Chapter 5 - The Woman Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
Adrian laughed.
Once.
A short sound without humor.
“No.”
Vanessa did not look away.
Richard stepped forward.
“Enough.”
Adrian turned on him.
“You knew?”
Richard stopped.
That was answer enough.
Emma watched Adrian’s face.
She had seen him angry.
Controlled.
Cold.
She had never seen him lost.
“My mother died at St. Vincent’s.”
Richard said nothing.
“I identified her body.”
“No,” Richard said quietly.
Adrian stared.
“You stood next to me.”
“Yes.”
“You watched me bury her.”
Richard’s mouth tightened.
“Yes.”
Adrian crossed the space so fast Emma barely saw him move.
He grabbed Richard’s jacket.
Marcus stepped forward.
Emma held up a hand.
Adrian shoved Richard against the wall.
“You watched me put an empty coffin in the ground?”
“It wasn’t empty.”
Adrian froze.
Richard’s voice shook for the first time.
“The woman you identified was real.”
“Who?”
“A patient from the same private clinic.”
Emma felt sick.
Adrian released him as if burned.
“Why?”
Richard looked toward Vanessa.
She was crying silently now.
“Your mother had a breakdown.”
Adrian’s eyes narrowed.
“What kind?”
“She discovered Arthur’s affair with Sarah.”
Emma’s breath caught.
Richard continued.
“Eleanor had always struggled with depression.”
Adrian’s face hardened.
“Don’t.”
“I’m not insulting her.”
“You’re telling me she disappeared because my father cheated?”
“No.”
Richard lowered his voice.
“She disappeared because she tried to kill Sarah Carter.”
Emma went cold.
“No.”
Richard looked at her.
“Your mother never told you?”
“No.”
Emma’s hands curled.
“My mother protected me from details.”
“Sarah was six months pregnant with Lucy.”
Emma stopped breathing.
Adrian closed his eyes.
Richard continued.
“Eleanor followed her home.”
Vanessa whispered, “Dad.”
He ignored her.
“She confronted Sarah outside her building.”
Emma remembered one scar on her mother’s forearm.
A pale line.
Sarah had said she slipped on broken glass.
“She had a knife,” Richard said.
Emma’s stomach turned.
“Eleanor?”
“Yes.”
Adrian shook his head.
“She would never—”
“She was sick.”
“Stop saying that.”
“She was.”
Richard’s voice sharpened.
“And Arthur knew it.”
Adrian stared.
“He put her away.”
Richard nodded.
“In a private psychiatric facility under another name.”
“And told me she was dead.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To protect the company.”
Adrian laughed again.
This time it sounded broken.
“Of course.”
Richard looked ashamed.
“Vale Holdings was preparing for a major public offering.”
“So he erased my mother.”
“He believed it was temporary.”
“Eight years is temporary?”
“No.”
Adrian turned away.
Emma suddenly understood Arthur’s letter.
But Richard is not the person I fear most.
Eleanor.
Could Arthur have feared his supposedly dead wife?
Vanessa crossed her arms over herself.
“She got out.”
Adrian turned.
“When?”
“Seven years ago.”
The night Arthur died.
Emma whispered, “Oh God.”
Vanessa looked at her.
“Now you understand.”
Emma shook her head.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Were you helping her?”
Vanessa closed her eyes.
Richard answered.
“I was.”
Adrian stared at him.
“Why?”
Richard’s face hardened.
“Because Arthur had no right to imprison her.”
“He didn’t imprison her.”
“She was held under a false identity.”
“For treatment.”
“For secrecy.”
Richard’s voice rose.
“Those are not the same thing.”
Emma looked between them.
“You helped Eleanor escape.”
Richard nodded.
“And Vanessa?”
Silence.
Adrian’s voice turned quiet.
“She drove.”
Vanessa covered her face.
Emma’s memory shifted.
The garage.
The black sedan.
Vanessa driving.
Richard in the passenger seat.
They had not arrived to kill Arthur.
They had arrived with someone.
Someone in the back.
Emma whispered, “Eleanor was in the car.”
Richard nodded.
“Yes.”
Adrian went pale.
Emma continued.
“Arthur saw her.”
“Yes.”
“He was already bleeding.”
Richard looked confused.
“What?”
Emma stared.
“He was bleeding before you arrived.”
Richard and Vanessa looked at each other.
That mattered.
“What happened?” Adrian asked.
Richard shook his head.
“When we arrived, Arthur was standing in the garage.”
“With blood on his shirt.”
“I thought it was rain.”
“It wasn’t.”
Vanessa lowered her hands.
“He had been stabbed.”
Emma looked at her.
“You knew?”
“I saw the wound when he got into the car.”
“You forced him inside.”
“No.”
Emma stepped closer.
“You grabbed him.”
“I was trying to stop him from reaching Eleanor.”
Adrian’s voice cut through.
“Where was my mother?”
Vanessa swallowed.
“Back seat.”
“And what happened?”
Vanessa looked at Richard.
Richard finally spoke.
“She wanted to confront him.”
“About what?”
“Lucy.”
Emma’s heart jumped.
“Why?”
