Chapter 4 - The Woman Who Chose Angela
The man outside Susan's hospital room was not old enough to be a ghost.
But everyone looked at him as though one had arrived.
He was sixty, perhaps sixty-two, with silver at his temples and a thin scar running beneath his left ear.
Angela had never seen him.
Margaret clearly had.
“Daniel,” she whispered.
Charlie looked at his mother.
“You know him?”
Daniel Vale smiled sadly.
“I used to know all of them.”
Angela stepped into the hallway.
“You said you're my father.”
“Yes.”
“Prove it.”
Daniel reached into his coat.
Charlie immediately moved between them.
Daniel stopped.
“Relax. It's paper.”
He handed Angela a laboratory report.
A DNA test.
Her name appeared on it.
So did his.
Probability of paternity: 99.998%.
Angela stared at the date.
Three weeks earlier.
“You tested my DNA without permission?”
Daniel's expression tightened.
“A hairbrush from your apartment.”
Angela's head snapped up.
“You broke into my home?”
“No.”
“Then who gave it to you?”
“Martin.”
Everything led back to Martin Vale.
Angela folded the report.
“What is he to you?”
“My younger brother.”
The answer landed hard.
Susan had never mentioned either man.
Daniel looked toward her hospital room.
“Your biological mother, Eleanor, was our sister.”
Angela's stomach turned.
“You just said you're my father.”
Daniel's face changed.
Margaret stepped forward.
“He isn't Eleanor's brother by blood.”
Daniel nodded.
“I was adopted by the Vales when I was nine.”
Angela wanted to sit down.
Instead she stayed standing because anger was holding her upright.
“You and Eleanor?”
“We loved each other. We knew we weren't biologically related, but our parents considered it disgraceful.”
“And she was pregnant with me.”
“Yes.”
Charlie remained silent.
Daniel looked at him.
“Your father helped us escape.”
Angela remembered the photograph.
“Everett.”
“He was Eleanor's closest friend after their engagement ended. They never hated each other. Their parents created that story.”
“Why?”
“Because Everett knew too much.”
Daniel explained.
Eleanor had discovered that the Henderson and Vale patriarchs were moving millions through shell charities. She had copies of ledgers. Everett helped her hide them.
Then Angela was born.
Eleanor feared the families would use the baby to control her.
Susan Parker had been Eleanor's college roommate.
Susan agreed to take Angela temporarily.
Temporary became permanent when Eleanor disappeared.
“Died,” Angela said.
Daniel looked at Margaret.
“No body was ever found.”
Silence.
Margaret shook her head.
“We had a death certificate.”
“You had a document.”
Angela's pulse jumped.
“My mother might be alive?”
“I don't know.”
Daniel's honesty was almost worse than certainty.
“Why did you disappear?”
“I was framed for embezzlement and threatened with prison. Eleanor made me promise to run.”
“And you left your baby?”
His eyes filled.
“I thought I was keeping you alive.”
Angela turned away.
She could not absorb another person's noble excuse.
Susan had protected her.
Margaret had protected her.
Daniel had protected her.
Martin apparently had protected something.
Everyone had spent twenty-six years protecting Angela by lying to her.
Charlie followed when she walked toward the window.
“I can get you out of here.”
She looked at him.
“Where would I go?”
“Anywhere.”
“I'm legally married to a stranger, my mother is sick, my biological father just appeared, my biological mother may not be dead, and apparently two wealthy families built my childhood out of secrets.”
Charlie nodded.
“When you say it like that, the hotel seems inadequate.”
Angela almost smiled.
Almost.
Then she remembered.
“Why did you agree to marry me?”
Charlie looked away.
Finally.
“I didn't agree to marry you.”
“What?”
“I agreed to marry Angelina Rose Parker.”
“That is me.”
“I didn't know what you looked like.”
She stared.
“You knew my name before today.”
“Yes.”
The betrayal was sharper because she had started trusting him.
“You lied.”
“I withheld something.”
“That is a billionaire's favorite synonym for lying.”
Charlie accepted the hit.
“My grandfather's will required me to marry the beneficiary of the Rose Trust before my thirty-third birthday if she ever presented herself.”
“Why would you agree?”
“Because if I didn't, controlling shares in Henderson Global would transfer to my cousin Grant.”
“Meaning?”
“Grant would dismantle the employee pension fund, sell three divisions, and make several thousand people unemployed.”
Angela blinked.
“So you married a mystery woman to save your company.”
“Yes.”
“And you expected me to know.”
“Yes.”
“But when I asked whether you were the lead actor?”
“I thought you were making a joke.”
Despite everything, Angela laughed.
It came out half hysterical.
Charlie smiled faintly.
“You were convincing.”
“I am an actress.”
“So I've learned.”
Daniel approached.
“There is something else.”
Angela groaned.
“Of course there is.”
“The trust does more than give you money.”
“What?”
“It gives you Eleanor's voting shares in Henderson Global.”
Charlie stiffened.
“How many?”
“Twenty-two percent.”
Charlie stared.
That was apparently significant.
Angela said, “In English.”
“You would become the second-largest individual shareholder.”
“Behind?”
“Charlie.”
Daniel handed her another document.
“And the trust activates at midnight because you're legally married.”
Angela looked at Charlie.
“So tomorrow morning I wake up rich and powerful?”
“Technically.”
“I don't want either.”
Daniel's expression turned grave.
“Someone does.”
Her phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
A photograph appeared.
Angela opened it.
It showed her apartment door.
Taken minutes ago.
Another message arrived.
YOU WERE PAID TO PLAY THE BRIDE.
A third.
NOW PLAY THE WIDOW.
Angela looked at Charlie.
He read it.
His expression hardened.
Then another photograph loaded.
Charlie leaving the hotel earlier that day.
A red circle had been drawn around his head.
Angela whispered, “They're threatening you.”
Charlie took her phone.
A final message appeared.
MIDNIGHT. COME ALONE IF YOU WANT HIM ALIVE.
Below it was an address.
Margaret saw the screen.
Her hand flew to her mouth.
Angela looked at her.
“You recognize it.”
Margaret nodded.
“That was Eleanor's house.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“No. That house burned down twenty-six years ago.”
Angela looked again at the address.
Then a final image appeared.
It had been taken inside the supposedly burned house.
A woman stood beside a window.
Older now.
Dark hair streaked with gray.
Around her neck was the matching half of Angela's locket.
May you like
The message beneath it contained only three words.
YOUR MOTHER REMEMBERS.
