Chapter 14 - DIANE’S CONFESSION
Diane was arrested before sunrise.
She didn’t resist.
Lucas met her at the station.
“Why?”
Diane stared at her hands.
“I thought Rachel would back down.”
“You helped my father.”
“I helped Vanessa’s father first.”
“Charles?”
Diane shook her head.
“Charles wasn’t her biological father.”
Lucas felt another wave of exhaustion.
“Then who was?”
“Richard.”
Lucas stared at her.
“My father?”
Diane nodded.
“Vanessa is your half-sister.”
Lucas stood so quickly the chair fell.
“No.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Stop saying that.”
Diane cried.
“Richard and I had an affair before you were born.”
Lucas felt nauseated.
“He knew?”
“Yes.”
“Vanessa knew?”
“Not until she was sixteen.”
Lucas thought about the wedding.
The kisses.
Their relationship.
His stomach turned.
“She was going to marry her own brother?”
“Half-brother.”
Lucas slammed his hand against the table.
“Do not correct me!”
Diane flinched.
“Did Vanessa know when she met me?”
“Yes.”
Lucas looked away, sickened.
“Why?”
“She wanted access to Emma’s trust.”
“That explains the money. Not everything else.”
Diane wiped her tears.
“Vanessa hated your family.”
“Because of Richard?”
“He abandoned her.”
Lucas laughed bitterly.
“So she decided to destroy my daughter?”
“She thought taking the money would destroy his legacy.”
“My father is dead.”
“I know.”
“Emma isn’t.”
Diane had no answer.
Lucas leaned across the table.
“You locked Rachel into a nightmare.”
“I was afraid.”
“You helped kill her.”
“I never wanted her dead.”
“But you stayed silent.”
Diane sobbed.
“I know.”
Lucas walked toward the door.
Diane called after him.
“Lucas.”
He stopped.
“There’s one more thing.”
He didn’t turn.
“What?”
“The wedding wasn’t the final step.”
Lucas slowly looked back.
“What final step?”
“Vanessa had arranged an accident.”
Lucas’s face hardened.
“For who?”
“You.”
Silence.
“After the honeymoon.”
Diane explained.
Vanessa planned to drug Lucas while they were on a yacht.
His death would appear accidental.
As his wife, she would take control of the estate.
Using forged evidence questioning Emma’s paternity and Lucas’s supposed concerns about his own daughter, Vanessa would petition for temporary guardianship.
Then she would control Emma’s trust.
Lucas stared at Diane.
“And Emma?”
Diane cried harder.
“Vanessa said she would send her away.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“I don’t know.”
Lucas knew she was lying.
He stepped closer.
“What was supposed to happen to my daughter?”
Diane broke.
“She was never supposed to make it to eighteen.”
Lucas said nothing.
He turned and left.
There was nothing left to say.
The next day, prosecutors charged Vanessa with kidnapping, attempted fraud, conspiracy, and attempted murder.
Charles Mercer faced dozens of federal charges.
Marcus Hale was indicted.
Diane accepted a plea agreement in exchange for testimony.
The network Rachel died exposing began to collapse.
But one final question remained.
Emma’s forty-eight-million-dollar trust.
Someone had already tried to withdraw from it.
May you like
The request had been submitted that morning.
And it carried Lucas’s perfect digital signature.
