Chapter 12 - BROOKE'S REAL NAME
Brooke's birth certificate ended the argument.
Her original name was Brooke Carter.
Not Vance.
Not Thorne.
Carter.
Thomas nearly dropped the document.
"My father had another daughter?"
"No," Brooke said quickly.
"Your father's brother did."
I knew almost nothing about Uncle Daniel.
He had died in a boating accident before I was born.
According to Brooke, Daniel Carter had secretly been involved with Victoria before Victoria married into the Vance family.
Brooke was born years later.
Her records were altered through a private adoption.
Henry Vance raised her as his daughter.
Arthur grew up believing Brooke was his biological sister.
"Did Arthur know?"
"No."
"Did you?"
"Not until three weeks ago."
That explained the money.
Victoria hadn't placed Brooke in the Carter-related accounts simply because she trusted her.
Brooke herself was part of the Carter bloodline.
Another potential beneficiary.
Another piece on Victoria's board.
"I moved the money because Mom told me it belonged to our family," Brooke whispered.
"When did you learn the truth?"
"When Thomas reopened the ownership case. I started looking through old files."
Brooke handed me a flash drive.
"I found these in Mom's private archive."
Thousands of pages.
Bank transfers.
Legal correspondence.
Hospital donations.
Payments to people involved in my father's case.
Enough evidence to keep investigators busy for months.
Then one file caught Thomas's attention.
A confidential settlement agreement.
Signed by Henry Vance shortly before his death.
Henry had discovered Victoria's transfers.
He had ordered every diverted Carter asset returned.
He never got the chance.
He died seventeen days later.
Again, that proved no crime.
But it proved something else.
Victoria's entire story was false.
Both founding partners had opposed her.
Both had tried to stop her.
Both died before they could.
Brooke sat beside me at the kitchen table.
"I treated you horribly."
"Yes."
"I thought you were trying to take what belonged to us."
I looked at her.
"And now?"
She gave a hollow laugh.
"Now I don't even know who 'us' is."
I understood that more than she knew.
That night, Arthur landed in Barcelona.
He did not come to the villa.
He checked into a hotel and sent one message.
I'M HERE IF YOU WANT THE RECORDS I BROUGHT. I WON'T COME NEAR THE KIDS WITHOUT PERMISSION.
For the first time since our divorce, he respected a boundary without arguing.
But the records he carried revealed one final financial secret.
May you like
Victoria wasn't merely hiding stolen money.
She was preparing to disappear with it.
