Chapter 7 - THE FATHER WHO LEFT TWO GRAVES
Adrien had been thirty-eight when his father died.
Étienne Valmont had suffered what the family was told was a sudden cardiac event during a business trip. Gabriel Delacroix had supervised his medical care, and Victor had helped arrange the funeral.
Adrien remembered standing beside his father's coffin, promising to protect the company he had inherited.
He remembered the overwhelming grief.
He remembered believing that death, however cruel, was at least final.
Now Claire was telling him that a retired attorney claimed to have met his father years after the funeral.
"That's impossible," Adrien said.
"I know."
"Then Duvall is lying."
"Maybe. Or he's confused. But he described your father accurately, including a scar on his right hand."
Adrien felt a chill.
Étienne had received that scar during a factory accident when he was young.
Very few people outside the family knew about it.
"Did Duvall see identification?"
"He claims he did."
"Could someone have impersonated him?"
"That's one possibility."
Adrien stared at the wall.
He was beginning to feel as though every memory in his life had been placed on trial.
His wife's death.
His father's death.
His accident.
His doctor's loyalty.
Even the inheritance he had planned for his daughter.
Nothing was certain anymore.
Claire arranged a secure video interview with Duvall.
The elderly attorney appeared on screen the following afternoon.
He had white hair, thin shoulders, and a voice that trembled slightly.
Adrien watched him closely.
"Mr. Duvall, I need you to tell me exactly what happened."
Duvall adjusted his glasses.
"A woman identifying herself as Émilie Valmont came to my office with an older gentleman. They requested amendments to a family trust."
"Did you know she had been declared dead?"
Duvall looked uncomfortable.
"No. The documents she provided indicated that she was living abroad under protected residency arrangements."
Adrien leaned forward.
"What documents?"
"Identity certifications and legal opinions."
"Who issued them?"
Duvall hesitated.
"I no longer remember every detail."
Claire spoke.
"We'll need copies of your records."
Duvall nodded.
"I retained some files."
Adrien felt his frustration rising.
"And the older man?"
"He introduced himself as Étienne Valmont."
"Did he provide identification?"
"Yes."
"What did he look like?"
Duvall described a tall man with silver hair, a deep voice, and a distinctive scar across the back of his right hand.
Adrien's chest tightened.
It sounded exactly like his father.
"Did he explain why he was alive?"
Duvall looked directly into the camera.
"He said his family believed he was dead because it was safer that way."
Adrien felt a wave of anger.
"Safer for whom?"
Duvall swallowed.
"He didn't say."
"Did he mention Victor?"
The attorney's expression changed.
"Yes."
Adrien sat straighter.
"What did he say?"
"He said Victor Vasseur was not to be trusted with the trust's assets."
Claire leaned toward the screen.
"Then why was Gabriel Delacroix appointed successor trustee?"
Duvall looked startled.
"He wasn't."
Silence filled the room.
Claire opened the copy of the trust.
"His name appears in the executed amendment."
Duvall shook his head.
"That is not the version I prepared."
Adrien stared at him.
"Are you certain?"
"Absolutely."
The attorney's voice strengthened.
"The successor trustee was supposed to be a woman named Madeleine Arnaud."
Claire quickly wrote down the name.
"Who is she?"
Duvall hesitated.
"An investigator retained by Mr. Valmont."
Adrien looked at the screen.
"An investigator?"
Duvall nodded.
"Your father told me he had discovered a criminal operation involving the company's medical subsidiaries. He believed someone close to the family was laundering money through charitable foundations and private clinics."
Adrien felt his stomach tighten.
Asterion Biomedical.
Northbridge Capital.
Gabriel's medical practice.
The connections were becoming clearer.
"Why didn't my father go to the police?"
Duvall lowered his voice.
"He said he was gathering evidence. He believed the people involved had access to powerful institutions."
"And Émilie?"
"She was helping him."
Adrien closed his eyes.
For the first time, a different explanation seemed possible.
Perhaps Émilie had not betrayed him.
Perhaps she had been trying to expose the conspiracy.
Perhaps the garage footage showed her confronting the man who sabotaged his car rather than paying him.
But if that was true, why had she stayed away from Lila?
Why had she allowed her daughter to believe she was dead?
Duvall seemed to sense the question.
"Mr. Valmont, your wife was frightened."
Adrien opened his eyes.
"Of whom?"
"She said someone had threatened her child."
The words struck him with devastating force.
Lila.
Everything led back to Lila.
Before Adrien could ask another question, Duvall glanced toward something outside the camera frame.
His face drained of color.
"Mr. Valmont, I have to go."
Claire frowned.
"Why?"
Duvall leaned closer.
"Listen carefully. Your father left a recording."
Adrien's pulse quickened.
"Where?"
"Madeleine Arnaud has it."
"How do we find her?"
Duvall whispered an address.
Then he looked toward the door.
Someone was knocking.
Hard.
"Please," he said, his voice shaking. "Tell your father I'm sorry."
Adrien froze.
"My father?"
Duvall stared into the camera.
"He's alive, Adrien."
The knocking became louder.
Then a man's voice shouted from outside.
"Open the door, Mr. Duvall!"
Duvall turned pale.
"Tell Étienne they found me."
May you like
The screen went black.
END OF CHAPTER 7
