Chapter 4 - THE SECOND FAMILY SECRET
Security tackled Victor before he could pull the weapon.
The gun skidded across the floor.
Scarlett screamed.
Martin shoved Lucy behind him.
“Get him out of here!”
Victor fought like a trapped animal.
“You don’t understand!”
Three guards pinned him down.
Police sirens screamed outside.
Someone in the ballroom had called 911.
Harold slid against the wall, shaking.
Martin turned to him.
“Finish what you were saying.”
Harold looked at Scarlett.
She had gone pale.
“My birth certificate?” she whispered.
Harold nodded.
“I processed papers for Victor years ago.”
Scarlett stared at Martin.
“Dad?”
Martin shook his head.
“I know nothing about this.”
Harold spoke carefully.
“Scarlett was born when Martin was married to Elaine.”
Scarlett’s mother.
Elaine Hale had died in a boating accident eleven years earlier.
Martin nodded.
“Yes.”
Harold looked uncomfortable.
“The certificate listed Martin as the father.”
Scarlett’s voice sharpened.
“Because he is my father.”
Harold looked toward Victor.
Victor stopped fighting.
That silence said too much.
Scarlett turned toward him.
“No.”
Victor said nothing.
“No!”
Martin grabbed Harold.
“Say it.”
Harold whispered,
“A private DNA test was ordered shortly after Scarlett’s birth.”
Martin’s face went blank.
“What test?”
“Elaine ordered it.”
Scarlett stared at him.
“And?”
Harold closed his eyes.
“Martin wasn’t the biological father.”
Scarlett staggered backward.
Lucy caught her before she fell.
Scarlett immediately pulled away.
“No.”
Harold continued.
“Elaine confronted Victor.”
Martin turned slowly.
Victor stared back at him.
Realization arrived like a knife.
Martin whispered,
“You?”
Victor smiled weakly.
Scarlett’s voice became tiny.
“No.”
Victor looked at her.
“Scarlett…”
“Don’t.”
“I loved your mother.”
“Don’t say that.”
“She was lonely.”
Scarlett screamed,
“STOP!”
The sound echoed through the corridor.
Martin looked like he could barely stand.
Victor continued anyway.
“She knew Martin was still obsessed with Rebecca.”
Martin’s eyes burned.
“You slept with my wife?”
Victor shrugged.
“She came to me.”
Martin launched himself forward.
Security held him back.
Scarlett began crying.
Not dramatically.
Not loudly.
The tears simply appeared.
Everything she believed about herself had broken in minutes.
Lucy watched her.
The same woman who had slapped her twenty minutes earlier now looked like a terrified child.
Scarlett whispered,
“So you knew?”
Victor looked at her.
“For years.”
“And you let me call him Dad?”
“Martin raised you.”
“You stood beside us at every birthday.”
“Yes.”
“You held me when Mom died.”
Victor’s face changed slightly.
“Yes.”
Scarlett approached him.
“Did my mother know you were my biological father?”
Victor did not answer.
Scarlett’s jaw tightened.
“Did she know?”
“Yes.”
Scarlett slapped him again.
Then she turned away.
Harold said,
“That isn’t the worst part.”
Lucy stared at him.
“How can there possibly be worse?”
Harold rubbed his face.
“Elaine was planning to tell Martin everything.”
Martin’s eyes narrowed.
“When?”
“Eleven years ago.”
The hallway became completely still.
Scarlett slowly turned.
“My mother died eleven years ago.”
Harold nodded.
Martin whispered,
“The boat accident.”
Victor’s expression changed.
Harold saw it.
So did everyone else.
Scarlett stared at Victor.
“No.”
Victor snapped,
“Be careful what you accuse me of.”
Harold said,
“Elaine called me the night before she died.”
Martin’s voice shook.
“What did she say?”
“She wanted copies of Scarlett’s DNA test.”
Scarlett covered her mouth.
“She said she was done living with the lie.”
Victor’s eyes darkened.
Harold continued.
“She told me she was meeting Victor the next morning before she spoke to you.”
Martin slowly turned toward Victor.
Victor said,
“Coincidence.”
Harold shook his head.
“The police report said Elaine took the boat out alone at 6:40 a.m.”
Martin nodded.
Harold whispered,
“She didn’t.”
Scarlett’s face collapsed.
“How do you know?”
“Because I saw security footage from the marina.”
Victor shouted,
“Enough!”
Harold pointed at him.
“He was on the boat.”
Scarlett stopped breathing.
Martin whispered,
“What happened to the footage?”
Harold’s eyes filled with shame.
“I deleted it.”
Lucy stared at him.
“Why?”
“Victor threatened my family.”
Scarlett whispered,
“So my mother…”
Harold looked at her.
“I don’t know if he killed her.”
Victor laughed.
“You know nothing.”
Harold shook his head.
“I know she got on that boat alive.”
He looked at Martin.
“And Victor returned to the marina alone.”
Police officers rushed into the corridor.
Victor was handcuffed.
As they dragged him away, he looked over his shoulder at Martin.
Then he smiled.
“You really think Elaine’s death was my biggest secret?”
Martin froze.
Victor looked straight at Lucy.
“Ask your precious daughter what her mother did three days before she died.”
Lucy’s blood went cold.
Victor laughed as police pulled him through the doors.
“Rebecca wasn’t dying quietly, Martin.”
May you like
He pointed toward Lucy.
“She was preparing to destroy every one of you.”
