Chapter 4 - THE SECRET IN MY MARRIAGE
I barely slept.
At sunrise, I found Thomas in the kitchen drinking coffee.
I placed the photograph in front of him.
"You knew."
He stared at it for several seconds.
"I knew Richard suspected her."
"Suspected her of what?"
"Financial fraud."
My pulse accelerated.
Thomas explained that shortly before my father's illness, Richard discovered unauthorized loans being taken against Atlantic Meridian assets.
Millions were being redirected into entities controlled by Victoria.
When he confronted Henry Vance, Henry promised to investigate.
Three weeks later, Henry suffered a fatal heart attack.
Two months after that, my father became ill.
"Are you saying Victoria killed them?"
"No."
Thomas's answer came immediately.
"We have no evidence of that."
He leaned forward.
"But Richard believed someone was destroying the company records that proved the fraud."
That was why he moved the trust documents to Spain.
That was why he bought the villa.
That was why he made Thomas promise not to reveal anything until I was legally separated from the Vance family.
I walked outside, trying to process it.
My phone contained thirty-one missed calls.
Most from Arthur.
Three from Brooke.
Nine from Victoria.
Then a new message appeared.
From Arthur.
I DIDN'T KNOW EVERYTHING. BUT I KNEW SOME OF IT.
My stomach twisted.
I called him.
He answered instantly.
"What did you know?"
Silence.
"Arthur."
"My mother told me your father once had a small stake."
"A small stake?"
"That's what she said."
"And you never mentioned it?"
"I didn't think it mattered."
Thirty-four percent.
Seven hundred and eighty million dollars.
And he didn't think it mattered.
Then his voice changed.
"Emma, listen to me. Vanessa and I went to the clinic yesterday."
I almost hung up.
"I don't care."
"You should."
"Why?"
"Because my mother was already there."
That was strange.
Victoria had supposedly been waiting to celebrate the ultrasound.
Arthur continued.
"She was meeting with the clinic's financial director."
My anger cooled into suspicion.
"Why?"
"I don't know."
"Then find out."
"I already started."
For once, he sounded frightened instead of arrogant.
"Emma, my mother has been moving money through that clinic for years."
I sat down slowly.
"What kind of money?"
"I don't know yet."
Then Arthur whispered something I never expected.
"But the account receiving it is called R.C. Holdings."
R.C.
Richard Carter.
My father.
May you like
Someone had been using his initials long after his death.
And according to Arthur, Victoria had transferred another two million dollars into that account the morning of our divorce.
