Chapter 5 - Vivienne Arrives
Vivienne Lennox arrived at the hospital forty-three minutes later.
She did not arrive alone.
Two private security officers walked ahead of her.
A personal assistant followed carrying a leather handbag.
Vivienne herself wore a cream wool coat over a charcoal dress and moved through the maternity floor as if entering a board meeting rather than stepping into the center of a family crisis.
At sixty-five, she remained striking.
Silver-blonde hair.
Perfect posture.
A face trained over decades never to reveal fear before others.
Daniel Cross stopped her at the security checkpoint.
“Mrs. Lennox.”
“Daniel.”
“You cannot enter.”
She smiled.
“My grandson is injured.”
“He’s stable.”
“My daughter-in-law gave birth.”
“Former daughter-in-law,” Charles murmured from behind the glass door.
Vivienne’s eyes shifted toward him.
Only for a second.
But Asher saw it.
Recognition.
Calculation.
Asher opened the suite door.
His mother looked at him.
“My darling.”
“Don’t.”
She stopped.
For most of his life, Asher had never spoken to Vivienne that way.
Her expression barely changed.
“I heard Malik needed stitches.”
“He’s sleeping.”
“And the babies?”
“You already knew about them.”
Silence.
Vivienne looked past him toward Laney.
Laney sat upright in bed, Amara sleeping against her chest.
Elias lay in the bassinet beside her.
Vivienne’s face softened.
It was convincing.
Almost.
“Asher, perhaps we should speak outside.”
“No.”
“This is an emotional moment.”
“It became emotional seven months ago.”
Vivienne removed her gloves.
“I understand you are angry.”
“Do you?”
“I understand that Laney has told you a version of events.”
Laney laughed quietly.
“A version.”
Vivienne ignored her.
“Asher, everything I did was to protect Malik.”
“From his mother?”
“From instability.”
Laney stared.
“You threatened me.”
Vivienne finally looked at her.
“I warned you.”
“You showed me stolen medical records.”
“I showed you that your privacy had already been compromised.”
“By you.”
“No.”
Asher stepped between them.
“Did you obtain her medical records?”
Vivienne met his eyes.
“I received them anonymously.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I expect you to remember that I have never lied to you about matters involving your safety.”
Laney whispered.
“That is an extraordinary sentence.”
Asher looked at his mother.
“Did you know where she was?”
Vivienne hesitated.
“Yes.”
The answer hit him harder than expected.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“For seven months.”
“I knew she was alive.”
“While Malik cried every night.”
Vivienne’s jaw tightened.
“He adapted.”
Asher stared at her.
“He adapted?”
“He needed routine. Stability.”
“He needed his mother.”
“His mother chose to leave.”
“I chose to keep him alive!” Laney shouted.
Amara stirred.
Laney immediately lowered her voice.
Vivienne looked toward the baby.
Something changed in her expression.
Not tenderness.
Assessment.
Asher noticed.
“Why were you tracking Laney?”
“I wasn’t.”
“Someone was.”
“I have enemies.”
“This isn’t about your enemies.”
Vivienne sighed.
“You are exhausted.”
“Stop trying to manage me.”
That finally irritated her.
“Someone has to.”
The words fell between them.
Asher gave a disbelieving laugh.
“There she is.”
“Asher.”
“No. You don’t get to walk into this room and treat me like a twenty-year-old intern.”
“You are acting irrationally.”
“My wife disappeared carrying twins I didn’t know existed because someone threatened my son, and you knew where she was.”
“Ex-wife.”
Asher’s eyes hardened.
Vivienne seemed to realize the correction had been a mistake.
Laney looked away.
Asher continued.
“You also knew my father received threats before his death.”
Vivienne froze.
Charles stood.
“Perhaps I should—”
“Sit down,” Asher said.
Charles sat.
Vivienne turned slowly toward him.
“What did you tell him?”
“The truth.”
“You have no idea what the truth is.”
“Then explain it.”
Vivienne removed her coat and placed it over a chair.
“Your father was investigating corruption.”
Asher waited.
“Inside Lennox Global?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“Charles says Father wanted to remove you from the voting trust.”
For the first time, Vivienne’s control cracked.
“Richard was frightened and paranoid.”
“Was he wrong?”
“Yes.”
“So why remove you?”
“Because he believed I had hidden information.”
“Had you?”
Vivienne did not answer.
Asher smiled without humor.
“What information?”
She looked at Laney.
“Not here.”
Laney laughed.
“Everything seems to be ‘not here’ until people disappear.”
Vivienne’s gaze sharpened.
“You have no idea what you uncovered.”
“Then enlighten me.”
