to Harold Meyers’s heir for the past fifteen years.

They have no legal standing to participate in this estate proceeding — let alone to accuse their own daughter, who, on paper, hasn’t been their daughter in fifteen years, of manipulating a man who formally adopted her when she was just fifteen.”