Chapter 6 - MICHAEL KNEW MORE THAN HE ADMITTEDMy brother disappeared for four days.
Then his attorney contacted mine.
He wanted to cooperate.
Not with me.
With investigators.
That told me Natalie and Michael were already turning against each other.
Michael claimed Natalie masterminded the coercion.
Natalie claimed Michael did.
The recordings showed something more uncomfortable.
Both.
Michael supplied legal strategy.
Natalie controlled Mom’s daily environment.
He wanted the land.
She wanted the money.
Neither needed to be controlled by the other.
Then investigators found Michael’s emails.
He had known the conservation plan existed.
He had also known Mom’s trust contained restrictions.
What he didn’t know was the beneficiary.
He assumed:
Me.
That mattered.
One email to Natalie:
Andrew is the eventual beneficiary. If Evelyn transfers now, he’ll challenge once he finds out.
Natalie:
Then he doesn’t find out until closing.
Michael:
He trusts you.
That sentence again.
My trust was not incidental.
It was part of the plan.
Natalie would keep me calm.
Michael would handle papers.
Mom would be pressured.
By the time I knew, the deal would be too advanced to stop easily.
At least they believed that.
Then another email:
If Andrew ever learns what we did, you’ll lose him.
Natalie replied:
May you like
Then Evelyn signs before he comes home.
I stopped reading.
