I did, however, need her to understand that Gertrude and Kenneth might pressure the wider family to help persuade me to sign.

“Then I won’t be part of that,” she said.

I believed her.

Not because she was related to me, but because she asked careful questions and accepted answers she didn’t like.

We talked a little about Liam.

I had never met the boy; all I knew came from a small voice on a screen and the adults surrounding it.

Chloe reminded me that he had no control over the secrets or the money.

“Whatever Kenneth has done,” she said, “that child shouldn’t be treated like proof that he’s guilty of existing.”