Chapter 4 - The Night Rebecca Mercer Died
Sofia told them the truth inside Adrian’s secluded Hudson Valley house.
At least, she told them the truth she knew.
Rebecca Mercer had discovered Haven House’s real purpose.
She planned to expose it.
Richard Whitmore had agreed to help her.
Victoria stared.
“My father?”
“Yes,” Sofia said. “Richard was not innocent. He had used Haven House to arrange your guardianship after Rebecca became unstable from threats and harassment. But later he realized what the organization really was.”
“Why didn’t he go to police?”
“Because Haven House owned judges, officers, prosecutors.”
Sofia looked at Adrian.
“And your grandfather.”
Adrian stiffened.
“My grandfather?”
“Vittorio Moretti financed part of it.”
The feared Moretti legacy suddenly looked different.
Adrian walked toward the window.
“My father spent his life telling me Vittorio was a monster.”
“He was.”
“And my father?”
“Marco tried to dismantle what Vittorio created.”
Sofia described the night Rebecca died.
Rebecca had arranged to meet Richard beside the East River with evidence.
Sofia and Marco Moretti came separately.
Someone else arrived first.
A Haven House executive named Malcolm Vale.
A confrontation followed.
Rebecca ran.
She fell from a loading platform into the river.
Marco jumped after her.
He pulled her out.
But Rebecca never regained consciousness.
“Why hide the body?” Victoria asked.
Sofia’s eyes filled.
“Because Malcolm Vale controlled the medical examiner.”
Grace frowned.
“Vale is still alive?”
Sofia looked at her.
“He’s more than alive.”
Adrian turned.
“Where is he?”
“Closer than you think.”
Victoria’s phone rang.
Richard.
This time she answered.
“Dad.”
“Victoria, listen carefully. Are you with Grace?”
“Yes.”
“Is Moretti there?”
“Yes.”
Richard exhaled.
“Good.”
Victoria looked surprised.
“You trust him?”
“I trust him more than whoever is watching you.”
“Who?”
“Malcolm Vale.”
Everyone looked at Sofia.
Richard continued.
“He knows the ledger survived.”
Victoria’s voice shook.
“Did you buy me?”
Silence.
“I became your legal guardian.”
“For two million dollars?”
“That payment was not for you.”
“What was it for?”
“To get you out.”
Victoria began crying.
“You let me believe Catherine was my mother.”
“She became your mother.”
“She wasn’t Rebecca.”
“No.”
“Did Rebecca want me?”
Richard’s answer came instantly.
“More than anything.”
Victoria closed her eyes.
Grace held her hand.
Richard said, “I should have told you years ago.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Because Vale promised that if the truth surfaced, everyone Rebecca loved would suffer.”
Richard’s voice broke.
“That meant you.”
For the first time, Victoria heard fear in her father without mistaking it for control.
“Where are you?”
“Whitmore Tower.”
“Leave.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because Vale is here.”
The line disconnected.
Victoria stood.
“I’m going.”
Adrian blocked her.
“No.”
“That’s my father.”
“And Vale expects you.”
“I don’t care.”
Grace stood beside her.
“I’m going too.”
Adrian stared at both women.
“No.”
Grace raised an eyebrow.
“Your fake fiancée doesn’t take orders very well.”
Despite everything, Victoria almost laughed.
Adrian sighed.
“Fine.”
They drove into Manhattan.
Samuel stayed with Noah and Sofia.
Adrian contacted people he trusted.
Grace carried copies of the ledger.
She had already uploaded photographs to three encrypted accounts.
If anyone took the original, the evidence would survive.
Whitmore Tower appeared strangely empty.
Security had been dismissed.
The private elevator carried them to the sixty-second floor.
Richard stood inside his office.
Alone.
Victoria ran to him.
“Dad.”
He hugged her.
Grace watched Victoria hesitate before returning the embrace.
“Where’s Vale?” Adrian asked.
“Gone.”
“You said he was here.”
“He was.”
Richard placed a folder on the desk.
“He offered me a deal.”
“What deal?”
“The ledger in exchange for leaving Victoria alone.”
Victoria stepped back.
“You weren’t going to do it?”
Richard looked at her.
“Twenty-four hours ago, yes.”
