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My stomach dropped.
I felt like the floor had opened beneath me.
“What kind of condition?” I asked.
Alan flipped the page, his expression unreadable.
“To be disclosed next,” he said. “It is written in a sealed addendum to the will, which I’ll now open.”
The room went still again. I could hear Mark breathing heavily. Eric’s hand had found mine under the table, fingers laced tight. My mouth was dry.
What on earth could Susan have possibly wanted from me?
When Alan finally opened the sealed addendum and said the words, I felt my breath stop.
“The condition,” he explained carefully, “is that Kate must adopt a specific child. Only then will she inherit the estate.”
I stared at him, my fingers freezing around the edge of my chair. “I have to adopt a child?” I repeated, almost whispering. “A specific one?”
“Yes,” Alan said. “That is the requirement.”
Mark scoffed loudly. “This is ridiculous. Mom wasn’t insane. Why would she choose her to adopt a random kid? Why not one of us?”
Eric didn’t say a word. His face had drained of color.
I swallowed and asked the question burning in my mind. “Who is the child?”
Alan reached into his folder and slid a thin dossier across the table toward me. “His name, age, and current location are included.”
My hands were shaking as I opened it. The first thing I noticed was a photo clipped to the first page. A little boy, maybe five, with soft brown hair and a big smile that didn’t quite match the tired look in his eyes.
His name was Ben. He lived with a foster family on the outskirts of town.
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