Chapter 7 - The Man Who Said He Was My Father
I could hear waves behind him.
Not traffic. Not a television. Real waves.
"Prove it," I said.
Thomas Vale laughed softly. "That sounds like my daughter."
"Don't call me that."
"Fair."
Mara was already signaling for me to keep him talking.
Daniel moved closer to the phone.
I said, "Where are you?"
"Somewhere Richard Mercer can't reach me."
"Richard isn't my biggest problem."
"No. Diane is."
My stomach tightened. "You know what she did?"
"I know more than you think."
"Then tell me."
"Not by phone."
"How convenient."
"You're in danger."
"I'm in a hospital surrounded by police."
"That's what I said."
I looked at Mara.
She shook her head slightly.
Don't reveal anything.
Thomas continued. "Eleanor tried to protect you."
"With a fake birth certificate?"
"The fake one is the one you grew up with."
"Why?"
"Because Richard agreed to raise you on one condition."
"What condition?"
"That I disappear."
Something hot rose in my chest.
"You expect me to believe my mother had an affair and my father covered it up?"
"No."
The word was immediate.
"Your mother didn't have an affair."
I waited.
Thomas's voice changed. "She was married to me first."
Mara's pen stopped moving.
I said, "That's impossible."
"Ask Eleanor."
"She had a stroke."
"I know."
"Then you know how cruel that answer is."
He exhaled. "Diane and I married when we were twenty-two. We were broke. Richard was my business partner."
My heartbeat thudded. "What happened?"
"Richard wanted what I had."
"Meaning?"
"The company. Diane. Eventually, you."
I almost hung up.
"This sounds like a bad movie."
"I wish it were."
"Where does Vanessa fit?"
Silence.
"Thomas?"
"She isn't your twin."
The room disappeared.
"What?"
"Diane was pregnant with you when she left me."
"No."
"She married Richard before you were born."
"No."
"Vanessa was born the same night, but she was not conceived at the same time."
"That doesn't make biological sense."
"It does if you weren't carried by the same woman."
My hand went numb around the phone.
"Say that again."
"Vanessa's biological mother was Diane's younger sister, Laura."
I had heard the name Laura twice in my childhood.
Aunt Laura died in a car accident before I was born.
At least that was the story.
Thomas continued. "Laura was seven months pregnant. She died in a crash. Doctors delivered the baby. Diane delivered you hours later after going into labor from shock."
I could not speak.
"Richard and Diane raised both babies as twins."
"Why?"
"Because Laura's child inherited something."
"What?"
Thomas answered quietly. "Half of Eleanor's company."
Mercer Development.
My father's empire.
Mara stepped closer.
I whispered, "Vanessa is Laura's daughter?"
"Yes."
"And Richard?"
"Not her biological father either."
"Who is?"
"I don't know."
I looked at Grant.
He was white.
"Does Vanessa know?"
"She found out when she was twenty-five."
"Who told her?"
"Eleanor."
That explained the blue house visit five years ago.
The lockbox.
The trust documents.
Maybe everything.
"Why hasn't she told me?"
"Because knowledge became leverage."
I thought of my sister's lifestyle. The house. The investments. The hidden money.
"What leverage?"
"Against Richard."
"Why does Richard care?"
"Because if the original ownership documents surface, Richard doesn't control Mercer Development."
I closed my eyes.
This was no longer just fraud.
It was inheritance.
Identity.
A company built on documents everyone had lied about for three decades.
"Where are you?" I asked.
"Find the blue house."
"You know the coordinates?"
"I sent them."
My eyes flew to Mara.
Thomas had sent the anonymous messages.
"Why hide your identity?"
"Because I needed to know whether police were clean."
"Why send a photo of Mara and Sloan?"
"To make you ask questions."
"Were you trying to make me distrust her?"
"I was trying to make sure you didn't trust anyone automatically."
Mara's expression was not amused.
"Who is Sloan?" I asked.
"He's the bank's problem now."
"That isn't an answer."
"He helped Richard hide losses. Then he started blackmailing him."
"For money?"
"For control."
"Over what?"
"The Mariner accounts."
Daniel leaned closer.
I asked, "Did you know Sofia Reyes?"
Thomas went silent.
Daniel stiffened.
"Answer me."
"I knew of her."
Daniel's face changed.
"Did you steal her money?"
"No."
"Did Richard?"
"Not exactly."
"Then who?"
Thomas said one name.
"Vanessa."
Grant stumbled backward.
Daniel's hands curled.
I said, "Explain."
"Vanessa used Mariner as her private liquidity machine. She raised money from small investors, moved it into Mercer projects, then skimmed consulting fees."
My sister.
My supposedly careless, decorative sister.
Thomas continued. "Richard discovered it and began using the same accounts. Sloan discovered both."
"And now?"
"Now the money is gone."
"How much?"
"Thirty-eight million."
Nobody moved.
I looked at Daniel.
His sister's seventy-four thousand suddenly became one drop in an ocean of stolen lives.
"Why did they need my eighteen thousand?"
Thomas hesitated. "Because it wasn't eighteen thousand."
"What?"
"The account has a linked beneficiary structure Eleanor created years ago."
"No. I opened it myself."
"You opened the visible account. Eleanor seeded a custodial subaccount when you were a minor."
I stared at Mara.
She was already typing.
Thomas said, "Your signature on a transfer would trigger access to a reserve trust."
"How much?"
"Eight million."
My mouth went dry.
"That's impossible."
"Call Seaside Community Bank and ask for account suffix 9917."
I knew my account suffix.
4421.
I had never heard of 9917.
"Why would Grandma hide eight million?"
"To keep it from Richard."
"Why attach it to me?"
"Because you were the one person in the family she believed would never steal."
The sentence hurt unexpectedly.
I looked at Lily.
"Why did nobody tell me?"
"Because once Richard knew, he would use you."
"He already did."
"I know."
Mara whispered, "Keep him on."
But Thomas spoke first.
"I have to go."
"No."
"Evelyn."
"Where are you?"
"Blue house. Tomorrow. Noon."
"I'm not meeting you alone."
"I wouldn't ask you to."
"Then why all the secrecy?"
"Because Richard knows I'm alive now."
A sound came through the phone.
A door opening.
Thomas inhaled sharply.
"Someone's here."
"Thomas?"
"Do not let Vanessa touch the reserve trust."
A crash.
The phone hit something.
Then a woman's voice in the distance.
"You should have stayed dead."
The line disconnected.
I stared at the phone.
Grant whispered, "That was Vanessa."
Daniel shook his head.
"No."
"How can you know?"
Daniel's face had gone completely still.
"Because I've heard that voice before."
"Where?"
May you like
He looked at me.
"In Sofia's voicemail the night she died."
