Chapter 8 - Anna’s Real ClaimMichael laughed once.
It wasn’t amusement.
It was shock.
“That’s impossible.”
Anna stared at him.
“Is it?”
“My father would have told us.”
“Your father paid my mother one hundred thousand dollars to disappear.”
“For the theft accusation.”
“She didn’t steal anything.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I know exactly what happened.”
Rachel watched Anna carefully.
For months, Anna had controlled every expression.
Now her anger seemed real.
“My mother kept letters.”
Michael’s face tightened.
“What letters?”
Anna reached into her bag and removed several folded pages protected in a plastic sleeve.
Rachel recognized Richard Whitmore’s handwriting from old Christmas cards.
Michael took one.
Claire—
I cannot continue meeting you at the house. Eleanor suspects something. Give me time.
Another.
I will make sure you and the baby are provided for.
Michael stopped reading.
Rachel felt a chill.
The baby.
Anna.
Anna watched him.
“My mother found out she was pregnant in February 1999.”
Michael lowered the letter.
“My father died six years ago. You could have contacted us anytime.”
Anna’s eyes sharpened.
“I did.”
Michael frowned.
“When?”
“After my mother died.”
“I never heard from you.”
“I wrote to your family attorney.”
Rachel watched Michael’s reaction.
He genuinely didn’t know.
Anna continued.
“I asked for one thing. A DNA comparison.”
“And?”
“They threatened me.”
Michael shook his head.
“Who?”
“Gerald Mason.”
The Whitmore family attorney.
Rachel knew Gerald.
He had represented Michael’s parents for more than thirty years.
Anna pulled out another document.
A letter from Mason & Cole LLP.
Rachel read the first lines.
Your allegations regarding the late Richard Whitmore are defamatory and unsupported. Any attempt to contact members of the Whitmore family or publicize these allegations will result in immediate legal action.
Michael took the letter.
His face darkened.
“I didn’t authorize this.”
“I know.”
Anna’s answer surprised him.
Rachel crossed her arms.
“So you infiltrated our home instead?”
Anna looked at her.
“I applied for a job.”
“Using a false surname.”
“Yes.”
“You fabricated complaints against me.”
Anna didn’t answer.
“You planted messages.”
Silence.
“You whispered that you slept with Michael because you wanted me to hit you.”
Anna’s expression became unreadable again.
Michael stepped forward.
“Answer her.”
Anna looked toward him.
Then tears appeared.
Rachel almost admired the speed.
“I wanted somebody to understand what it feels like.”
Michael frowned.
“What?”
“To have everyone believe the person with the money.”
Rachel stared at her.
“So you decided to become the liar?”
“My mother told the truth and nobody listened.”
“That doesn’t justify what you did.”
“I never forced you to slap me.”
Rachel’s jaw tightened.
“No. You just spent months learning exactly how to make it happen.”
Anna stepped closer.
“And your husband hit you because I cried.”
Michael flinched.
Anna noticed.
That was the cruelty beneath everything.
She knew exactly where to press.
Rachel spoke quietly.
“You wanted to show me what kind of man he was.”
Anna’s eyes flickered.
“Maybe.”
Michael’s voice rose.
“Enough.”
He turned toward Anna.
“If you believe you’re my father’s daughter, we’ll do a DNA test.”
Anna went still.
Rachel looked at Michael.
He continued.
“We’ll use an independent laboratory. Full chain of custody. No family attorney involved.”
Anna had expected resistance.
Rachel could see it.
For the first time, Michael had made a move Anna had not planned.
“If it proves we share a father,” Michael said, “we deal with that truth.”
Anna stared at him.
“And if it doesn’t?”
“Then you leave our lives.”
Anna’s mouth tightened.
Rachel expected her to agree immediately.
She didn’t.
That hesitation disturbed Rachel.
If Anna had spent years believing Richard Whitmore was her father, why hesitate?
Michael noticed too.
“Anna?”
She looked at the letters in his hands.
Finally she whispered:
“Fine.”
Then she walked upstairs.
Michael watched her leave.
Rachel remained still.
Something about the exchange bothered her.
Michael looked at her.
“What?”
“She didn’t want the test.”
“She agreed.”
“Eventually.”
“Maybe she’s scared.”
Rachel shook her head.
“No.”
She thought of everything Anna had done.
The fake complaints.
The staged confrontation.
The settlements at previous homes.
The money.
“Anna never enters a situation without already knowing where it leads.”
Michael looked toward the stairs.
May you like
Rachel lowered her voice.
“If she’s afraid of a DNA test, then whatever she really wants from this family depends on us never learning the result.”
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