Chapter 12 - THE BETRAYAL NO ONE EXPECTED
Isabelle led them to an abandoned boathouse.
Inside, a little girl slept beneath a blanket on a narrow cot.
Lucie.
Alexandre stood beside her, overwhelmed.
Isabelle watched him quietly.
"She's six."
Alexandre looked at his sister.
"You should have told me."
"I wanted to."
"Then why didn't you?"
"Because I didn't know whether I could trust you."
The words hurt more than Alexandre expected.
Isabelle continued.
"You helped Mother deceive people for years."
"I know."
"You defended her when I warned you."
"I know."
"And when I disappeared, you believed her."
Alexandre lowered his head.
"I'm sorry."
Isabelle's expression softened.
"I know you are."
Elodie stood near the door.
"Who else is involved?"
Isabelle looked toward the sleeping child.
"Luc Martin."
Elodie went still.
"My father?"
Isabelle nodded.
"He wasn't simply a victim."
Elodie shook her head.
"No."
"Twenty-three years ago, he helped Catherine create false invoices and conceal payments."
"I know he printed documents."
"He did more than print them."
Isabelle opened a folder.
Inside were copies of bank transfers.
Several had been authorized by Luc Martin.
Elodie stared at the signatures.
"Why?"
"Because Catherine threatened Marie. Then she offered him money to keep quiet."
Elodie felt sick.
"How much?"
"Enough to save his business."
She turned away.
For years, she had believed her father was a man crushed by bad luck.
Now she was discovering that some of his suffering had grown from decisions he had made long before she understood what money meant.
Isabelle continued.
"But he eventually tried to stop her."
Elodie looked back.
"When?"
"After Catherine threatened you."
"Why didn't he go to the police?"
"He was afraid of prosecution. He was also afraid Catherine would harm Marie."
Alexandre stepped forward.
"Isabelle, why are you telling us this now?"
"Because Luc contacted me six months ago."
Elodie froze.
"What?"
"He told me Catherine was planning to use you in a fraudulent marriage scheme."
"Then why didn't you warn me?"
"I tried."
Isabelle showed her several returned letters.
Each had been addressed to Elodie.
None had reached her.
"Catherine intercepted them."
Elodie stared at the envelopes.
Her father had known.
He had begged her to accept the marriage.
But perhaps he had also been trying to buy time.
"Where is he now?" she asked.
Isabelle hesitated.
"That's the problem."
"What problem?"
"Luc disappeared from the hospital yesterday."
Elodie felt her chest tighten.
"Catherine moved him."
"Possibly."
Isabelle opened another folder.
"Before he vanished, he sent me a message."
She handed Elodie a printed email.
I am ready to confess everything. But Catherine has one final weapon. She has proof that someone else signed the order that sent Marie away.
Elodie read the message twice.
"Who?"
Isabelle shook her head.
"Luc didn't say."
Alexandre frowned.
"Could it be Henri?"
Isabelle looked at him.
"I don't know."
Elodie remembered the elderly man in the annex.
His frightened eyes.
His desperate warning.
Could he have been involved?
Isabelle opened the final file.
Inside was a scanned authorization from seventeen years earlier.
It approved Marie Laurent's transfer to a private medical institution.
At the bottom was a signature.
HENRI DE VALMONT.
Elodie stared.
"No."
Alexandre leaned closer.
"That looks like Grandfather's signature."
Isabelle nodded.
"And if it's genuine, he helped imprison Marie."
Elodie felt tears burn her eyes.
The man she had just discovered was her biological father might have helped destroy her mother's life.
Then Isabelle said something even worse.
"There's another signature."
She turned the page.
A second authorization appeared.
This one concerned the legal guardianship of six-year-old Elodie.
The signature belonged to Luc Martin.
May you like
And beneath it was a handwritten note.
CHILD TO BE INFORMED THAT MOTHER IS DECEASED.