“You found financial transfers. You assumed theft.”
“They were theft.”
“No.”
Laney frowned.
“What were they?”
Vivienne looked toward Asher.
“Payments.”
“To whom?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“Can’t or won’t?”
“Both.”
Asher stepped closer.
“You are finished making that decision for me.”
Vivienne’s voice hardened.
“You think becoming CEO made you the most powerful person in the family.”
“No.”
“Good.”
“I think becoming a father did.”
That silenced her.
Asher continued.
“Everything changes when someone threatens my children.”
Vivienne glanced toward the twins.
Again, that strange look.
“Those children are exactly why you need to stop.”
Asher’s pulse jumped.
“What do the twins have to do with this?”
Vivienne looked toward the windows.
“Nothing.”
Laney spoke quietly.
“You came here too quickly.”
Vivienne turned.
“What?”
“Nobody told you I delivered.”
“I have people who inform me—”
“Exactly.”
Laney’s expression sharpened.
“How did you know there were babies?”
Vivienne said nothing.
“You walked onto this floor and asked about ‘the babies.’ Not the baby.”
Asher stared at his mother.
Vivienne’s face remained still.
But it was too late.
“You knew there were twins.”
“I knew Laney’s pregnancy was multiple.”
“How?”
No answer.
“Did you have access to every appointment?”
“Asher.”
“Answer me.”
Vivienne’s shoulders dropped slightly.
“Yes.”
Laney went pale.
Asher’s voice became dangerous.
“You monitored her medical care.”
“To protect her.”
“From whom?”
Vivienne looked at him.
“Your father.”
Silence.
Asher almost laughed.
“My father is dead.”
Vivienne did not blink.
“No.”
Nobody moved.
The hospital room seemed to lose sound.
Asher stared at her.
“What did you say?”
Vivienne’s eyes filled with something he could not identify.
Fear.
Grief.
Maybe both.
“Richard Lennox did not die in that plane crash.”
Charles stood so quickly his chair tipped backward.
“Vivienne!”
She turned.
“He deserves to know.”
Asher felt strangely calm.
Calmer than he had since entering the hospital.
“My father is alive.”
Vivienne nodded.
“Or he was eighteen months ago.”
Asher’s throat tightened.
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe you know my dead father is alive but not where?”
“He contacted me.”
“When?”
“First time was three years after the crash.”
Asher laughed.
It sounded broken.
“Nine years ago.”
“Yes.”
“You knew for nine years.”
“Yes.”
“And you said nothing.”
“He made me promise.”
Asher walked away from everyone.
Toward the window.
He put both hands against the sill.
Behind him, Malik woke in the other room and called for water.
The ordinary sound nearly broke him.
His father alive.
His mother lying.
His wife hidden.
His children monitored.
Nothing in his life seemed real.
Laney spoke softly.
“Asher.”
He turned.
“Did you know?”
Her eyes widened.
“No.”
“Did you suspect?”
“No.”
He believed her.
Vivienne continued.
“Richard disappeared because he believed someone inside the company wanted him dead.”
“Then why stage the crash?”
“To protect you.”
Asher’s laugh turned bitter.
“Everyone keeps destroying my life to protect me.”
Vivienne flinched.
Good.
“Where has he been?”
“Moving.”
“Doing what?”
“Investigating.”
“The missing money?”
“Yes.”
Laney stared.
“So the two hundred million wasn’t stolen.”
“No.”
“What was it used for?”
Vivienne looked toward Asher.
“To fund a network your father built.”
“What kind of network?”
“One designed to identify the people who tried to kill him.”
Asher stepped closer.
“Who tried?”
“I don’t know.”
“You know something.”
Vivienne looked at Malik’s sleeping form through the connecting doorway.
Then at Amara.
Then Elias.
“Your father believed the threat came from inside our bloodline.”
Asher frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Vivienne opened her handbag.
She removed an old photograph.
A young Richard Lennox stood beside another man.
Same height.
Same dark hair.
Same jaw.
Asher stared.
He had never seen the man before.
“Who is that?”
Vivienne placed the photograph in his hand.
“Your father’s younger brother.”
“My father was an only child.”
“That is what your grandfather told the world.”
Asher looked at her.
“What was his name?”
“Gabriel.”
Laney whispered.
“What happened to him?”
Vivienne’s voice became almost inaudible.
“He disappeared when he was twenty-three.”
Asher looked down at the photograph again.
There was something familiar about Gabriel’s face.
Terribly familiar.
Then he realized why.
Charles Whitmore had the same eyes.
May you like
Asher slowly lifted his head.
Charles had gone completely pale.
