Chapter 8 - THE MAN ELEANOR KEPT HIDDENThomas Vale had worked for Richard Blackwood.
Former military intelligence.
Private security.
Specialized in surveillance, intimidation and discreet removals.
Victor showed Evelyn an old photograph.
Vale was younger but unmistakable.
“He replaced me as Richard’s security director.”
“When?”
“After I left.”
“Why did you suspect he sabotaged my father’s plane?”
“He entered the hangar the night before.”
“Then why wasn’t he arrested?”
“Because his access records disappeared.”
“Of course they did.”
“Six months later, Vale supposedly died in a warehouse fire.”
“No body?”
Victor shook his head.
Evelyn laughed darkly.
“Nobody in this story has a body.”
Garrett paced.
“If Mother has been meeting him…”
“She knew he was alive,” Victor said.
“Why?”
“Because he’s still working for her.”
Garrett shook his head.
“My mother doesn’t hire assassins.”
Victor stared at him.
“You still believe that?”
Garrett stopped.
No answer.
Evelyn’s phone buzzed.
Samuel.
He had reached Mercer Farm.
The old stable was abandoned.
Stall 417 remained.
Behind a false panel, Samuel found a steel box.
He video-called Evelyn.
“Do you want me to open it?”
She looked at Victor.
Martin’s warning echoed.
Do not tell Victor until you know what’s inside.
Evelyn stepped into the bathroom.
Locked the door.
Then whispered:
“Open it.”
Inside were photographs.
Documents.
A small digital recorder.
And one sealed DNA report.
Samuel held it up.
“Whose?”
Evelyn asked.
He read.
Then stopped.
“What?”
“Evelyn…”
“Whose?”
“Yours.”
She went still.
“My DNA?”
“And Richard Blackwood’s.”
Her heart started pounding.
“Open it.”
Samuel did.
Paternity probability:
0.00%.
Evelyn exhaled.
She hadn’t realized she was afraid Richard might be her biological father.
“Why did Martin hide this?”
“There’s another comparison.”
Samuel turned the page.
Evelyn Mercer.
Thomas Vale.
Probability of biological relationship:
99.97%.
She stared.
“What relationship?”
Samuel read further.
“First-degree.”
“What does that mean?”
“Parent, child, or full sibling.”
Evelyn felt the bathroom tilt.
Thomas Vale.
The alleged saboteur.
The man Eleanor had kept alive.
Could be her father.
“No.”
Samuel pulled out another document.
Birth records.
Evelyn’s original birth certificate.
Her mother was listed as Anna Vale.
Father blank.
Evelyn covered her mouth.
The woman she remembered as her mother, Elizabeth Mercer, had not given birth to her.
“I was adopted.”
“It appears so.”
“Did my father know?”
“He signed the adoption papers.”
Tears burned Evelyn’s eyes.
Charles Mercer had never told her.
Samuel examined the photographs.
One showed Charles beside a young woman.
Anna.
Evelyn recognized her own eyes immediately.
Beside them stood Thomas Vale.
And Richard Blackwood.
All four smiling.
Before everything became ugly.
A handwritten note on the back read:
Summer 1995 — before Richard learned the truth.
Evelyn whispered:
“What truth?”
Samuel found the digital recorder.
He pressed play.
Martin Keene’s voice.
Older.
Nervous.
“If Evelyn ever hears this, then I failed to correct what I helped create.”
Evelyn held her breath.
“Charles Mercer was not Evelyn’s biological father, but he loved her as his own. Anna Vale gave birth to Evelyn after an affair. Thomas believed the child was his.”
Evelyn’s stomach twisted.
“But Thomas was not the father.”
Samuel looked at Evelyn.
The recording continued.
“Richard suspected he was the father. He was wrong too.”
Evelyn whispered:
“Then who?”
Martin’s voice shook.
“Anna told only one person.”
The recording distorted.
Static.
Then:
“Victor Hale.”
Evelyn stopped breathing.
There was a knock at the bathroom door.
Victor.
“Evelyn?”
She stared at the phone.
Martin’s recording continued.
“Victor knew because—”
The audio abruptly ended.
File corrupted.
Evelyn felt trapped.
Victor knocked again.
“Are you okay?”
She opened the door.
Victor looked concerned.
Behind him, Garrett was staring toward the hallway.
“What happened?”
Evelyn studied Victor’s face.
Forty-five.
Old enough.
Connected to Anna.
Connected to her father.
Connected to every secret.
“Did you know a woman named Anna Vale?”
Victor’s expression collapsed.
Just for an instant.
But enough.
Evelyn’s voice became quieter.
“You did.”
Victor stepped inside.
“Where did you hear that name?”
Evelyn stared into his eyes.
“My mother.”
Victor stopped breathing.
May you like
And Evelyn knew before he said a word that Anna had not been a stranger to him.
She had been someone he loved.
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