Chapter 8 - The Secret Rachel Took to Her Grave
Lucas stood frozen.
Sophie clung to his neck.
Police officers moved around them.
Daniel was handcuffed.
Arthur Wynn and Peter Sloan were being detained.
Richard stood under guard.
Vanessa had collapsed onto a wooden crate.
But Lucas heard none of it.
Only Daniel's words.
Tell him who Sophie's real mother was.
Lucas looked at Margaret.
“Mom.”
She closed her eyes.
“Not here.”
“No.”
Lucas shook his head.
“You don't get to say that anymore.”
Sophie looked between them.
“Daddy?”
Lucas kissed her forehead.
“It's okay.”
But it wasn't.
Nothing was okay.
He handed Sophie gently to Detective Hale.
“Stay with him for one minute.”
Sophie grabbed Lucas's sleeve.
“No.”
He crouched.
“I am right here.”
She stared at him.
Then reluctantly released him.
Lucas walked toward Margaret.
“What did Daniel mean?”
Margaret rubbed her hands together.
“Rachel wanted to tell you.”
“When?”
“She tried.”
“About what?”
Margaret looked at Sophie.
Lucas stepped into her line of sight.
“Look at me.”
She did.
“Is Sophie my daughter?”
“Yes.”
The answer came instantly.
Lucas breathed.
“Then what is this?”
Margaret's lips trembled.
“She isn't Rachel's biological child.”
Lucas stared at her.
“What?”
Behind him, Daniel laughed quietly.
Lucas ignored him.
Margaret continued.
“Rachel gave birth to a baby girl.”
Lucas's face went numb.
“I was there.”
“Yes.”
“I held her.”
“Yes.”
“That was Sophie.”
Margaret shook her head.
“No.”
Lucas stopped breathing.
“What happened?”
Margaret began crying harder.
“The baby Rachel delivered died.”
Lucas stared.
“No.”
“She stopped breathing within minutes.”
“No.”
“The hospital team tried.”
“No.”
“You were unconscious.”
Lucas frowned.
“What?”
“You collapsed.”
Lucas remembered fragments.
He remembered bright lights.
Rachel screaming.
A nurse telling him to sit.
Then waking in another room.
He had always been told he fainted from exhaustion.
Margaret continued.
“You were sedated.”
“Why?”
“Because you wouldn't leave Rachel.”
Lucas stared at her.
“And Sophie?”
Margaret looked down.
“She was born in the same hospital.”
Lucas felt something terrifying forming.
“To who?”
Margaret said nothing.
“Who?”
Daniel answered from the floor.
“Vanessa's sister.”
Lucas turned.
Vanessa's face snapped upward.
“What?”
Richard went pale.
Daniel laughed.
“Oh.”
He looked delighted.
“She doesn't know.”
Vanessa stood.
“What are you talking about?”
Richard whispered:
“Daniel.”
Vanessa looked at her father.
“Dad?”
Richard looked away.
Vanessa moved toward him.
“Who is he talking about?”
Richard closed his eyes.
“Caroline.”
Vanessa stopped.
Her older sister.
Caroline Cole.
Dead for seven years.
Vanessa's face drained.
“No.”
Richard's voice broke.
“Caroline had a baby.”
Vanessa shook her head.
“No.”
“She was pregnant?”
“You told me she died in Europe.”
Richard's eyes filled with tears.
“She died in Chicago.”
Vanessa covered her mouth.
Lucas looked between them.
“How did Sophie become mine?”
Margaret sat down.
Her legs seemed unable to hold her.
“Caroline went into labor the same night Rachel did.”
“Same hospital.”
“Same floor.”
Lucas felt sick.
“Continue.”
“Caroline didn't survive.”
Vanessa made a strangled sound.
Richard lowered his head.
Margaret continued.
“The baby survived.”
Lucas looked at Sophie.
Then back.
“And Rachel's baby died.”
“Yes.”
“How did you switch them?”
Margaret cried.
“I didn't.”
Lucas stared.
“Then who did?”
Margaret looked toward Daniel.
He smiled.
Lucas felt cold.
Daniel spoke.
“Dad.”
Lucas stopped.
“Our father?”
Daniel nodded.
“Why?”
“Because Caroline's child had something Dad needed.”
Lucas looked at Richard.
Richard's face was destroyed by shame.
“What?”
Richard whispered:
“Blood.”
Lucas frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Richard sat slowly.
“My wife came from the Whitmore family.”
Lucas knew the name.
Old money.
Private banking.
Trusts stretching back generations.
Richard continued.
“There was a family trust.”
“Caroline was an heir.”
Vanessa stared at him.
“You told me there was nothing left.”
“There wasn't for us.”
“But there was for Caroline's child.”
Lucas began understanding.
“How much?”
Richard looked at him.
“Over three hundred million dollars.”
Silence.
Lucas stared at Sophie.
The little girl stood beside Hale.
Still wearing her flower-girl dress.
Three hundred million dollars.
Daniel laughed.
“Now you're catching up.”
Lucas turned toward him.
“My father switched babies for money?”
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
“He switched them for access.”
“Access to the trust?”
“Yes.”
Lucas looked at Margaret.
