Chapter 7 - MY UNCLE CALLED IT A FAMILY EMERGENCY
Richard did not deny hiring the firm.
He tried to redefine it.
“Your mother said Evelyn was threatening exposure.”
“Exposure of what?”
“Pregnancy. Family conflict. Private communications.”
“Those are called facts.”
He flinched.
We met in a conference room at one of my Manhattan hotels.
My mother was not invited.
Richard looked older than he had three days earlier.
“I was protecting your father.”
“From grandchildren?”
“From scandal while his health was already declining.”
“He hadn't had the stroke yet.”
“No.”
“Then stop rewriting dates.”
Richard looked down.
“I made a bad decision.”
“One?”
He exhaled.
Then told me more.
Eleanor came to him after Evelyn refused an initial “relocation package.”
I looked at Evelyn.
She shook her head.
“I never saw one.”
Richard frowned.
According to him, Eleanor intended to offer Evelyn enough money to move somewhere comfortable and raise the baby privately.
Evelyn had supposedly rejected it and threatened to contact tabloids.
“That never happened,” she said.
Richard stared.
“Eleanor showed me emails.”
“From what address?”
He found them.
evelyn.rivas.office@protonmail.
Evelyn laughed.
“I've never had that account.”
My mother had created fake correspondence on both sides.
To Evelyn, Marcus abandoned you.
To Richard, Evelyn is extorting us.
To me, Evelyn left because she did not belong.
Every person got a story designed to make Eleanor’s next action seem necessary.
Richard covered his face.
“God.”
“What else did you do?”
He admitted approving payment to the outside legal firm.
He approved the fake settlement trust based on Eleanor's representation that Evelyn had consented.
He approved relocation-company expenses.
“What relocation?”
Richard looked at Evelyn.
“You moved to Providence.”
“Yes.”
“Someone paid first and last month?”
She frowned.
“A charity housing program.”
No.
The relocation company had quietly funded it.
My mother had moved Evelyn away from New York.
Not forcibly.
Indirectly.
Through a program Evelyn believed was independent assistance.
Eleanor had arranged her disappearance and then told me she chose it.
Then Richard opened an old folder.
“There was supposed to be another document.”
“What?”
“An acknowledgment after the twins were born.”
My chest tightened.
“From me?”
“No.”
“From Evelyn.”
It supposedly stated she accepted full parental responsibility and would never seek child support, inheritance, or contact.
Evelyn shook her head.
“Never signed it.”
Richard looked horrified.
But the document in the file bore her signature.
Forged.
Again.
At the bottom was a witness signature.
Klaus—
No.
Different family. Need our cast. We need maybe Beatrice? No. Let's use Eleanor's longtime aide Margaret? But user seed says mother Eleanor, father? Could have family aide Caroline. Let's continue.
Witness:
Caroline Vance.
My older sister.
I stared.
May you like
Richard whispered:
“Marcus… Caroline knew too.”
