Chapter 6 - THE SON WHO INHERITED A LIE
Julien Moreau sat alone in a private office overlooking Geneva's financial district.
His phone lay on the desk.
Camille had blocked him.
Armand had refused his calls.
And Diane had disappeared.
For three years, Julien had imagined the moment he would finally take something from the Delcourt family.
He had pictured Armand's humiliation.
Camille's helplessness.
The satisfaction of proving that the powerful could be brought down.
But now that everything was collapsing, he felt something he had never anticipated.
Shame.
He looked at the photograph on his desk.
It showed his father, Étienne Mercier, standing beside a teenage Julien.
Étienne had been a gentle man.
Quiet.
Hardworking.
He taught Julien to repair bicycles.
He attended every school performance.
He encouraged him to study finance because he believed numbers could create opportunity.
Then the investigation began.
Police searched their home.
Newspapers published accusations.
Friends stopped calling.
Julien remembered his mother crying in the kitchen.
He remembered Étienne insisting he was innocent.
And he remembered the day his father was taken away.
Julien had been seventeen.
He had promised himself he would never forgive the Delcourts.
Three years later, Étienne died after suffering a heart attack shortly after his release from prison.
Julien blamed Armand.
He blamed Madeleine.
He blamed everyone connected to the investigation.
Then Victor Lemaire approached him.
Victor offered sympathy.
Money.
Access to documents.
A path toward revenge.
Julien had accepted.
He had never questioned why Victor was so eager to help.
Until now.
His phone rang.
Victor.
Julien answered.
“Where's Diane?”
Victor's voice was calm.
“That's what I was going to ask you.”
“I haven't spoken to her.”
“You're lying.”
Julien stood.
“Don't speak to me like that.”
Victor laughed softly.
“Julien, you seem to have forgotten who made your career possible.”
Julien gripped the phone.
“You told me the marriage agreement would give me leverage against Armand.”
“And it would have.”
“You never mentioned forcing Asterion into receivership.”
Victor was silent.
Julien continued.
“You planned to take the whole company.”
“I planned to recover what your family was owed.”
“By destroying Camille?”
Victor's voice hardened.
“Don't tell me you've developed a conscience.”
Julien looked toward the window.
He remembered Camille laughing over breakfast.
Camille celebrating her employees' achievements.
Camille staying late at the hospital when a young engineer's wife gave birth prematurely.
She wasn't like the ruthless Delcourt family Victor had described.
She was generous.
Loyal.
And she had trusted him completely.
“I won't let you hurt her,” Julien said.
Victor laughed.
“You already did.”
The words struck harder than Julien expected.
Victor continued.
“You deceived her for three years. You proposed marriage under false pretenses. You signed the financing documents. Don't pretend you're innocent now.”
Julien closed his eyes.
“I know what I did.”
“Then finish it.”
“No.”
Silence.
Then Victor spoke quietly.
“Be careful, Julien.”
The call ended.
Julien stared at his phone.
For the first time, he understood that Victor had never considered him a partner.
He was a tool.
And tools could be discarded.
Meanwhile, Camille sat across from Sofia Bennett in a secure conference room.
She had just finished recounting Diane's revelation.
“Julien may not be Étienne Mercier's biological son,” Sofia repeated.
Camille nodded.
“That's what Diane said.”
“Do you believe her?”
“I don't know.”
Sofia leaned back.
“Even if it's true, it doesn't excuse what Julien did.”
“I know.”
“Then why does it matter?”
Camille looked down.
“Because someone built his entire life around revenge.”
She paused.
“If the story he believed was false, I want to know who told him.”
Sofia studied her.
“You still care about him.”
Camille's eyes filled with tears.
“I wish I didn't.”
Sofia reached across the table.
“Caring about someone doesn't mean you have to trust them again.”
Camille nodded.
That distinction mattered.
She could grieve the man she thought she knew.
She could acknowledge that some of their moments had been genuine.
But she didn't have to surrender her future to him.
The next day, Evelyn Brooks obtained a breakthrough.
A former employee of Lemaire Advisory Group agreed to provide records from the original Mercier investigation.
His name was Antoine Girard.
He had worked as an internal auditor eleven years earlier.
Now retired, he lived quietly outside Lyon.
When Camille, Sofia, and Evelyn met him, Antoine appeared nervous.
“I should have spoken years ago,” he admitted.
“Why didn't you?” Camille asked.
He looked ashamed.
“Because I had children. A mortgage. A career.”
Camille said nothing.
She was beginning to understand how often terrible wrongdoing survived because ordinary people were afraid of losing ordinary things.
Antoine opened a folder.
“Étienne Mercier was responsible for some accounting violations,” he said. “But he wasn't responsible for the missing twenty million.”
Camille leaned forward.
“Who was?”
“Victor Lemaire.”
The room went silent.
Antoine continued.
“Victor controlled several shell companies. He moved money through false consulting contracts.”
“Why was Étienne blamed?”
“Because Victor manipulated the audit records.”
Evelyn examined the documents.
“These are original transaction logs?”
“Yes.”
“Do you have evidence of the manipulation?”
Antoine nodded.
He handed her a flash drive.
“Everything I kept.”
Camille felt hope for the first time in days.
Then Antoine looked directly at her.
“There's something else you need to understand.”
“What?”
“Your mother discovered the fraud.”
“I know.”
“No,” Antoine said. “You don't.”
He leaned forward.
“Madeleine wasn't investigating only to protect your father.”
Camille frowned.
“What do you mean?”
“She was trying to protect a young man.”
Camille's heart began pounding.
“Julien?”
Antoine nodded.
“Your mother knew Victor was using him.”
Camille stared at him.
“Then why didn't she tell Julien the truth?”
“She tried.”
“When?”
“Seven years ago.”
Camille remembered the photograph.
Madeleine standing beside Julien and Diane.
The meeting on November seventeenth.
“What happened?”
Antoine looked toward Evelyn.
“Madeleine had discovered documents concerning Julien's birth.”
Camille felt cold.
“Who was his father?”
Antoine hesitated.
Then he answered.
“Victor Lemaire.”
Camille stared at him.
The room seemed to disappear.
Victor.
Armand's closest friend.
The man who had manipulated the Mercier investigation.
The man who had encouraged Julien to hate the Delcourts.
Julien had spent years seeking revenge against the wrong family.
While his biological father stood beside him, quietly directing his anger.
Camille could barely speak.
“Does Julien know?”
Antoine shook his head.
“No.”
Camille looked down at the documents.
And suddenly, her mother's warning made terrible sense.
Madeleine had discovered that Victor was using his own son as a weapon.
But Antoine wasn't finished.
He reached into his folder and removed one final document.
A birth certificate.
Julien's name appeared at the top.
The mother's name was listed as Isabelle Mercier.
The father's name had originally been left blank.
But attached to the certificate was a confidential acknowledgment of paternity.
Signed by Victor Lemaire.
Camille stared at the date.
Then she noticed a handwritten note beside the signature.
Original retained by Madeleine Delcourt.
She looked up.
“Where is the original?”
Antoine's expression darkened.
“I don't know.”
He paused.
“But Victor believes your mother hid it somewhere inside Asterion.”
Camille felt a chill.
“Why?”
May you like
Antoine looked directly at her.
“Because Madeleine told him that if he ever threatened Julien or Camille, the truth about his son would become public.”
