Chapter 10 - THE CONFESSION
The abandoned manufacturing plant smelled of rust, wet concrete, and old oil.
Police had not arrived yet.
Neither had federal agents.
Adrian hated that.
“Wait outside,” Charles ordered Claire.
“No.”
“Claire.”
“Richard may know what happened to my mother.”
Adrian looked at her.
“You’re staying behind me.”
Claire almost argued.
Then decided it wasn’t worth it.
They entered.
A light burned on the second floor.
Ethan stood near a metal railing.
No weapon visible.
“Up here.”
Adrian saw his father tied to a chair.
Bruised.
Conscious.
“Dad.”
Richard raised his head.
“Adrian.”
Ethan held up a hand.
“Stop.”
Adrian stopped.
Claire scanned the room.
“Where’s Victoria?”
Ethan’s expression changed.
“What?”
Claire felt cold.
“She knows about this.”
“No.”
A gunshot exploded.
Metal sparked beside Ethan.
Everyone dropped.
Victoria stepped from behind a support beam.
Gun in both hands.
“Move away from him.”
Adrian stared.
“Mom!”
“Move!”
Ethan raised his hands.
“Victoria.”
Her face was wild.
Thirty years of polished control gone.
“You should have stayed hidden.”
Adrian stood slowly.
“Put the gun down.”
“Stay out of this.”
“You’re pointing a gun at my cousin.”
Victoria laughed.
“Cousin?”
Her face twisted.
“That bastard is not family.”
Ethan’s expression hardened.
“My father was more Vale than you ever were.”
Victoria aimed at him.
Richard shouted,
“Victoria, stop!”
She turned slightly.
That was enough.
Adrian moved.
The gun fired.
Claire screamed.
Adrian slammed into his mother.
The weapon skidded across the floor.
Charles kicked it away.
Security rushed in.
Victoria fought like someone possessed.
“You don’t understand!”
Adrian pinned her arms.
“Then explain!”
She stared up at her son.
“You were supposed to inherit everything.”
“At what cost?”
“You were my son!”
“And Thomas?”
“He wanted Richard removed!”
“So you killed him?”
Victoria froze.
Silence.
Ethan stepped closer.
“Say it.”
Victoria looked at him.
“You don’t know what happened.”
“My father died because his brakes failed.”
“He was going to destroy us.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
Richard’s voice came from the chair.
“Yes.”
Everyone turned.
Richard closed his eyes.
“She sabotaged the car.”
Adrian slowly released his mother.
Victoria stared at her husband.
“You coward.”
Richard continued.
“I discovered it afterward.”
Adrian whispered,
“And you covered it up.”
“Yes.”
Ethan’s face crumpled.
Thirty-seven years of rage suddenly had confirmation.
“You let my mother hide.”
Richard looked at him.
“I didn’t know about you.”
“Liar.”
“I swear.”
Ethan kicked the chair.
“You knew Marianne existed.”
“I knew Thomas loved her. I didn’t know she was pregnant.”
Ethan’s eyes filled.
Richard continued.
“When I learned what Victoria had done, I panicked.”
“Because you’d lose the company,” Claire said.
Richard looked at her.
“Yes.”
Claire felt disgust.
“So you protected a murderer.”
Richard lowered his head.
“Yes.”
Victoria screamed,
“He would have taken everything!”
Adrian stared at his mother.
“Thomas was your brother-in-law.”
“He hated me.”
“You killed him!”
“I protected you!”
“I wasn’t even born!”
The words echoed.
Victoria froze.
Adrian’s breathing became ragged.
“You killed a man for a child who didn’t exist yet?”
Victoria whispered,
“I was pregnant.”
Richard looked up sharply.
“What?”
Adrian stared.
Victoria began crying.
“I was pregnant before you.”
Richard’s face changed.
“You never told me.”
“I lost the baby after Thomas died.”
Nobody spoke.
“I thought if Richard lost the company, he would leave me. Evelyn would win. Thomas would help her.”
Claire felt sick hearing her mother reduced to an enemy inside Victoria’s obsession.
“You killed Thomas because you were jealous of Evelyn?”
“No!”
Victoria looked at Claire.
“Your mother controlled everything.”
“She invested.”
“She controlled Richard.”
“She left him.”
“She could always bring him back.”
Claire stared at her.