Grace stared.
Richard continued.
“Then you remembered Abigail.”
He touched his daughter’s face.
“I spent twenty-seven years convincing myself that hiding the truth protected you. Last night I finally saw what it had actually done.”
Victoria cried silently.
“You erased her.”
“Who?”
“Abigail.”
Richard shook his head.
“No.”
“You changed my name.”
“Rebecca did.”
Victoria froze.
“What?”
“Your mother chose Victoria.”
“Why?”
“She said Abigail was the child Vale knew. Victoria would be the child who survived.”
Richard opened the folder.
Inside was Rebecca Mercer’s handwritten letter.
Victoria read it.
Her hands shook.
Grace watched tears fall onto the page.
Rebecca had asked Richard to protect her daughter if anything happened.
She had chosen the name Victoria Catherine Whitmore.
Not as an erasure.
As armor.
Victoria sank into a chair.
“She trusted you.”
Richard nodded.
“And I failed her.”
A sound came from the outer office.
Adrian turned.
The elevator doors opened.
Malcolm Vale entered.
He was seventy-four.
White-haired.
Elegant.
He looked like someone’s grandfather.
Two men followed him.
Vale smiled.
“What a touching reunion.”
Adrian stepped forward.
Vale raised a hand.
“No theatrics.”
Richard stood between him and Victoria.
“You’re finished, Malcolm.”
Vale laughed.
“Richard, men like us are never finished. We simply become foundations and university buildings.”
Grace quietly activated the recorder on her phone.
Vale noticed.
“Ms. Bennett.”
He smiled.
“You look remarkably like Eleanor.”
“You knew my mother.”
“I knew everyone’s mother.”
Grace felt sick.
Vale looked at Victoria.
“Abigail.”
Victoria stood.
“My name is Victoria.”
“Of course.”
Vale’s smile disappeared.
“Give me the ledger.”
“No,” Grace said.
Vale looked almost amused.
“Do you know how many careers are written in that book?”
“Yes.”
“How many families would collapse?”
“Yes.”
“How many people will come after you?”
Grace thought about her mother.
About Noah.
About Victoria.
“Yes.”
“And you still intend to expose it?”
“Yes.”
Vale sighed.
“Eleanor was equally stubborn.”
Adrian moved closer.
“What happened to her?”
Grace turned sharply.
Vale smiled.
“You believed cancer killed her?”
Grace’s heart stopped.
“What are you saying?”
“Nothing you can prove.”
Richard lunged forward.
Adrian caught him.
Vale laughed.
Grace stared at the old man.
“You sent the photograph.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To frighten you.”
“It didn’t work.”
“No.”
Vale looked disappointed.
“Your mother had that irritating quality too.”
Sirens sounded below.
Vale’s expression changed.
Grace smiled.
“I sent our location before we came upstairs.”
Vale glanced toward his men.
Adrian stepped into their path.
Nobody moved.
The sirens grew louder.
Vale calmly adjusted his cuff.
“You think police solve this?”
“No,” Grace said.
“But journalists might.”
Vale looked at her.
Grace held up her phone.
“The ledger was sent to six newspapers ten minutes ago.”
For the first time, Malcolm Vale lost his composure.
“You stupid girl.”
He moved toward her.
Victoria stepped between them.
“Don’t touch her.”
Richard joined her.
Then Adrian.
Vale looked at the three people surrounding Grace.
His expression became cold.
“You have no idea what you’ve started.”
Police entered moments later.
Vale was taken for questioning.
His lawyers arrived before he reached the lobby.
But the ledger was already spreading.
By midnight, television networks were reporting Haven House.
By morning, federal investigators announced an inquiry.
Grace thought they had won.
Then Noah called.
His voice shook.
“Grace.”
“What happened?”
“Samuel is gone.”
Grace stood.
“What do you mean, gone?”
“He left the house.”
“Why?”
“He got a message.”
“From who?”
Noah swallowed.
“Mom.”
Grace stopped breathing.
“That’s impossible.”
“I know.”
“He showed you?”
“Yes.”
“What did it say?”
Noah read the message.
Grace felt the room tilt beneath her.
May you like
It contained only six words:
ELEANOR BENNETT IS STILL ALIVE. COME ALONE.
