Chapter 8 - THE WOMAN WHO ATTENDED HER OWN FUNERAL
Gideon refused to believe the photograph.
Then Evan showed him video.
Victoria Vale walking.
Victoria Vale speaking.
Victoria Vale entering a private aircraft in Geneva six months earlier.
His mother had died from a cerebral aneurysm when Gideon was twenty-nine.
He had identified her body.
Or thought he had.
“DNA?” Gideon asked.
“No autopsy,” Evan said. “Closed coffin after identification.”
“I saw her.”
“Sedated woman. Facial reconstruction. Your uncle controlled the hospital.”
Gideon sat.
The betrayals had become almost absurd.
Juniper.
Adrian.
Malcolm.
His mother.
“How?”
Evan explained.
Victoria had spent decades building a financial network beneath Vale Group.
Healthcare fraud.
Insurance manipulation.
Bribery.
She called it optimization.
When Thomas Vale discovered it, their marriage disintegrated privately.
Thomas prepared to expose her.
Then he died.
Officially heart attack.
Perhaps not.
Victoria faked her death two years later.
Malcolm became her proxy.
“And Juniper?” Gideon asked.
Evan could not answer.
But Adrian could.
They brought him to the estate.
For the first time, Gideon, Lena, Evan, Adrian, Marcus, and Shaw sat in one room.
Every person distrusted at least two others.
Adrian saw Evan.
“You’re alive.”
Evan shrugged.
“It’s becoming a theme.”
Lena did not laugh.
Adrian explained Juniper’s treatment.
Victoria had learned Gideon intended to sell Vale’s healthcare subsidiaries after Juniper recovered.
That sale would expose financial records.
She needed Gideon incapacitated emotionally and Adrian in operational control.
“So she poisoned my daughter.”
Adrian shook his head.
“No.”
Everyone stared.
“She ordered Rebecca to make Juniper ill enough that the experimental treatment would be delayed.”
Gideon’s face went white.
“Not kill her?”
“No.”
“Then what happened?”
“Rebecca made a dosage error.”
Silence.
Juniper had not been deliberately murdered.
That did not make her less dead.
But it changed the horror.
A system built on control had produced a death nobody intended.
Victoria covered it up.
Rebecca fled.
Adrian discovered the truth.
“And you helped cover it up,” Gideon said.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Victoria had my daughter.”
Adrian showed a photograph.
A teenage girl.
Gideon knew her.
Sophie.
He had believed she was studying abroad.
“She threatened her?”
“She had her.”
Gideon closed his eyes.
Everyone had been trapped by someone they loved.
Lena by Norah.
Evan by Lena.
Adrian by Sophie.
Whitaker by his son.
That was Victoria’s genius.
She did not buy loyalty.
She weaponized love.
Lena said quietly, “Then that’s how we beat her.”
Everyone looked.
“She thinks love makes people controllable.”
Gideon understood.
“So we do something she won’t expect.”
“What?”
“Trust each other.”
Adrian laughed bitterly.
“That may be more difficult than killing her.”
Norah appeared at the doorway.
Every adult stopped.
“How much did you hear?” Lena asked.
“Enough.”
Her eyes found Evan.
He stood slowly.
“Hi, bug.”
Norah stared at her father.
Then walked toward him.
Evan began crying.
He knelt.
“I’m so sorry.”
Norah stopped three feet away.
“You’re Daddy.”
“Yes.”
“You died.”
“I had to pretend.”
“Why?”
“To keep you safe.”
She thought about this.
Then slapped his arm.
Everyone froze.
“You don’t get to die without asking Mama.”
Lena covered her mouth.
Evan laughed through tears.
“No.”
Norah hit him again.
“And you missed my birthday.”
“Six of them.”
“That’s a lot.”
“I know.”
She stared.
Then suddenly threw herself into his arms.
Evan collapsed around her.
Lena turned away crying.
Gideon watched.
It hurt.
Not because he resented their reunion.
Because no door would ever open and return Juniper to him.
Lena noticed.
Later, she found him outside.
Snow fell over the garden.
“You disappeared.”
“They deserve privacy.”
“So do you.”
“I’ve had three years of it.”
She stood beside him.
“I saw your face when Norah hugged Evan.”
Gideon looked away.
“I’m happy for her.”
“I know.”
“And I hate him.”
“I know.”
“And I’m ashamed that part of me wishes—”
He stopped.
Lena finished.
“That Juniper could come back too.”
His eyes filled.
“Yes.”
Lena took his hand.
No speech.
No reassurance.
Just warmth.
Gideon held on.
Then Marcus stepped outside.
“I’m sorry.”
“What?”
“We found Victoria.”
Gideon turned.
“Where?”
“Chicago.”
“Why?”
Marcus looked toward the house.
“She wants Norah.”
“Why?”
“Because Evan hid the master encryption key six years ago.”
Evan appeared behind them.
His expression changed.
“No.”
Marcus continued.
“Victoria believes the key is encoded in something Evan gave his daughter.”
Everyone looked toward the living room.
May you like
Toward Clover.
The stuffed rabbit.
