Chapter 6 - VICTOR’S CONFESSIONVictor sat behind reinforced glass.
No expensive office.
No mahogany desk.
No tailored authority.
Just a gray jumpsuit and tired eyes.
I picked up the phone.
He did the same.
“You look like your mother.”
“I’m tired of hearing that from people who lied to her.”
He almost smiled.
Fair.
“Where is Rebecca’s daughter?”
“Alive.”
“Where?”
“Safe, as far as I know.”
“Name?”
“Emma.”
My fingers tightened around the phone.
“Emma what?”
“Blackwell.”
My stomach dropped.
Blackwell Consulting.
The company receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“Rebecca married someone named Blackwell?”
Victor shook his head.
“No.”
“Then what?”
“Blackwell wasn’t a company.”
He leaned closer to the glass.
“It was a family.”
“What kind?”
“A family I paid to protect Rebecca and Emma.”
“From whom?”
He looked ashamed.
“Douglas.”
I almost hung up.
“Don’t.”
“Caroline—”
“My father is many things, but if you’re about to blame everything on him to protect Juliette—”
“I protected Juliette because she is my daughter.”
The blunt confession silenced me.
He closed his eyes.
“Eleanor and I made one mistake twenty-nine years ago.”
“One?”
He accepted that.
“One unforgivable mistake.”
“Did Dad know?”
“Not until much later.”
“When?”
“Before your mother died.”
Everything twisted again.
“He stayed?”
“For appearances. For the company. For you.”
“And Juliette?”
“He raised her.”
Victor swallowed.
“In his own way.”
I understood suddenly why Dad had always been colder toward Juliette.
She had spent her life feeling second.
Maybe she had never known why.
“Did Juliette know you were her father?”
“Not until after the fire.”
“That’s when you started helping her.”
“Yes.”
“At my expense.”
Victor looked down.
“Yes.”
I wanted to hate him.
That part was easy.
Understanding him was harder.
“What about Rebecca?”
“Eleanor asked me to protect her.”
“So you hid her.”
“Eventually.”
“Why?”
“Douglas believed Rebecca could destroy everything.”
“Financially?”
“And personally.”
“What did she know?”
Victor looked at the ceiling.
“Your mother wasn’t dying when she entered the hospital.”
I froze.
“What?”
“She was sick.”
His voice cracked.
“But not terminal.”
I stood.
“Don’t you dare.”
“Caroline.”
“You told me she had pancreatic cancer.”
“She did.”
“She died six months later.”
“Not from cancer.”
My legs weakened.
I sat again.
“What are you saying?”
Victor pressed his forehead against the glass.
“There were medication irregularities.”
My ears rang.
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I swear to you.”
“Then why hide it?”
“Because Eleanor’s death protected everyone.”
“Except Eleanor.”
He closed his eyes.
Shame.
Real shame.
“She planned to expose the financial fraud at Mercer Holdings.”
“Dad.”
“He authorized some of it.”
My hands shook.
“Some?”
“Other executives were involved.”
“And Rebecca knew.”
“Yes.”
“What about the fire?”
Victor hesitated.
“I don’t believe Douglas started it.”
“Who did?”
“I think somebody wanted the documents destroyed.”
“Name.”
“I don’t have proof.”
“NAME.”
He stared at me.
“Thomas Vale.”
I knew the name.
Chief Financial Officer of Mercer Holdings.
My father’s best friend.
He had attended my funeral.
He had hugged Juliette at the wedding.
I remembered seeing him near the back of the ballroom.
Had he left before the police arrived?
“Where is Thomas?”
Victor’s face changed.
“That’s why I asked to see you.”
“What?”
“I was informed an hour ago that Thomas Vale boarded a private jet.”
“Going where?”
“Canada.”
“Why?”
“Because somebody told him the grave was empty.”
I felt cold.
“Who?”
Victor leaned closer.
“Emma Blackwell.”
My breath caught.
“You said Emma was safe.”
“I said as far as I knew.”
“Why would she contact Thomas?”
“Because Rebecca raised her to believe one thing.”
“What?”
May you like
His answer chilled me more than anything else that night.
“That the Mercer family murdered her mother.”
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