Richard looked at her.
“Eleanor had discovered Arthur changed his will.”
Emma stared.
“She wanted Lucy cut out.”
“No.”
Vanessa shook her head.
“She wanted Adrian protected.”
“From a thirteen-year-old child who hadn’t even been born when Eleanor disappeared?”
“From scandal.”
Emma laughed bitterly.
“Same language.”
Vanessa flinched.
“What?”
“Arthur used it.”
Emma looked at Adrian.
“Protect the company.”
Then Richard.
“Protect the family.”
Then Vanessa.
“Protect Adrian.”
Her voice hardened.
“You people destroy lives and call it protection.”
No one answered.
Adrian looked at Vanessa.
“Where did you take my father?”
She closed her eyes.
“Ridgeway Bridge.”
Emma’s stomach clenched.
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
Adrian’s voice became deadly quiet.
“You put him in the car alive.”
“Yes.”
“Then what?”
Vanessa began crying harder.
“He and Eleanor screamed at each other.”
Richard looked away.
“About Sarah?”
“Everything.”
Vanessa wiped her face.
“She told him he ruined her life.”
Adrian’s expression tightened.
“He told her she had tried to murder a pregnant woman.”
Emma felt her heart pounding.
“He said Lucy was innocent.”
Vanessa continued.
“He said he was changing everything.”
“Meaning?”
“He was going to acknowledge Lucy publicly.”
Adrian looked at the letter.
“He was going to tell me.”
“Yes.”
Richard added, “The next morning.”
Emma understood.
Arthur had planned a full confession.
Lucy.
The money.
Eleanor.
All of it.
Adrian asked, “Why did you drive toward the bridge?”
Vanessa shook her head.
“I didn’t choose the route.”
“Who did?”
“Eleanor.”
Adrian stared.
“She told me where to go.”
“Why?”
“She said there was somewhere Arthur needed to see.”
Richard spoke.
“An old house.”
Adrian’s brow furrowed.
“What house?”
“The first home Arthur and Eleanor bought.”
Emma had heard of it.
An abandoned property near Ridgeway.
Sold decades earlier.
Vanessa continued.
“We never reached it.”
“Why?”
“Arthur grabbed the steering wheel.”
Richard said, “He thought Eleanor had a weapon.”
“Did she?”
No answer.
Adrian’s face hardened.
“Did my mother have a weapon?”
Vanessa whispered, “Yes.”
Emma’s skin prickled.
“What?”
“A syringe.”
Adrian stared.
Vanessa’s voice shook.
“She said it was a sedative.”
Richard interrupted.
“It was supposed to be.”
“Supposed?”
Emma felt cold.
Vanessa looked at her father.
“That’s what you told me.”
Richard’s face changed.
“I believed it.”
Adrian looked between them.
“Who gave it to her?”
Richard said nothing.
Vanessa whispered, “Dr. Harlan.”
Adrian’s expression darkened.
The name meant something to him.
Emma asked, “Who is that?”
“My mother’s psychiatrist,” Adrian said.
Richard nodded.
“He treated Eleanor for years.”
“Where is he now?”
No one answered.
Adrian’s voice sharpened.
“Where is Dr. Harlan?”
Richard finally said, “He disappeared two days after Arthur died.”
Emma stared.
Another disappearance.
Another person connected to the secret.
Vanessa sat down against the wall.
“I didn’t kill Arthur.”
Adrian looked at her.
“But you helped cover up what happened.”
“Yes.”
The admission came in a whisper.
Emma felt sick.
“Why?”
Vanessa laughed through tears.
“Because my father said if the truth came out, Adrian would lose everything.”
Richard said, “It would have destroyed the company.”
Adrian looked at him with contempt.
“You keep saying that like I should thank you.”
Richard’s face hardened.
“Thousands of employees depended on Vale Holdings.”
“My father was dead.”
“Yes.”
“My mother was alive.”
“Yes.”
“You erased both.”
Richard’s voice rose.
“We kept the company alive.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“And what did it cost?”
Richard had no answer.
A paramedic appeared in the corridor.
“Mr. Vale?”
Adrian turned.
“Mrs. Whitmore is conscious.”
Emma felt relief.
“She has a head injury and fractured wrist.”
“Can she speak?”
“Yes.”
Vanessa went pale.
The paramedic continued.
“She keeps asking for Miss Carter.”
Emma stared.
“For me?”
“Yes.”
Emma headed toward the stairs.
Adrian followed.
Vanessa called after them.
“Emma.”
Emma stopped.
Vanessa stood slowly.
“You need to know something before you talk to her.”
Emma turned.
Vanessa’s voice was almost inaudible.
“Mrs. Whitmore knew your mother.”
“I know.”
“No.”
Vanessa shook her head.
“You don’t.”
Emma’s chest tightened.
“She wasn’t just a housekeeper when Sarah worked for Arthur.”
“What was she?”
Vanessa looked toward the stairs.
“She was Eleanor Vale’s private nurse.”
Emma froze.
Adrian did too.
May you like
Vanessa continued.
“And if she’s asking for you, she’s finally decided to tell you what happened to Sarah.”
