Chapter 10 - THE LAST SECRET
We found Florence's car abandoned outside an old church.
Gemma was inside.
Alive.
Florence was sitting beside her.
And standing behind them was Adrian Vale.
He turned when I entered.
“Conrad.”
I stepped forward.
“Let my daughter go.”
Adrian smiled.
“She isn't a prisoner.”
Gemma looked at me.
“Dad…”
I rushed toward her.
Adrian raised one hand.
“Don't.”
I stopped.
“What do you want?”
“Justice.”
“You tried to kill my wife.”
“No.”
“You faked her death.”
“No.”
“Then what?”
Adrian looked at Florence.
“She did.”
My mother closed her eyes.
I stared at her.
“Mom?”
Florence finally looked at me.
Her face had aged ten years overnight.
“I didn't want Vivienne dead.”
“Then why?”
“Because I knew what Adrian would do.”
Adrian laughed.
“You still lie beautifully.”
Florence ignored him.
“Your father made terrible mistakes.”
“Yes.”
“He took Vivienne from Maeve.”
“Yes.”
“He tried to repair his mistake by creating the trust.”
“Yes.”
“But he made another mistake.”
“What?”
“He named you trustee.”
I stared at her.
“Why?”
“Because he believed you were the only person he could trust.”
My chest tightened.
“Then why did you betray me?”
Florence began crying.
“I didn't.”
“Mom…”
“I was protecting you.”
“From what?”
She looked at Adrian.
“From your father's past.”
Adrian stepped forward.
“Enough.”
Then he looked at me.
“Your father ruined my life.”
“He did.”
“He stole my company.”
“He did.”
“He took my son.”
I stared at Mason's supposed biological father.
“Mason.”
Adrian nodded.
“He was mine.”
Florence shook her head.
“He was never yours.”
Adrian's expression hardened.
“DNA doesn't lie.”
“No,” Florence said. “But obsession does.”
She looked at me.
“Mason wasn't Adrian's son.”
I froze.
“What?”
Adrian's face changed.
Florence continued.
“Your father wasn't his father either.”
Silence.
“Then whose son was he?”
Florence looked at me.
“Mine.”
I stared.
“My mother had a child.”
“Yes.”
“Mason?”
“Yes.”
“But who was his father?”
She whispered:
“Lucas Albright.”
I felt the world collapse.
The doctor.
The fake death.
The medical records.
Everything.
Dr. Albright was Mason's biological father.
Adrian wasn't.
My father wasn't.
Mason had spent years believing a lie.
And Florence had allowed it.
Adrian suddenly pulled a gun.
Gemma screamed.
I stepped in front of my daughter.
“Put it down.”
Adrian's hand shook.
“You don't understand.”
“I understand enough.”
“No. You don't.”
He looked at Florence.
“She destroyed everyone.”
Florence whispered:
“I was trying to protect my children.”
“You protected one.”
She looked at me.
“I'm sorry.”
A siren sounded outside.
Police.
Adrian looked toward the doors.
I took another step.
“It's over.”
He lowered the weapon.
For one second, I thought he would surrender.
Then he smiled.
“You think this is over?”
He threw the gun away.
Officers stormed inside.
Adrian was arrested.
Florence surrendered.
Gemma ran into my arms.
I held her tightly.
But something still bothered me.
The truth was finally coming out.
Yet there was one person missing.
Dr. Lucas Albright.
We found him three hours later.
Dead in his clinic.
Suicide, according to the first officers.
But the detective who called me sounded unconvinced.
“Mr. Pendelton?”
“Yes.”
“There was a note.”
“What did it say?”
The detective paused.
“It said, ‘Vivienne knows the real reason.’”
I looked toward the hospital.
Vivienne.
I drove there immediately.
She was awake.
When I entered, she looked at me.
“You found out.”
“Yes.”
“About Mason?”
“Yes.”
“About your mother?”
“Yes.”
“About Adrian?”
“Yes.”
She closed her eyes.
“There is still one thing you don't know.”
My stomach tightened.
“What?”
Vivienne looked directly at me.
“The man who ordered my death wasn't any of them.”
I froze.
“Then who?”
She reached beneath her pillow.
Pulled out a photograph.
Placed it in my hand.
I stared at the image.
It showed me.
Standing outside the hospital.
Beside a man I recognized.
My company's chief financial officer.
A man who had been with me for fifteen years.
And written across the back in Vivienne's handwriting were seven words:
He has been watching you all along.
I looked at my wife.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I needed you alive long enough to discover the truth yourself.”
Outside the hospital room, footsteps approached.
The door handle moved.
Vivienne grabbed my hand.
“Conrad.”
“Yes?”
Her eyes widened.
“Don't open that door.”
The handle turned again.
And someone whispered from the hallway:
“Conrad… it's me.”
My blood ran cold.
May you like
Because I recognized the voice.
It belonged to someone who was supposed to be dead.
