Chapter 6
I did the DNA test the next morning.
Not because I was ready.
Because not knowing felt worse.
Maya came with me.
So did my roommate, Priya, who threatened to fight Aunt Caroline with a stapler if the story was true.
We mailed the kit under chain-of-custody instructions from Thomas’s lawyer, Alicia Grant.
Alicia met me that afternoon.
Sharp suit.
Silver glasses.
Voice calm enough to scare people.
She reviewed the documents.
Then asked about Caroline.
I told her everything I could remember.
The moves.
The name change.
The missing mail.
The property Mom used to mention before Caroline told me not to ask.
The life insurance check I never saw.
The years of being told I was lucky anyone took me in.
Alicia’s expression never changed.
But her pen moved faster.
“This may involve guardianship fraud, estate theft, mail interference, identity concealment, and conversion of assets.”
I stared at her.
“That sounds expensive.”
“To pursue?”
“Yes.”
She smiled slightly.
“Thomas already retained me. For you.”
I looked down.
“I don’t want charity.”
“Good. It is not charity. It is recovery.”
Recovery.
I liked that word.
May you like
It meant something had been taken.
It meant something might come back.
