Chapter 3 - The Woman Who Lied for Five Years
"Ask your mother where Daniel died."
The voice vanished.
Adrian called back.
The number was disconnected.
Celeste stared at the broken glass.
Mariana stared at her.
"Where did he die?"
Celeste didn't answer.
Adrian repeated it.
"Where?"
"Switzerland."
Adrian recoiled.
"You told me Connecticut."
"The accident happened in Connecticut."
"Then how did he die in Switzerland?"
Celeste sat.
Suddenly she looked older.
"The accident didn't kill him."
Mariana felt sick.
Daniel had survived.
For how long?
Days?
Weeks?
Years?
"He suffered a traumatic brain injury," Celeste said. "I moved him to a private rehabilitation facility."
"Without telling me?" Adrian asked.
"You were taking over the company."
"He was my brother."
"He was unstable."
"He was injured."
Celeste looked toward Mariana.
"He kept asking for her."
Mariana's breath caught.
"What?"
"After he regained consciousness, he remembered pieces. Your name. The pregnancy."
"You told him I'd terminated it."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because every time he remembered you, he became agitated."
Adrian slammed his palm against the table.
"Stop making cruelty sound medical."
Lucas flinched.
Mariana immediately knelt beside him.
Adrian saw and stepped back.
"I'm sorry."
Mariana wanted Lucas out of the room.
But she also knew secrets had already shaped his entire life.
Still, he was five.
He deserved protection.
She asked the housekeeper to take him to the kitchen.
Lucas refused at first.
"Are you coming?"
"Soon."
"Promise?"
"I promise."
He hugged her.
Then left.
The moment the door closed, Mariana faced Celeste.
"How long did Daniel live?"
Celeste's eyes dropped.
"Seven months."
Mariana nearly collapsed.
Seven months.
Seven months during which she'd searched for him.
Seven months during which she'd been investigated.
Seven months during which she'd stood before a judge.
"He was alive during my trial."
Celeste said nothing.
"He could have testified."
"He couldn't remember enough."
"He could have told them who I was."
"He barely knew who he was."
"Did he know about Lucas?"
Celeste hesitated.
That hesitation was the answer.
"Did he?"
"Near the end."
Mariana covered her mouth.
Adrian turned away.
"He knew?"
"I told him."
"Why then?"
"Because he was dying."
The cruelty was almost incomprehensible.
Mariana whispered, "Did he believe you?"
Celeste looked at her.
"No."
Something inside Mariana broke.
"What did he do?"
"He asked for proof."
"And?"
"I showed him the ultrasound."
The photograph.
Daniel had known.
He had died knowing his child might exist.
"Did he leave anything?"
Celeste's silence returned.
Adrian looked sharply at her.
"Mom."
"No."
"You're lying."
"No."
"Daniel always wrote things down."
"He was severely impaired."
"He wrote after the accident?"
Celeste looked away.
Adrian understood.
"Where are they?"
"Destroyed."
Mariana stared.
"Of course."
Adrian's voice became dangerously quiet.
"Who destroyed them?"
"I did."
He closed his eyes.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then Mariana noticed something.
Celeste's handbag sat beside her chair.
The clasp was open.
Inside was a key.
Not a house key.
A bank-deposit key.
Mariana had handled enough executive paperwork to recognize one.
Celeste noticed her looking.
She closed the bag.
Too late.
"What's the key for?" Mariana asked.
Celeste stood.
"This conversation is finished."
"No," Adrian said.
"It is for me."
"You don't get to decide that anymore."
Celeste looked at him.
"I am still your mother."
"And Daniel was still my brother."
She flinched.
Adrian called his attorney.
This time nobody stopped him.
Within two hours, the mansion changed.
Lawyers arrived.
A private investigator arrived.
Then an independent laboratory technician arrived for the DNA samples.
Mariana watched the technician open sealed kits.
Every swab was documented.
Every label photographed.
Lucas thought it tickled.
He laughed when the swab touched his cheek.
Adrian laughed too.
The similarity in their expressions was unsettling.
Mariana looked away.
Results would take several days unless expedited.
Adrian paid for expedited processing.
Mariana insisted the laboratory send copies directly to her legal-aid attorney as well.
Adrian agreed.
No resistance.
No conditions.
That mattered.
Later, his attorney reviewed Mariana's criminal case.
Her name was Rachel Sloan.
Forty-five.
Sharp-eyed.
Calm.
She read for three hours.
Then she removed her glasses.
"This conviction smells."
