Chapter 5
I did not tell Vivienne that Detective Reed had the flash drive.
If she believed I possessed the only copy, I could keep her focused on me.
Rosie rode back to the estate in my arms.
A paramedic examined her and found a small injection mark near her elbow.
The drug had not fully entered her system because she fought.
My three-year-old daughter had fought grown men while I was uncovering secrets I should have discovered years earlier.
“I kicked the mean lady,” she whispered.
“You were very brave.”
“Mommy said brave means scared but you still yell.”
A broken laugh escaped me.
“That sounds like your mommy.”
Rosie touched my tie.
“Are you scared?”
“More than I’ve ever been.”
“Then yell.”
I pressed my forehead against hers.
“I will.”
Police moved us to a protected apartment maintained for witnesses.
Maria came with us.
Marco stayed at my side while his team searched for Vivienne and Adrian.
Richard was charged with kidnapping, conspiracy, forgery, and unlawful imprisonment.
His attorneys had him released pending a hearing within hours.
Money still opened doors.
I intended to close every one.
At the apartment, Claire connected a laptop to an encrypted copy of Sofia’s drive.
A password prompt appeared.
The clue beneath it read:
Where his mother kept her North Star.
“My mother had a star-shaped music box,” I said.
Eleanor had given it to me after my mother died.
It remained locked inside the estate vault.
Marco retrieved it under police supervision.
Inside the music box was a handwritten card my mother had placed there when I was a child.
Whenever you are lost, kindness is north.
Claire entered KINDNESS.
The files opened.
Sofia had documented everything.
There were invoices showing Vale Medical charging the children’s foundation for treatments never performed.
There were bank records connecting Adrian to accounts in the Cayman Islands.
There were audio recordings of Richard demanding that Sofia remain silent.
Then we opened a folder labeled V.
The first video showed Vivienne entering Sofia’s room six weeks before her death.
Sofia had hidden a camera on a shelf.
“You forged Damian’s messages,” Sofia said from behind the camera.
Vivienne smiled.
“He didn’t want you then, and he won’t want you now.”
“I have the paternity test.”
“You have a stolen sample and a piece of paper Claire should never have created.”
“I’m telling him.”
“If you do, Rosie loses her mother.”
The recording ended.
My vision darkened.
Claire touched my shoulder.
“There’s more.”
The next audio file had been recorded the night Sofia died.
Adrian’s voice came first.
“Where is the drive?”
“I sent copies,” Sofia replied.
“You’re bluffing.”
“Touch my daughter, and Damian learns everything.”
Vivienne spoke next.
“He’ll blame you for hiding Rosie.”
“Maybe. But he’ll protect her.”
A glass shattered.
Sofia gasped.
Then Richard’s voice filled the recording.
“Give her the pills.”
The sound of a struggle followed.
Sofia cried out.
I heard Vivienne say, “Hold her still.”
The recording stopped.
Nobody moved.
Marco stared at the screen.
Claire covered her mouth.
I walked into the bathroom and vomited.
Sofia had died among people I invited into my home.
She had called my name with no one there to answer.
When I returned, Detective Reed had arrived.
“This is enough for arrest warrants,” she said.
“Then arrest them.”
“We have Richard, but Vivienne and Adrian are missing.”
My phone rang from an unknown number.
Vivienne.
“Did you enjoy Sofia’s little performance?” she asked.
“You murdered her.”
“She was alive when I left.”
“You forced drugs into her.”
“Adrian panicked. Richard made the decisions.”
“You threatened Rosie.”
“She was never supposed to become your problem.”
I recorded the call while Reed traced it.
“She is my daughter.”
“She is an accident.”
Rage burned through me.
“Sofia was worth ten of you.”
Vivienne’s breathing changed.
I heard the jealousy she had hidden for years.
“You loved her.”
“I did.”
The truth surprised me only because I had spent four years refusing to name it.
Vivienne laughed bitterly.
“You used her one night and forgot her.”
“I failed her. That doesn’t make what you did less monstrous.”
“You want Adrian? Bring the drive to the foundation office at midnight.”
“The police already copied it.”
“That isn’t the drive I mean.”
I looked at Claire.
Vivienne continued.
“Sofia kept a second device. It contains something more valuable than financial records.”
“What?”
“Your mother’s final will.”
My chest tightened.
“My mother’s will was probated twenty years ago.”
“A false version was.”
The call ended.
Eleanor sank into a chair.
I turned toward her.
“What is she talking about?”
Eleanor’s face told me she knew.
“Your mother changed her will two days before the accident,” she whispered.
“What accident?”
“The crash that killed your parents.”
“You said the roads were icy.”
“They were.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
Eleanor twisted her hands.
“Your mother discovered your father and Richard were using Mercer Holdings to hide illegal medical trials. She planned to remove your father from the company and expose Richard.”
My entire childhood shifted beneath me.
“Where was the new will?”
“She gave it to Sofia’s mother, who worked as her personal assistant.”
“Sofia inherited the evidence.”
“Yes.”
“Did Richard kill my parents?”
“I never knew for certain.”
I looked at the files on Sofia’s drive.
She had not merely uncovered a recent theft.
She had inherited a secret that began before Rosie or Vivienne entered my life.
Detective Reed received a message.
Her expression sharpened.
“The foundation building’s fire alarm has activated.”
A live security feed appeared on Marco’s tablet.
Smoke filled the records floor.
Adrian stood before a camera with gasoline around his feet.
He held a small girl’s coat.
Rosie’s coat.
May you like
Then he raised his phone and stared directly into the lens.
“Come alone, Damian,” he said. “Or the next thing I burn will be the truth about your parents.”
