Chapter 2 - THE FUNERAL WITHOUT A BODY
I remembered the coffin.
I remembered touching it.
That was what made everything impossible.
"You buried someone."
The words barely came out.
Mom nodded.
"Yes."
"Who?"
"We didn't know at the time."
Lydia suddenly moved toward the doors.
One of Dad's security consultants stepped aside.
"You may leave, Mrs. Cross."
She stopped.
That surprised her.
Dad folded his arms.
"No one's holding you here."
His gaze dropped toward dozens of phones now recording.
"But if you leave before Evelyn finishes, everyone in this room will wonder why."
Lydia stayed.
My mother led me into Dad's study.
Victor followed.
So did Damian.
I didn't want him there.
But he was still my husband.
For the moment.
The study doors closed.
Mom remained standing.
"After the crash, I regained consciousness near the river."
Her fingers touched the scar beneath her collar.
"The car had rolled down an embankment. I got out before the fuel caught."
"Then why didn't you come home?"
"I tried."
Her eyes shifted toward Dad.
"I called Victor."
My father lowered his head.
My chest tightened.
"What happened?"
Dad answered.
"A man picked up Evelyn's line before I could get to her."
"What man?"
"Malcolm Cross."
Damian's father.
The man who had died of a heart attack six years ago.
Mom continued.
"Malcolm told me Claire was with him."
My breath stopped.
"He said if I contacted police or came home, there would be a second accident."
I stared at her.
"You believed him?"
"He told me what pajamas you were wearing."
My mouth went dry.
"Yellow."
Mom nodded.
"Yellow pajamas with little white stars."
I remembered them.
I remembered Lydia visiting our house that night.
She had brought soup.
She had sat beside me.
She had told me everything would be okay.
"I spent three days hiding," Mom said.
"Then an attorney I trusted moved me out of the state."
Dad looked at me.
"By the time I learned she was alive, the police had already recovered a body from the burned vehicle."
"But it wasn't Mom."
"No."
"Then why didn't anybody discover that?"
Mom's expression hardened.
"Because the dental identification was falsified."
I turned slowly toward Damian.
His face had gone still.
"Your family falsified my mother's death?"
"I was fifteen," he said.
"I had nothing to do with it."
"You knew."
"No."
"Did you know she was alive when you married me?"
His silence lasted less than two seconds.
It was enough.
I stepped backward.
"Oh my God."
"Claire."
"Don't touch me."
He stopped.
My father moved toward me.
I turned on him too.
"And you?"
His face crumpled.
"When did you find her?"
"Eighteen months ago."
The room seemed to tilt.
I laughed once.
It sounded almost hysterical.
"Eighteen months."
"I can explain."
"My mother has been alive for fourteen years, and you knew for eighteen months?"
"We were building a case."
"You let me marry into that family."
"You were already married."
"You let me stay married."
Mom stepped closer.
"Claire, there were reasons."
I looked at the bruises along my forearm.
Reasons.
Everyone always had reasons.
Damian had reasons when he grabbed my wrist hard enough to leave fingerprints.
Lydia had reasons when she told me a Hale wife didn't embarrass her husband by contradicting him.
Dad had reasons for disappearing into work every time I needed him.
And now Mom had reasons for being alive without telling me.
I looked around the study.
"All of you knew things about my life that I didn't."
Nobody answered.
That hurt more than an answer.
Then Damian spoke.
"Maybe you should ask why tonight matters."
Mom's eyes snapped toward him.
He smiled.
"Go ahead, Evelyn."
He looked at me.
"Tell your daughter what happens at midnight."
I frowned.
"What happens at midnight?"
My father closed his eyes.
Mom answered.
"You turn thirty."
"So?"
Damian smiled.
"At midnight, Claire, thirty-one percent of Hale Holdings transfers into your direct control."
My pulse slowed.
I had heard of the Hale Legacy Trust.
Dad had always said the terms were complicated.
I had never cared.
Until now.
Damian continued.
"Your birthday party wasn't a celebration."
He gestured toward the ballroom.
"It was a closing ceremony."
"For what?"
"For you."
I stared at him.
May you like
Then Mom said the words that changed everything.
"They were planning to make you sign your shares over before midnight."