Mariana almost smiled.
"That's the nicest thing anyone has said about it."
Rachel tapped a page.
"The prosecution argued you used administrator credentials to authorize the transfer."
"Yes."
"But the IP logs came from an executive terminal."
"I told my lawyer."
"He argued someone could remote in."
"Badly."
"Very badly."
Rachel looked at Adrian.
"Thomas Reed testified he was traveling."
Mariana nodded.
"He said he was in Chicago."
Rachel held up another document.
"He wasn't."
Mariana leaned forward.
"What?"
"Blackwood corporate travel records place him in Connecticut."
Adrian frowned.
"Why would we have his travel records?"
"Because Blackwood paid for the flight."
Silence.
Mariana looked at Celeste.
She had withdrawn to another room with her own attorney.
"Your family paid?"
Adrian stared at the record.
"I didn't."
Rachel's voice lowered.
"The authorization came from Celeste Blackwood's office."
Mariana felt the old prison walls closing around her again.
Adrian stood.
"I'm going to ask her."
Rachel stopped him.
"No."
"Why?"
"Because if there's evidence, we preserve it before confronting anyone further."
Adrian sat.
Mariana studied him.
For the first time, she realized he was losing something too.
His certainty.
His family history.
His mother.
Possibly his brother all over again.
That didn't make them equal.
But it made him human.
"Why did you believe her?" Mariana asked.
"Who?"
"Your mother."
"About Daniel."
He looked toward the dark window.
"Because when someone tells you your brother is dead, you don't usually ask whether they're lying about the country."
Mariana understood that.
She had believed Daniel abandoned her.
Pain often accepted the simplest explanation because the alternative required too much imagination.
Rachel received a call.
She stepped away.
Adrian looked at Mariana.
"If Lucas is Daniel's..."
"He stays with me."
"I know."
"Nothing changes without my permission."
"I know."
"Your money doesn't buy access."
"I know."
"Stop saying you know."
He almost smiled.
"All right."
She looked at him.
"Why do you care so much?"
"Because I loved my brother."
"That isn't enough."
"No."
He paused.
"Because if Lucas is his son, then my family failed him before we even knew he existed."
Mariana's anger softened by one degree.
"And if he isn't?"
"Then your conviction still deserves investigation."
That surprised her.
"You'd help anyway?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because I watched my mother lie today."
Mariana nodded.
That was answer enough.
Rachel returned.
Her expression was different.
"We found Evelyn Price."
Mariana's stomach tightened.
"Where?"
"Arizona."
"Will she talk?"
"She already did."
Adrian leaned forward.
"What did she say?"
Rachel placed her phone on the table.
"She claims Celeste didn't order the theft."
Mariana stared.
"Then who did?"
"Thomas Reed."
The name hit like a fist.
Rachel continued.
"Price says Reed created the transfer, but Celeste paid her to make sure Mariana took the blame."
Mariana couldn't speak.
Adrian's face went hard.
"Why?"
"Because Mariana was pregnant with Daniel's child."
There it was.
Simple.
Ugly.
Rachel looked at Mariana.
"Price says she kept evidence."
"Why?"
"Insurance."
"Against Celeste?"
"And Reed."
"Where?"
"Safe-deposit box."
Mariana remembered the key.
"Celeste has a key."
Rachel's eyes sharpened.
"How do you know?"
"I saw it."
Adrian stood.
"Which bank?"
Mariana shook her head.
"No markings."
Rachel made another call.
While she spoke, Lucas came running from the kitchen.
"Mom!"
He held a cookie.
Mariana caught him.
For ten seconds, the world was normal.
He told her the chef had made the cookie shaped like a dinosaur.
She listened.
She smiled.
She kissed his forehead.
Then her phone rang.
Her legal-aid attorney.
She answered.
"Mariana?"
"Yes."
"We've been contacted by the DNA laboratory."
Her heart stopped.
"Already?"
"There was a preliminary issue."
"What issue?"
"They ran the relationship panel twice."
Adrian was watching her.
"What did they find?"
Her attorney hesitated.
"The result isn't simply showing that Mr. Blackwood is related to Lucas."
Mariana gripped the phone.
"What does that mean?"
"It means they need Daniel Blackwood's retained sample immediately."
"Why?"
"Because the genetic relationship they found is stronger than an uncle-nephew match."
Mariana slowly looked at Adrian.
He had gone completely still.
May you like
Her attorney continued.
"They're asking whether Adrian Blackwood could possibly be Lucas's biological father."
