Chapter 13 - THE CHILD

I read the sentence three times.

“What child?”

Marcus looked just as confused.

“I don’t know.”

The letter continued.

There are mistakes in this family I never told you about because they were not yours to carry.

Years before you were born, I had a son.

My hands went numb.

A son?

My father had another child?

His name was Thomas.

His mother and I were young. We never married. I supported him quietly, but after a serious argument, Thomas refused contact.

Years later, I learned he had a daughter.

Her name was Victoria.

I dropped the letter.

Marcus whispered, “Jesus.”

Victoria.

Victoria Vance.

Not Vance.

That must have been another surname.

My father continued.

Victoria is your niece.

She does not know.

My breathing stopped.

The woman Daniel had been engaged to—

the woman involved in the fraud—

was my niece.

Marcus sat frozen.

“That changes everything.”

I kept reading.

Thomas died when Victoria was young. Patricia learned about Victoria through old records. I believe she and Daniel used the girl without telling her the truth.

If Daniel discovers Victoria has a potential blood relationship to you, he may try to use her to challenge inheritance structures.

Do not allow him to turn family into leverage.

I sat back.

Every secret had another secret underneath it.

At sunrise, detectives brought Victoria back for another interview.

I asked to speak with her while Marcus and an officer remained present.

She looked exhausted.

“What?”

I placed the letter down.

“Who was your father?”

“Thomas Lane.”

My chest tightened.

“Did you know my father knew him?”

She frowned.

“No.”

I pushed the letter across.

Victoria read.

Her face changed slowly.

Then completely.

“No.”

She read again.

“No.”

She looked at me.

“This is fake.”

“It isn’t.”

“You’re saying…”

“Yes.”

She stood suddenly.

“You’re my aunt?”

“Apparently.”

She laughed.

Then cried.

Then laughed again.

“This is insane.”

I understood.

Nothing about the night made sense anymore.

Victoria sat.

“Daniel knew?”

“My father believed Patricia did.”

Her expression hardened.

Of course.

Patricia.

Always Patricia.

Victoria covered her face.

“She told me your family destroyed mine.”

I leaned forward.

“What?”

“She said your father stole from my dad. She said your family left us with nothing.”

The lie was elegant.

Turn Victoria against me.

Keep her angry.

Keep her useful.

I asked, “Why did you agree to disappear?”

“Because Daniel promised he’d come back.”

That hurt in a different way.

Not for me.

For her.

She had wasted years waiting for the same man who had wasted mine.

Victoria looked at me.

“He told me marrying you was temporary.”

I almost smiled.

“He told me Victoria was dead.”

We sat there in silence.

Two women who had been trained to hate each other by the same family.

Then Victoria whispered, “There’s something else.”

Of course there was.

“What?”

She looked toward the officer.

“Daniel kept a backup drive.”

Marcus leaned forward.

“Where?”

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Victoria looked at me.

“Inside your father’s grave.”