Chapter 5 - THE MAN WHO BURIED HER MOTHER
Evelyn answered on speaker.
"Victor."
His voice came smooth and warm.
"Evelyn."
Vivienne felt the hairs rise along her arms.
No surprise.
No shock.
Victor Dane had just spoken to a woman officially dead for fifteen years as though she had missed brunch.
"You knew," Vivienne whispered.
Victor heard her.
"Vivienne."
Her stomach turned.
"You knew she was alive."
"For quite some time."
Evelyn's jaw tightened.
"How did you get this number?"
Victor chuckled.
"You always overestimated your ability to disappear."
"Say what you want."
"I want you to stop."
Vivienne leaned closer.
"Stop what?"
"Digging up graves."
Vivienne looked at her mother.
Victor continued.
"Adrian made a terrible mistake."
"A terrible mistake?"
"He panicked."
"He poisoned me."
"Yes."
The casual answer chilled her.
"And you knew?"
"No."
"Do you expect me to believe that?"
"I don't care what you believe."
Evelyn's voice sharpened.
"Then why call?"
"Because Adrian's stupidity doesn't need to become a war."
Vivienne almost smiled.
"You think you still get to decide that?"
"I think your father would tell you to protect the company."
"My father is dead."
Victor paused.
"Exactly."
Then the call ended.
Vivienne stared at the phone.
Evelyn looked shaken.
"He wanted us to hear that."
"What?"
"That last word."
Vivienne knew.
Exactly.
It had not been grief.
It had been a warning.
Evelyn finally told the full story.
Fifteen years earlier, she uncovered evidence that Victor had moved Meridian research outside the country.
She planned to expose him.
Before she could, her car exploded in an underground parking structure.
A body was found inside.
Identification came through dental records.
Evelyn supposedly died instantly.
But Evelyn had not been in the car.
Charles had switched vehicles with her that afternoon after receiving an anonymous warning.
The dead woman had been a private investigator working for Charles.
"She died because of me," Evelyn said.
"Her name was Rebecca Sloan."
Vivienne's heart tightened.
"Did Dad know?"
"Yes."
"And you let everyone think the body was yours."
"It was the only way to keep you and Sloane alive."
Vivienne laughed bitterly.
"You protected us by disappearing?"
"I protected you by making Victor believe he had won."
"But he knew."
"Not immediately."
"When?"
"Seven years ago."
Vivienne looked up sharply.
"When Dad died."
Evelyn nodded.
Charles had contacted her shortly before his death.
He believed Victor had discovered the deception.
He planned to move Evelyn again.
Then he died.
Two days later, someone sent Evelyn a photograph of Vivienne leaving her father's funeral.
No words.
No threat.
None were necessary.
"They were telling you they could reach me."
"Yes."
"So you stayed away."
"Yes."
Vivienne looked toward the window.
She wanted to hate her mother.
Part of her did.
Another part remembered the anonymous birthday gifts that sometimes arrived without cards.
The mysterious scholarship donation to a foundation Vivienne loved.
A white orchid appearing on her mother's birthday every year.
Had Evelyn been watching all along?
"Why come back now?"
Evelyn looked at her.
"Because the dead switch meant Charles's worst-case scenario had happened."
"What exactly did Dad program it to mean?"
Evelyn swallowed.
"Attempted elimination of the primary Hartwell heir."
Vivienne almost smiled at the absurd corporate wording.
"Very Dad."
"Very."
Silence settled.
Then Dr. Chen returned.
She carried a sealed envelope.
"These arrived by courier."
"What are they?"
"Original rehabilitation notes."
Vivienne opened them.
The signature on every page belonged to Dr. Raymond Cole.
Adrian's friend.
One sentence repeated through several reports.
No voluntary motor response observed.
Naomi placed a new examination report beside them.
"Vivienne."
"Yes?"
"Move your right foot."
Vivienne looked down.
"I can't."
"Don't look."
Naomi covered her foot.
"Try."
Vivienne closed her eyes.
Nothing.
She tried again.
A strange sensation flickered through her calf.
Then Naomi inhaled sharply.
Vivienne's eyes opened.
"What?"
Naomi stared at her.
"Do it again."
Vivienne concentrated.
A tiny movement.
Barely visible.
Her right big toe shifted.
Vivienne stopped breathing.
Evelyn covered her mouth.
Naomi looked from the foot to the old medical records.
"Someone lied."
Vivienne stared at the toe that had not obeyed her for five years.
Then she looked at Adrian's friend's signature.
Her voice became quiet.
"No."
May you like
"Someone didn't lie."
"They built my entire life around the lie."
