Chapter 6 - THE WOMAN WHO STOLE TWELVE YEARS
Adrian drove to the cemetery before Marcus could stop him.
Marcus followed in another vehicle with three security officers.
Claire stayed with Owen.
Adrian arrived seven minutes after receiving the footage.
Victoria’s car remained near the entrance.
Thomas’s was gone.
Adrian found his mother standing alone at Grace’s grave.
White roses lay over the fresh earth.
For one absurd second, she looked like any grieving mourner.
Then she turned.
“Adrian.”
“What did you give him?”
Victoria’s face showed no surprise.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
He laughed once.
“You keep saying that to the wrong people.”
She glanced toward Marcus approaching behind him.
“Can we speak privately?”
“No.”
“Adrian.”
“What was in the envelope?”
Victoria sighed.
“Money.”
“How much?”
“Two hundred thousand.”
“Why?”
“To leave.”
Adrian stared.
“You paid Thomas to disappear?”
“Yes.”
“Again?”
Something flickered in her eyes.
He saw it.
“Again,” he repeated.
Victoria looked toward Grace’s grave.
“Twelve years ago, your father’s company was weeks from completing a merger that saved six thousand jobs. Thomas resurfaced threatening scandal.”
“What kind of scandal?”
“He claimed James had stolen intellectual property from their father.”
“Was it true?”
“Partly.”
Adrian’s stomach dropped.
Victoria continued.
“Your grandfather developed several technologies with both sons. But he left control to James.”
“So Thomas believed he was cheated.”
“He was cheated.”
Adrian stared at her.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“And when he sabotaged my car?”
Her eyes closed briefly.
“I received a message that night.”
Grace’s video had been right.
“What did it say?”
“That Thomas intended to make James’s heir pay.”
“You knew I was driving.”
“I didn’t know what he had done.”
“You knew enough to call me.”
“Yes.”
“But you didn’t.”
Victoria’s composure cracked.
“The merger would have collapsed if police learned Thomas had resurfaced. Your father’s company had already been investigated twice. Another scandal could have destroyed it.”
Adrian could barely comprehend what he was hearing.
“You gambled my life on a merger?”
“No.”
“That is exactly what you did.”
“I believed he was bluffing.”
“My brakes failed.”
“I know!”
Victoria’s voice shattered across the cemetery.
For the first time in Adrian’s life, his mother looked old.
“I arrived at the hospital before the ambulance doors closed. Do you think I didn’t understand what I had done?”
“You covered it up.”
“I protected the company after I knew you would survive.”
Adrian stepped back as if physically struck.
Six thousand jobs.
Shareholder confidence.
Corporate stability.
Always an explanation.
Always sacrifice someone else.
“What about Grace?”
Victoria’s expression changed.
“I knew she was wrong for you.”
“That wasn’t your decision.”
“She was drowning.”
“Then you should have helped her.”
“She would have taken you away from everything.”
“Maybe I wanted to go.”
“You didn’t know what you wanted.”
“I was twenty-four!”
“You were my son.”
Adrian’s voice dropped.
“And Owen is mine.”
Victoria looked away.
There.
The reaction.
Adrian saw something deeper than discomfort.
Fear.
“You don’t want him.”
“That’s absurd.”
“You knew about him for eleven years.”
“I knew Grace had a child.”
“My child.”
“She never proved it to me.”
“She had a DNA test.”
Victoria turned sharply.
Adrian watched her.
“You didn’t know that.”
“No.”
“Then why investigate him?”
She said nothing.
“Grace wrote that Cole Family Holdings sent someone when Owen was four.”
Victoria’s silence answered.
“Why?”
“Because Thomas had resurfaced.”
Adrian frowned.
“What does Thomas have to do with Owen at four?”
Victoria rubbed her forehead.
“Thomas discovered Grace was pregnant before she left Manhattan.”
Adrian froze.
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
“You always know.”
“He had people watching the family.”
“And you let Grace leave while she was pregnant, knowing a violent man was watching us?”
“I gave her protection.”
“Without telling her?”
“Yes.”
“Was the man asking questions when Owen was four one of yours?”
“Yes.”
Adrian’s anger shifted.
Grace had thought Victoria was stalking her.
Perhaps Victoria had been watching Thomas.
But then another question surfaced.
“Why didn’t you tell me about Owen after you confirmed he existed?”
Victoria’s eyes filled with something almost like shame.
“Because you had finally recovered.”
Adrian laughed bitterly.
“Recovered?”
“You were functioning again. Meridian was growing. You stopped asking about Grace.”
“So you decided I didn’t need my son.”
“I decided not to reopen a wound.”
“You stole eleven years.”
Victoria looked at Grace’s grave.
“No. Grace did that too.”
Adrian wanted to deny it.
But he couldn’t.
Grace had been afraid.
Manipulated.
Threatened.
Yet she had also made a choice every day for eleven years.
Love did not erase consequences.
His anger toward Victoria did not erase Grace’s responsibility.