“How does Sophie being my daughter give Bennett access?”
Margaret wiped her face.
“Your father forged adoption records.”
“He arranged for Rachel and you to be listed as Sophie's legal parents.”
“He believed when Sophie turned seven, part of the Whitmore trust would become accessible through her guardians.”
Lucas stared.
“She turns seven in two months.”
Daniel smiled.
“Exactly.”
Lucas felt rage spread through him.
“So this entire wedding...”
Vanessa whispered:
“Was about guardianship.”
Everyone looked at her.
She had tears streaming down her face.
“If I married Lucas...”
Richard closed his eyes.
Vanessa continued:
“And something happened to Lucas...”
Daniel smiled.
“You became Sophie's legal stepmother.”
Vanessa stared at him in horror.
“And if Lucas became unavailable, you could petition for guardianship.”
Daniel nodded.
“And the trust.”
Vanessa staggered back.
“No.”
Lucas looked at Daniel.
“You planned to kill me.”
Daniel shrugged.
“I planned options.”
Hale stepped forward.
“That's enough.”
Daniel laughed.
“No.”
He looked at Lucas.
“Because he still doesn't know the best part.”
Lucas walked closer.
“What?”
Daniel stared at Sophie.
“Rachel found out.”
Lucas froze.
“When?”
“A year before she died.”
Lucas's voice went quiet.
“She knew Sophie wasn't biologically hers?”
“Yes.”
“And she said nothing?”
Margaret began crying again.
Daniel smiled.
“She was going to tell you.”
“But then she discovered why Dad switched the babies.”
Lucas felt his heart pounding.
“What do you mean why?”
“You think it was only money?”
Lucas stared.
Daniel leaned closer as far as the handcuffs allowed.
“Caroline didn't die naturally.”
Vanessa stopped breathing.
Richard's head jerked up.
Daniel smiled.
“She was murdered.”
Vanessa screamed.
“No!”
Richard lunged.
Officers restrained him.
Daniel laughed.
Lucas stared.
“Who killed her?”
Daniel looked toward Richard.
Richard struggled against the officers.
“You liar!”
Daniel raised his voice.
“Tell them, Richard!”
Richard went silent.
Vanessa looked at her father.
“Dad?”
He couldn't meet her eyes.
Daniel smiled.
“Your father gave my father the order.”
Vanessa collapsed.
Richard shook his head.
“No.”
Daniel continued.
“Caroline tried to run.”
“She knew what the trust was being used for.”
“She threatened to expose everyone.”
“So Richard panicked.”
Richard shouted:
“I never ordered her death!”
Daniel laughed.
“You asked Dad to stop her.”
“I meant scare her!”
Vanessa stared at him.
The same excuse.
The same excuse used about Rachel's crash.
Scare her.
Warn her.
Stop her.
But people kept dying.
Lucas looked at Richard.
“You started this.”
Richard's eyes filled with tears.
“Yes.”
Lucas stepped away.
Hale's radio crackled.
A tactical officer approached.
“Detective.”
Hale turned.
“We found something.”
“What?”
“A hidden office upstairs.”
Daniel's smile disappeared.
Lucas noticed.
“What's inside?”
The officer looked at him.
“Surveillance equipment.”
“Files.”
“And a live feed.”
Lucas frowned.
“Feed of what?”
The officer hesitated.
Then looked toward Sophie.
“A child's bedroom.”
Lucas's blood went cold.
His house.
Sophie.
Someone had been watching her live.
They rushed upstairs.
The room was dark.
Multiple monitors covered one wall.
Lucas stopped in the doorway.
Camera one.
Sophie's bedroom.
Camera two.
His kitchen.
Camera three.
His office.
Camera four.
His mother's house.
Lucas felt sick.
“Turn it off.”
The officer moved toward the system.
“Wait.”
Lucas noticed one monitor.
It wasn't his house.
It showed a storage room.
Metal walls.
A chair.
A woman sat in it.
Her hands were tied.
Lucas stared.
“Who is that?”
Hale leaned closer.
Vanessa gasped.
“Emma.”
The bridesmaid.
The woman Sophie said Vanessa had sent away before locking her in the bathroom.
Lucas stared.
Emma was alive.
Then she lifted her head toward the camera.
Her lip was bleeding.
Her eyes were terrified.
She mouthed something.
Lucas moved closer.
“What is she saying?”
Hale watched.
Emma repeated it.
Three words.
Lucas finally understood.
He's still here.
A shadow moved behind Emma.
The screen went black.
Hale turned toward Daniel.
But Daniel was smiling.
Lucas felt cold.
“If Daniel is here...”
Hale finished:
“Then someone else is running the cameras.”
A phone rang inside the surveillance room.
Old landline.
Everyone froze.
Lucas answered.
A male voice spoke.
“You arrested the wrong Bennett.”
Lucas's heart stopped.
“What?”
The voice laughed.
“Daniel was never in charge.”
Lucas looked at his brother.
Daniel's smile vanished.
The voice continued.
“Go to your father's grave.”
“You have forty minutes.”
“Bring Sophie.”
Lucas gripped the phone.
“Who are you?”
A pause.
May you like
Then:
“The son your father chose over both of you.”
