Chapter 10 - MY FATHER'S MOTHER
By noon, there were protesters outside the mansion.
News vans lined the road.
HALE CHAIRMAN ACCUSED OF FOURTEEN-YEAR COVER-UP.
DEAD SOCIALITE RETURNS.
CROSS FAMILY DENIES WRONGDOING.
My birthday had become national news.
Inside, the truth became worse.
Grandmother Rose Hale had controlled the family trust before Victor.
She had also selected the board members who approved the failed Cross Atlantic acquisition.
"She knew Malcolm," Mom said.
"Everyone knew Malcolm."
"No."
Mom placed an old letter on the table.
"She knew what he was doing."
Dad read it.
His face changed.
The letter was from Rose to Malcolm.
It mentioned "keeping Evelyn quiet."
My father sat down.
"My mother ordered the crash?"
"We don't know."
Mom hesitated.
"But she knew someone wanted me stopped."
Dad looked sick.
I expected him to defend Rose.
Instead he said,
"I found a second will after she died."
Mom stared.
"What?"
"She left Nathan Price a sealed box."
"You never told me."
"I didn't know you were alive."
"What was inside?"
"I don't know."
"Nathan refused to tell you?"
"He said attorney-client privilege survived her death."
Mom walked away from him.
Every revelation created another secret.
I was beginning to hate secrets more than I hated Damian.
Then Dad said something quietly.
"There is another thing."
I turned.
Of course there was.
"Eighteen months ago, when I found Evelyn..."
Mom looked at him.
Dad continued.
"I didn't find her by accident."
"What do you mean?"
"Someone sent me her address."
Mom's face went pale.
"You told me Rebecca found you."
"I lied."
"Who sent it?"
"Anonymous email."
"Why didn't you trace it?"
"I did."
"And?"
Dad looked at me.
"The account was created from an IP address registered to Cross Capital."
Damian.
Maybe.
But Dad shook his head.
"Damian wasn't in the building that night."
"Who was?"
"Lydia."
Mom sat very still.
That made no sense.
Why would Lydia reveal that Evelyn was alive?
Unless she wanted Victor to find her.
Unless Evelyn's return was not a surprise.
Unless tonight had been designed by someone else too.
My phone rang.
Damian.
I answered.
"What?"
"Turn on the television."
I did.
Damian stood outside Hale Holdings headquarters surrounded by cameras.
"My wife is experiencing an acute psychological crisis," he told reporters.
I froze.
He continued.
"The woman claiming to be her mother has manipulated an emotionally vulnerable person."
My hands clenched.
Then he produced medical records.
My records.
Therapy after my mother's death.
An anxiety prescription from college.
A hospitalization after a panic attack at twenty-one.
Damian looked directly into the cameras.
"For Claire's safety, I have petitioned the court for emergency guardianship over her voting interests."
I stared at the screen.
Mom whispered, "He can't."
Rebecca answered.
"He can petition."
My phone vibrated.
Court notice.
Emergency hearing.
Tomorrow morning.
Damian wasn't trying to win the board anymore.
He was trying to make me legally incompetent.
Then another message arrived.
From an unknown number.
One photograph.
Me leaving therapy at nineteen.
Taken from across the street.
A caption beneath it.
YOUR MOTHER ISN'T THE ONLY ONE WHO WATCHED YOU GROW UP.
Then a second message.
ASK VICTOR WHY HE REALLY FOUND EVELYN.
I looked at my father.
"Was Lydia the only person who knew where Mom was?"
He didn't answer.
That was answer enough.
And at the exact midpoint of the worst day of my life, I realized something terrifying.
May you like
My father had not simply discovered my mother.
He had been led to her.