And somehow that made everything hurt more.
“Why meet Thomas today?”
“He contacted me after Grace died.”
“What did he want?”
“Money.”
“Only money?”
“Yes.”
Adrian stared at her.
“Mother.”
Victoria looked away.
“What else?”
“He wanted a document.”
“What document?”
“The original Samuel Cole Trust amendment.”
Adrian frowned.
“What amendment?”
Victoria went silent again.
Adrian’s patience ended.
“Tell me.”
She looked directly at him.
“In 1998, your grandfather amended the trust.”
“And?”
“He added a bloodline clause.”
“What does that mean?”
“If a direct descendant of James Cole produces a child, certain trust assets automatically vest partially in that child.”
Adrian’s mind calculated.
“How much?”
Victoria hesitated.
“Approximately thirty percent.”
Adrian stared.
Thirty percent of the Cole family trust was worth over three billion dollars.
Owen was eleven years old and unknowingly owned billions.
“That’s why Thomas wants him.”
“Not exactly.”
“What does ‘not exactly’ mean?”
“Thomas believes the amendment can be challenged.”
“How?”
“If Owen is legally established as your biological child, Thomas has almost no claim.”
“He already is biologically mine.”
“Legally, you are not on the birth certificate.”
Adrian understood.
Thomas needed to prevent formal acknowledgment.
Or control Owen.
Victoria continued.
“There is another complication.”
“Of course.”
“The amendment contains a guardianship provision.”
Adrian’s chest tightened.
“If the descendant is a minor and both biological parents are deceased, the trustee may control the child’s shares until age twenty-five.”
“Who is trustee?”
Victoria looked at him.
Adrian already knew.
“You.”
“Yes.”
He stared at her.
“So if I die, and Grace is dead, you control Owen’s three billion dollars.”
Victoria’s face hardened.
“Temporarily.”
“And Thomas knows this?”
“Yes.”
“Is that why he wants me dead?”
“Yes.”
“Then why are you meeting him alone?”
“Because I wanted him gone before you discovered how deep this went.”
Adrian laughed.
“Still protecting me.”
“Yes.”
“Stop.”
The word came out quietly.
Victoria blinked.
“Stop protecting me.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“You don’t protect people. You control outcomes.”
“That’s unfair.”
“You decided Grace wasn’t suitable. You decided I didn’t deserve the truth. You decided Owen didn’t need a father. You decided my life was worth risking for a merger.”
Tears formed in Victoria’s eyes.
Adrian had seen her cry only once.
At his father’s funeral.
“Do you know what you’ve done?”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
He pointed toward Grace’s grave.
“She died believing I had rejected her unborn child.”
Victoria whispered, “I’m sorry.”
“That apology belongs to someone who can’t hear it.”
They stood in silence.
Then Marcus approached.
“Sir.”
Adrian turned.
“What?”
“We located Richard Sloan.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
Victoria visibly reacted.
Marcus noticed.
“Where?”
“Briar Glen Regional Hospital.”
Adrian frowned.
“What happened?”
“Someone dumped him outside the emergency entrance twenty minutes ago.”
“Can he talk?”
“Barely.”
Adrian looked at Victoria.
She shook her head.
“I had nothing to do with that.”
They drove directly to the hospital.
Sloan lay in a private room surrounded by security.
His face was bruised.
One arm bandaged.
When Adrian entered, Sloan’s eyes widened.
“Adrian.”
“Thomas took you?”
Sloan nodded.
“Why?”
“He wanted documents.”
“The trust amendment?”
“Yes.”
“Did you give it to him?”
“No.”
“Where is it?”
Sloan looked toward Victoria.
Then back to Adrian.
“Safe.”
Adrian moved closer.
“Did my mother know Thomas cut my brakes twelve years ago?”
Sloan closed his eyes.
Victoria whispered, “Richard.”
Adrian turned.
“Don’t.”
Sloan opened his eyes.
“Yes.”
Adrian felt numb.
“Did she know before I drove?”
Sloan’s breathing became uneven.
“Yes.”
Victoria looked away.
Adrian had expected the answer.
It still destroyed something.
Then Sloan grabbed Adrian’s sleeve.
“There’s something else.”
Adrian leaned closer.
“What?”
“Grace called me.”
“When?”
“Three weeks ago.”
“Why?”
“She found a second trust document.”
Adrian frowned.
“What second document?”
Sloan struggled for breath.
“It changes everything.”
“How?”
Richard Sloan looked toward the hospital door as if afraid Thomas Vale might appear.
Then he whispered:
“Owen isn’t the only child named in your grandfather’s trust.”
Adrian froze.
“What?”
Sloan’s fingers tightened around his sleeve.
“Grace found evidence that James Cole had another child.”
Adrian stared.
“My father?”
“Yes.”
“A son?”
Sloan shook his head.
“A daughter.”
Adrian could barely speak.
“Who?”
May you like
Sloan looked directly into his eyes.
“Claire Dawson.”
