Chapter 5 - My Mother’s Secret
I drove to my mother’s house before sunrise.
Mara came with me.
Vivienne did not.
I had asked her to leave our home.
She had refused.
So I had called security.
The irony wasn’t lost on anyone.
At 5:43 a.m., my mother opened her front door wearing a silk robe and an expression of annoyance.
Then she saw Mara.
The color vanished from her face.
Mara whispered, “Hello, Cecilia.”
My mother gripped the door.
“No.”
I stepped inside.
“Yes.”
“Daniel, listen to me.”
“That seems to be everybody’s favorite sentence tonight.”
Cecilia Hart had spent sixty-two years mastering control.
Boardrooms.
Charities.
Politicians.
Family dinners.
Nothing rattled her.
Until Mara walked into her foyer.
“You were supposed to be in Colorado.”
Mara’s face went cold.
I stared at my mother.
“You knew.”
Cecilia closed her eyes.
That was my answer.
“You knew where she was every day.”
“Daniel—”
“Every birthday?”
She said nothing.
“Every Christmas?”
Nothing.
“Every night Noah cried for her?”
Her shoulders dropped.
“I thought I was protecting him.”
Mara’s voice trembled.
“By stealing his mother?”
“You were sick.”
“I was grieving.”
“You were erratic.”
“My father had just died.”
“You frightened people.”
“No.”
Mara stepped closer.
“I frightened you.”
Cecilia’s eyes narrowed.
Mara continued.
“Because I found the foundation accounts.”
I turned.
“What accounts?”
Cecilia’s face hardened.
“Enough.”
Mara looked at me.
“That’s why this started.”
My head spun.
“What did you find?”
“Money being routed through three fake charities.”
Cecilia snapped, “You had no idea what you were looking at.”
“Then why lock me away?”
Cecilia looked toward the windows.
The first light of morning was beginning to appear.
She suddenly looked older.
“I never meant for it to last four years.”
Mara laughed in disbelief.
“How long was acceptable?”
Cecilia didn’t answer.
I stepped between them.
“Who ordered her commitment?”
My mother looked at me.
“I signed the payment approvals.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Silence.
“Who decided Mara had to disappear?”
Cecilia whispered, “Vivienne.”
Mara stared at her.
My mother continued.
“She brought me the medical reports.”
“What reports?”
“She said Mara was becoming dangerous.”
“They were fake.”
“I know that now.”
I felt physically sick.
“When did you know?”
Cecilia’s eyes met mine.
“About a year later.”
I stepped backward.
“A year?”
“I wanted to end it.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Vivienne had copies of everything.”
“What everything?”
Cecilia sat down slowly.
“The foundation transfers.”
Her voice dropped.
“The falsified medical records.”
My chest tightened.
“And the recording.”
Mara frowned.
“What recording?”
Cecilia looked terrified.
“Something that could have sent both of us to prison.”
Mara moved closer.
“What did Vivi have?”
My mother’s eyes filled with tears.
May you like
“Proof that what happened to you wasn’t an accident.”
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