Chapter 13 - THE DEAD MAN'S LAST SECRET
“YOUR GRANDFATHER ORDERED THE TWINS SEPARATED?”
Camille stared at the letter in Léa's hand.
Raphaël stood beside the police station entrance, his face drained of color.
“My father died fifteen years ago,” he whispered.
Léa looked at him.
“Then perhaps it's time we learned what he did while he was alive.”
The investigation turned toward Étienne Delcourt, the ruthless businessman who had built the foundations of the family empire.
Étienne had died in 2011, leaving behind a fortune, an admired public legacy, and a private archive that had remained sealed for years.
Raphaël remembered his father as a demanding man who believed that reputation mattered more than happiness.
“He thought family was a business,” Raphaël admitted. “Every marriage was an alliance. Every child was an investment. Every scandal was a threat.”
Léa listened without sympathy.
“And you spent your life trying to please him.”
Raphaël nodded.
“Yes.”
“Even when it meant destroying my mother.”
He did not deny it.
With the cooperation of the estate's legal representatives and investigators, Victor obtained access to Étienne's archived correspondence.
The files revealed a disturbing pattern.
Étienne had learned about Elise's pregnancy early in 1997.
He feared that the birth of two daughters outside Raphaël's marriage would damage the family's standing and complicate future inheritance arrangements.
Henri Beaumont had proposed a secret agreement.
One child would remain with Elise.
The other would be raised within the Delcourt family.
Catherine, desperate to preserve her marriage and grieving her own pregnancy losses, had agreed to participate.
But the original plan had been Étienne's.
Camille read the documents in silence.
Then she placed them on the table.
“So my entire childhood began as a business arrangement.”
Léa took her hand.
“No. Your childhood began because our mother brought two daughters into the world. What those people did afterward doesn't define us.”
Camille looked at her.
For the first time in days, she smiled.
“Thank you.”
The documents also revealed why Henri had continued controlling the family long after Étienne's death.
He possessed evidence of the illegal transfer.
He had used that evidence to obtain financial influence over Catherine's foundation and several Delcourt subsidiaries.
For years, he had profited from everyone's fear of exposure.
When Elise discovered the truth in 2019, his entire arrangement was threatened.
Victor found a series of messages showing that Henri had planned to seize her evidence and intimidate her into silence.
There was no verified instruction from Raphaël to harm her.
But the investigation established that Raphaël had repeatedly ignored warnings about Henri's methods.
That failure would haunt him.
Late that evening, Victor received the forensic results from Henri's death investigation.
Henri had suffered a fatal head injury during a confrontation in his office.
A second person's blood had been found at the scene.
And the building's entrance camera showed Anaïs Morel entering shortly before the estimated time of death.
Léa stared at the photograph.
“Anaïs?”
Victor nodded.
“She may have been the last person to see him alive.”
Camille looked horrified.
“But she came to Léa for help.”
“That's why we need to speak with her.”
Anaïs was brought in for questioning.
At first, she denied visiting Henri.
Then investigators showed her the footage.
She began crying.
“I went there to get the original recording.”
Victor leaned forward.
“What happened?”
“He knew I had a copy. He told me that if I went to the police, he'd accuse me of stealing foundation money.”
“And then?”
“He grabbed me.”
Anaïs began shaking.
“I tried to leave. He blocked the door. He hit me.”
Léa remembered the cut on her forehead.
Anaïs continued.
“I pushed him away. He stumbled backward and struck his head against the corner of the desk.”
The room fell silent.
“I didn't mean to kill him.”
Victor asked why she had fled.
Anaïs covered her face.
“Because I thought nobody would believe me.”
Léa looked at the woman.
She remembered the fear in her eyes when she appeared in the apartment.
The injury.
The desperation.
Anaïs had not come to frighten her.
She had come because she believed she had nowhere else to turn.
Victor explained that the circumstances would be investigated, including whether Anaïs had acted in self-defense.
Her account could not simply be accepted without corroboration.
But the recovered evidence supported parts of her statement.
The mystery surrounding Henri's death was beginning to clear.
Then Victor uncovered something else.
A message sent from Henri's phone shortly before his death.
It had been addressed to an unknown recipient.
The Martin girl has the photograph. She knows about the twins. If you don't act now, everything will be exposed.
Léa stared at the screen.
“Who received it?”
Victor hesitated.
“The number belongs to a prepaid phone.”
“Can you trace it?”
“We're working on it.”
Hours later, investigators located the phone.
It had been used near the Delcourt estate on the night of Raphaël's birthday.
May you like
The final outgoing message contained a single sentence.
“ADRIEN, YOUR FATHER WILL NEVER TELL HER WHAT YOU DID.”
