Chapter 3 - Diane Hid the Original Deed
Margaret asked everyone to stop touching the papers.
The party ended.
Noah was taken inside, dried, checked by a doctor who had been among the
guests, and kept warm.
Ryan stayed beside him.
Margaret returned the next morning with an estate file.
Inside was a certified copy of the deed.
The lakeside mansion had originally belonged to Ryan and Noah’s father,
Matthew Cole.
After Matthew’s first wife—Ryan and Noah’s mother, Elena—died, Matthew
placed the property into a protected family trust.
Ryan was named first beneficiary.
Noah, born sixteen years later, was added after his birth.
Matthew’s second wife, Caroline, received a lifetime right to live
there.
Caroline was Diane’s older sister.
That was how Diane became their step-aunt.
When Caroline died three years earlier, her occupancy rights ended.
The property should have passed into full administration for Ryan and
Noah.
But the recorded estate file Ryan had received after Matthew’s death
never included that page.
Margaret looked at Diane.
“Where is the original deed?”
Diane said nothing.
Ryan opened the jewelry box again.
Under the velvet lining was a second folded document.
May you like
The original deed.
Diane had hidden both.
