Chapter 6 - THE HOUSE IN VERMONT
Audrey called the police before she called anyone else.
Then she called Julian.
“I’m going.”
“I’m coming with you.”
“No.”
“This is my family too now.”
“That’s exactly the problem.”
Still, he came.
They were on a private jet forty minutes later.
Neither of them slept.
At 4:30 a.m., they reached Evelyn’s house outside Burlington.
Police lights painted the trees blue and red.
Audrey jumped from the SUV before it fully stopped.
“Mom!”
An officer blocked her.
“Ma’am—”
“That’s my mother.”
Evelyn appeared on the porch wearing a robe.
Audrey ran to her.
For all her anger, she became ten years old the second her mother held her.
“You’re okay.”
“I’m okay.”
“What happened?”
“Someone came through the back.”
“Did you see them?”
“No.”
Julian approached slowly.
Evelyn looked at him.
Then at Audrey.
“That’s Julian?”
Audrey stepped back.
“You know?”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
“Oh, God.”
Audrey laughed in disbelief.
“You knew too?”
“I knew who his mother was.”
“How?”
“Richard told me.”
“When?”
“Six months ago.”
Audrey stared at her.
“And you didn’t think to tell me?”
“I begged him to tell you.”
“But you didn’t.”
“I was afraid.”
“Of what?”
Evelyn looked at Julian.
“Of being wrong.”
Julian’s face tightened.
“About me being Richard’s son?”
“Yes.”
Audrey shook her head.
“This family is unbelievable.”
Evelyn took her hand.
“There’s more.”
Inside, the house had been torn apart.
Drawers emptied.
Books pulled from shelves.
A floorboard in Evelyn’s study had been pried up.
Audrey looked at the empty space beneath it.
“What was there?”
Evelyn sat down.
“A box Richard gave me.”
“When?”
“Six months ago.”
“What was in it?”
“Records.”
“Harbor Street?”
“Yes.”
Julian moved closer.
“What kind of records?”
Evelyn looked at him.
“Proof that Lenora’s father didn’t willingly sell the property.”
Audrey’s mouth went dry.
“Dad stole it.”
“Your grandfather did. Richard helped cover it up.”
Julian laughed bitterly.
“So the Bellamys really did steal it.”
Evelyn nodded.
“Basically.”
Audrey looked at her mother.
“And Lenora?”
Evelyn’s expression shifted.
“She knew.”
“Knew what?”
“That Richard helped hide the fraud.”
Audrey’s anger sharpened.
“And she still slept with him.”
Evelyn looked away.
“Yes.”
The answer hurt more than Audrey expected.
Julian sat across from Evelyn.
“What else was in the box?”
She hesitated.
“A letter.”
“From who?”
“Thomas Mercer.”
Julian went still.
“My father?”
“The man who raised you.”
“What did it say?”
Evelyn looked at him with pity.
Julian hated that immediately.
“What did it say?”
“It said he knew Lenora had been seeing Richard.”
Julian’s hands clenched.
“And?”
“He believed you were his son.”
Julian swallowed.
“Believed?”
“He had a DNA test.”
The room went silent.
Julian whispered, “What?”
Evelyn nodded.
“Twenty-six years ago.”
Julian stood so fast the chair scraped backward.
“So there’s already a result.”
“Yes.”
“Where is it?”
Evelyn looked toward the destroyed study.
“In the box.”
Audrey’s stomach dropped.
“Someone stole it.”
“Yes.”
Julian looked at Audrey.
His phone buzzed.
He stared at the screen.
The color left his face.
“What?”
He handed Audrey the phone.
A text from an unknown number.
One photograph.
An old laboratory report.
At the bottom, beside the words PATERNITY PROBABILITY, was a number.
99.98%.
Audrey stopped breathing.
Richard Bellamy was Julian’s father.
Then another text appeared.
IF AUDREY WANTS THE ORIGINAL, SHE SIGNS HARBOR STREET OVER TO LENORA.
Audrey looked at Julian.
May you like
But a third message came before either of them could speak.
AND IF SHE CALLS THE POLICE, EVELYN WON’T SURVIVE THE NEXT VISIT.
