Chapter 12 - ROSE’S CONFESSION
Samuel moved first.
He stepped away from Rose as if she had become dangerous to touch.
“No.”
Rose shook her head.
“Samuel.”
“Did you kill her?”
“No.”
Jonathan stared at her.
“Tell them.”
Rose began sobbing.
“I didn’t know.”
Evelyn’s voice was frighteningly calm.
“Know what?”
“The medication.”
“What about it?”
“Alexander replaced it.”
Alexander laughed.
Rose turned on him.
“You told me it was treatment!”
“You believed what you wanted to believe.”
Evelyn stepped toward Rose.
“For eighteen months?”
Rose cried harder.
“I thought I was helping her.”
“Did you never question why she got worse?”
“I did.”
“And?”
“Alexander had doctors.”
“Reports.”
“Tests.”
“Everything looked real.”
Jonathan spoke.
“Because the doctors were paid.”
Evelyn looked at Alexander.
“You murdered her.”
Alexander shrugged.
“She was already dying.”
Evelyn lunged.
Samuel caught her.
“Don’t.”
“LET ME GO!”
Alexander smiled.
That smile stopped her.
He wanted it.
He wanted Evelyn angry.
Out of control.
Just like Victoria had been in the ballroom.
Evelyn forced herself still.
“No.”
Alexander tilted his head.
Evelyn straightened her jacket.
“You don’t get to choose who I become.”
Victoria stood beside her.
“Neither do any of you.”
Jonathan looked at them.
There was pride in his expression.
Evelyn hated it.
“You’re not innocent either.”
Jonathan nodded.
“I know.”
“Where were you?”
“For thirty-two years?”
“Yes.”
“Running.”
“From him?”
“From everyone.”
Evelyn laughed bitterly.
“So you protected yourself.”
“Yes.”
“At our expense.”
“Yes.”
Jonathan didn’t excuse it.
That made Evelyn angrier.
“I thought if Alexander believed I was dead, you would be safe.”
Victoria stared.
“We weren’t.”
“I know.”
Samuel looked at him.
“And me?”
Jonathan’s face tightened.
“I didn’t know you existed until twelve years ago.”
Samuel laughed.
“And then?”
“I watched from a distance.”
“Wonderful.”
Samuel shook his head.
“Apparently every adult in this family loves watching children from a distance.”
Nobody answered.
Jonathan removed a folder.
“DNA.”
He handed it to Evelyn.
“Independent laboratories.”
“Multiple samples.”
“You three are my children.”
Evelyn didn’t open it.
Victoria did.
She scanned the pages.
Then looked at Evelyn.
“It’s true.”
Alexander began walking toward the stairs.
Marcus appeared at the opposite end of the corridor.
“Don’t.”
Alexander stopped.
Marcus had arrived with federal agents.
Alexander smiled.
“You think this ends with handcuffs?”
Evelyn looked at him.
“No.”
“It ends with truth.”
Alexander laughed.
“Truth?”
He pointed toward Jonathan.
“Ask your father why he really came back.”
Jonathan’s face changed.
Evelyn noticed.
“What?”
Alexander smiled.
“Tell them, Jonathan.”
Jonathan said nothing.
Victoria folded her arms.
“Oh, I’m getting very good at recognizing that face.”
She looked at Jonathan.
“What are you hiding?”
Jonathan sighed.
“The trust.”
Evelyn stared.
“What about it?”
“If you both accept ownership…”
He hesitated.
Alexander laughed.
Jonathan continued.
“…Mercer National Holdings becomes part of it.”
Victoria frowned.
“Meaning?”
Jonathan looked at the twins.
“You don’t just inherit the Vale assets.”
“You inherit mine.”
Silence.
Samuel whispered,
“How much?”
Jonathan answered.
“Approximately eleven billion dollars.”
Victoria laughed.
It was exhausted.
“Of course.”
Evelyn stared at Jonathan.
“You came back because of money?”
“No.”
Alexander answered for him.
“He came back because if you reject the trust, I can challenge it.”
Jonathan looked furious.
Alexander continued.
“And if I win…”
“…I control everything.”
Evelyn understood.
The trust wasn’t merely inheritance.
It was a battlefield.
Jonathan needed them to accept it.
Alexander needed them to reject it.
Everyone still wanted something from them.
Evelyn looked at Victoria.
Victoria looked back.
For the first time, neither needed to speak.
They understood.
Evelyn turned toward both men.
“No.”
Jonathan frowned.
Alexander smiled.
Victoria continued.
“We’re not choosing either of you.”
Alexander’s smile faded.
Evelyn nodded.
“We’ll choose what happens to the trust ourselves.”
Jonathan stepped forward.
“Evelyn—”
“No.”
She looked at him.
“You lost the right to make decisions for us when you chose hiding over raising us.”
Then she looked at Alexander.
“And you never had that right.”
Victoria smiled faintly.
“Looks like nobody owns anyone in this room.”
Evelyn glanced at her.
Victoria’s smile disappeared.
“Too soon?”
“Much.”
“Fair.”
For one second, despite everything, Evelyn almost laughed.
Then a federal agent entered.
His face was tense.
“Ms. Vale.”
Evelyn turned.
“We have a problem.”
“What?”
“The black ledger was uploaded twenty minutes ago.”
“To whom?”
The agent swallowed.
“Everyone.”
Alexander’s expression changed.
Evelyn stared.
The ledger containing judges, politicians, police officials, corporate executives, and decades of corruption had just been released publicly.
Phones began vibrating simultaneously.
News alerts.
Calls.
Messages.
The network was collapsing.
But Alexander wasn’t smiling anymore.
Which meant he hadn’t released it.
Evelyn looked at Rose.
Rose shook her head.
Not her.
Samuel checked his phone.
Then his face changed.
“What?”
He turned the screen toward Evelyn.
The upload had come with one sentence.
THE SISTERS DESERVE THE TRUTH.
And beneath it was a signature.
M.V.
Evelyn stopped breathing.
Margaret Vale.
May you like
Her mother had been dead for nine years.
Yet someone was using her name.
