Chapter 10 - What Happened to My Mother
I was eight years old when my mother died.
For twenty-eight years, I remembered rain.
A policeman at the door.
Nathan holding my hand too tightly.
My father sitting on the staircase with his face buried in both palms.
They told us a truck crossed the center line.
An accident.
A tragedy.
No one told us my mother had been driving someone else’s car.
Julia’s car.
Detective Torres reopened the file.
The truck driver had disappeared after the crash.
His name was Leonard Pike.
He had a criminal record.
And forty-eight hours after my mother died, $75,000 appeared in an offshore account belonging to his brother.
The originating company?
Bell Strategic Security.
Arthur Bell’s first business.
Victoria’s fixer.
I wanted to scream.
Instead, I sat beside Emma and watched her color.
She drew a house.
A sun.
Me.
Nathan.
And herself.
No Daniel.
No grandmother.
Children understood absence before adults admitted it.
Three days later, federal agents arrested Victoria Hale.
She had been found at a private clinic in Connecticut using a false surname.
She did not resist.
Her first request was not for a lawyer.
It was to speak to Daniel.
He refused.
Her second request was to speak to me.
I accepted.
Through glass.
No touching.
Recorded.
Victoria wore county-issued clothing without complaint.
Her posture remained perfect.
“You look tired,” she said.
“You look arrested.”
A faint smile.
“I expected more elegance from you.”
“I used all my elegance watching my daughter eat off the floor.”
The smile disappeared.
“She was never in danger.”
“She was malnourished.”
“Temporary discomfort.”
“You forged paperwork to send her to Switzerland.”
“To protect the family.”
“From a toddler?”
“From what she represented.”
There it was.
I leaned closer.
“My father’s option.”
Victoria’s eyes changed.
“You found Caleb.”
“Yes.”
“He was always weak.”
“He survived you.”
“For now.”
I stared at her.
“Did you kill my mother?”
Victoria looked bored.
“I did not intend to.”
It was almost worse than a denial.
“You hired Arthur Bell.”
“He solved problems.”
“My mother died.”
“She made an unfortunate choice of vehicle.”
My hands clenched beneath the table.
“You murdered her.”
“No.”
She leaned forward.
“I intended to frighten Julia.”
I stared.
“A collision. Minor injuries. Enough to convince her to disappear.”
“You paid a criminal to crash into a car.”
“I paid Arthur to create fear.”
“And my mother paid with her life.”
Victoria’s face remained calm.
I suddenly understood why people like her survived.
They did not experience guilt the way ordinary people did.
They experienced inconvenience.
“Richard?”
Her eyes sharpened.
“Careful.”
“Did you poison him?”
“He was already sick.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“He planned to destroy everything I built.”
“He planned to restore what you stole.”
“Same thing.”
“Christopher?”
Silence.
“Serena?”
Still silence.
“Arthur Bell?”
Victoria smiled.
“Dead men are remarkably useful. You can blame them for anything.”
I sat back.
“You know what your problem is?”
“I’m sure you’ll tell me.”
“You think money is the same as power.”
“It usually is.”
“No.”
I thought about Emma asleep with crackers beside her bed.
“Power is deciding what you will never become.”
Victoria looked at me for a long moment.
Then she laughed softly.
“You think you are different from me?”
“Yes.”
“You’re about to take my company.”
“To return stolen assets.”
“You’ll destroy Daniel.”
“He destroyed himself.”
“You’ll take his child.”
“I’ll protect mine.”
Victoria leaned toward the glass.
“And Ava?”
I paused.
She smiled.
“There it is.”
“What?”
“The impossible child.”
I stared.
“Every fortune eventually requires someone to choose which child matters more.”
“No.”
“It will.”
I stood.
She called after me.
“Rachel.”
I stopped.
“Daniel knew more than he told you.”
I turned.
She smiled.
“Ask him about the night Serena died.”
Then the guard took her away.
Daniel was waiting outside.
He saw my face.
“What?”
I walked straight toward him.
“Where were you the night Serena died?”
May you like
His expression answered before his mouth did.
And just like that, the ground opened again.
