Chapter 5
Maribel’s motive initially seemed painfully simple.
She wanted a child.
She had suffered years of loss.
Then her brother’s wife had a healthy baby.
Lucinda encouraged the obsession instead of challenging it.
But the financial records introduced another layer.
Six months before Elowen gave birth, Maribel purchased a four-bedroom house less than ten minutes from Stellan and Elowen.
Price:
$1.84 million.
Large mortgage.
Substantial renovation.
One bedroom converted into a nursery before Ivy was born.
Another room became a live-in nanny suite.
Maribel’s income was strong but inconsistent.
She owned a luxury event-planning and design firm specializing in private weddings and corporate retreats.
Revenue had dropped after she stepped away during fertility treatment.
Her cash reserves were thinner than Lucinda believed.
Who paid the renovation costs?
Lucinda.
Approximately $310,000.
Who paid Hearthstone?
Lucinda.
Who paid the attorney drafting intrafamily placement documents?
Lucinda.
Who purchased the nursery?
Lucinda.
Maribel was not financially trapped into taking Ivy.
Quite the opposite.
Lucinda was financing the fantasy.
Then investigators found an escrow account opened by Lucinda’s family attorney.
Balance:
$450,000.
Label:
E.W. Transition Support
Elowen went cold.
“What is that?”
Lucinda’s attorney said it was intended to support Elowen if she voluntarily agreed to a family adoption.
Rachel’s expression changed.
“Conditioned on consent?”
“No funds were disbursed.”
“That is not what I asked.”
The draft term sheet answered.
If Elowen completed a valid post-birth consent to adoption and did not challenge finalization, Lucinda would provide:
A paid-off condominium worth up to $325,000.
$75,000 for counseling and living expenses.
$50,000 placed into an education account for any future child Elowen might have.
Stellan stared.
“You were going to pay my wife to give my sister our daughter?”
Lucinda’s attorney immediately clarified that the document had never been executed and legal counsel had warned that adoption-related payments are heavily regulated and cannot be used as improper consideration for surrendering parental rights.
That warning appeared in red across the draft:
DO NOT CONDITION BENEFITS ON CONSENT. POTENTIAL COERCION / PUBLIC POLICY ISSUE.
Lucinda kept the draft anyway.
Maribel knew about it.
Her text to Lucinda:
That’s too much. She’ll think we’re buying Ivy.
Lucinda:
Then call it security.
Maribel:
Stellan will never agree.
Lucinda:
Stellan does not need to agree with the support package. He only needs to stop blocking you.
Maribel:
He is her father.
Lucinda:
And he is my son.
That was Lucinda’s operating assumption.
Every relationship eventually bent toward her.
Then Elowen read another message.
Maribel:
What if she never signs for real?
Lucinda:
She will once everything else is already in place.
Everything else.
Rachel looked up.
“The forged document wasn’t supposed to be the final consent.”
May you like
Stellan understood.
It was preparation for something still unfinished.
