“I was the only heir to his portion of the family trust.”

“To them, I was a financial obligation that needed to be controlled.”

He looked up at me, his gray eyes completely flat.

“They offered her money first,” he said.

“Fifty thousand dollars to sign away her parental rights.”

“She tore the check up in their lawyer’s face.”

I felt a cold knot tighten in my stomach, thinking of Evelyn’s custody threats.

“So they changed tactics,” Nathan continued.

“They hired people to follow her.”

“They took photos of her coming home late from work, claiming she was neglecting me.”

“They found a bottle of mild sedatives in her medicine cabinet and called her an addict.”

“They paid a family court judge to sign an emergency custody order.”

He paused, his chest rising and falling in a slow, controlled breath.

“I was seven years old,” he said.

“Two men in suits showed up at my school and put me in the back of a black car.”

“I never saw her apartment again.”

“Did you ever see her?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper.