Chapter 12 - The Lie About Thomas
For several seconds, I couldn't speak.
"What did you say?"
Julian was breathing hard.
"Chloe's father told me something."
"What?"
"He said Dad knew about the property fraud."
"I already know Thomas discovered it."
"No, Mom."
Julian swallowed.
"He said Dad was going to testify."
My hand tightened around the phone.
"Against Charles?"
"Yes."
I remembered Thomas's final months.
His exhaustion.
The strange phone calls.
The way he sometimes stared out the window.
He had been diagnosed with cancer.
He had undergone treatment.
He had grown weaker.
Nothing could change that.
But Julian's words raised a different question.
Had Thomas been preparing to expose Charles before he died?
"Julian, what else did Charles tell you?"
"He said Dad was afraid."
"Of what?"
"I don't know."
"Julian."
He began crying again.
"Mom, I swear I didn't know any of this when I married Chloe."
I wanted to believe him.
Part of me still did.
But I had learned that love and belief were not the same thing.
"Then tell the investigators everything."
He hesitated.
"Will you help me if I do?"
I looked at the compass on my desk.
"Tell the truth because it's right."
"Mom—"
"Not because you expect me to pay for it."
I ended the call.
The following morning, Daniel arranged for the newly discovered records to be reviewed by the appropriate investigators.
The old allegations were complicated.
Decades had passed.
Witnesses had died.
Some records were incomplete.
There were questions about limitation periods and what conduct could still be prosecuted.
But the recent financial transactions and suspected forgeries were another matter.
Those records were fresh.
The bank application was recent.
The attempted transfer of my property was recent.
And the plan to use questionable medical claims against me was recent.
Evelyn continued tracing the money.
Then she found a document that changed everything.
A private agreement between Charles Whitcomb and Chloe.
It described payments contingent upon obtaining control of certain Vance family assets.
My name appeared repeatedly.
So did the Beverly Hills mansion.
At the bottom was a handwritten note.
Julian can be managed.
I stared at those words.
My son had believed he was the powerful one.
The successful businessman.
The master of the mansion.
But to Charles and Chloe, he had been useful because he was easy to manipulate.
And then Daniel uncovered the final page.
It contained a schedule of proposed asset transfers.
The first was the mansion.
The second was my investment portfolio.
The third was something I had never discussed with Julian.
A private foundation established in Thomas's memory.
May you like
Its assets were worth more than forty million dollars.
And somehow, Chloe knew about it.