Then asked the question that had haunted her since Savannah arrived.
“What did you do to my mother?”
Victoria’s face went blank.
Richard closed his eyes.
Claire saw it.
“What did she do?”
Richard whispered,
“Claire…”
“What did she do?”
Victoria spoke first.
“I didn’t kill Evelyn.”
“Did you interfere with her treatment?”
Silence.
Claire walked closer.
“Did you?”
Victoria’s lips trembled.
“She was going to recover.”
Claire stopped.
Everyone did.
“What?”
“The experimental treatment.”
Claire felt the room disappear around her.
“She qualified?”
“Yes.”
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
Victoria looked away.
“I paid Reese.”
Claire’s knees weakened.
“To do what?”
“To delay enrollment.”
“How long?”
“Six weeks.”
Claire’s voice broke.
“Six weeks?”
“She deteriorated faster than expected.”
Claire covered her mouth.
Charles turned away.
Adrian stared at his mother like she was a stranger.
Victoria continued desperately.
“I didn’t know she would die!”
“You knew she was sick!”
“I wanted time!”
“For what?”
“To secure the company!”
Claire’s grief transformed into rage.
“You stole six weeks from her.”
Victoria shook her head.
“No.”
“You stole six weeks.”
“I didn’t kill her.”
“You took away the treatment she wanted!”
“I didn’t know—”
Claire slapped her.
The sound cracked through the building.
Nobody stopped her.
Victoria touched her cheek.
Claire was crying now.
“My mother held my hand and apologized because she thought her body had failed her.”
Victoria said nothing.
“She thought she was unlucky.”
Claire’s voice shook.
“She died believing there was nothing else doctors could do.”
Victoria whispered,
“I’m sorry.”
Claire laughed through tears.
“No.”
She stepped back.
“You’re scared.”
Savannah had said the same thing.
Funny how easy it was to confuse fear with remorse.
Sirens approached outside.
Ethan looked toward the windows.
Victoria heard them too.
She suddenly turned toward the gun lying several feet away.
Adrian saw it.
“Mom.”
She ran.
Ethan moved.
Claire shouted.
Victoria reached the gun.
But before she could lift it, Richard threw himself sideways from the chair, still tied.
His body struck her legs.
She fell.
Federal agents stormed the floor.
“DROP THE WEAPON!”
Victoria froze.
Hands rose.
Seconds later she was face down on the concrete.
Handcuffed.
Adrian watched agents lead his mother away.
She turned once.
“Adrian.”
He said nothing.
“Please.”
He looked at her.
“I did everything for you.”
Adrian’s face hardened.
“No.”
He shook his head.
“You did everything for control.”
She disappeared down the stairs.
Ethan stood near Richard.
Richard looked up at him.
“I’m sorry.”
Ethan laughed bitterly.
“For which decade?”
Adrian untied his father.
No one embraced.
No one knew how.
Outside, news helicopters were already approaching.
Claire’s phone exploded with alerts.
Victoria Vale arrested.
Historic corporate scandal.
Thomas Vale investigation reopened.
Potential criminal conspiracy.
Then another alert appeared.
Vale Industries trading halted.
Adrian stared at the screen.
“My company.”
Claire looked at him.
He corrected himself.
“The company.”
It was a small change.
But Claire noticed.
Then Miriam rushed toward them.
“Claire.”
“What?”
“There’s an emergency filing.”
“From who?”
“Ethan.”
Everyone turned.
Ethan looked confused.
“I didn’t file anything.”
Miriam showed them.
A petition had been submitted to Delaware Chancery Court invoking Thomas Vale’s succession rights.
Claimant:
ETHAN THOMAS COLE-VALE.
Ethan stared.
“That wasn’t me.”
Claire felt cold.
“Then who filed it?”
Miriam scrolled.
The attorney of record was Martin Keene.
Victoria’s investigator.
Daniel Reed’s contact.
A man nobody had seen in forty-eight hours.
And attached to the filing was a document claiming Ethan had assigned all his potential rights to another party.
A corporation.
Reed Strategic Partners.
Ethan’s face drained.
“I never signed that.”
Savannah whispered,
“Daniel.”
Claire understood.
Daniel had never planned merely to steal merger information.
May you like
He planned to steal Vale Industries itself.
And somewhere, Daniel Reed still had documents bearing Ethan’s forged signature.
