Chapter 3 - The Stranger in the Photograph
The man in the photograph was named Julian Cross.
Sable recognized the name.
Everyone in Columbus's corporate world did.
Julian had founded Cross Meridian, a private investment company that competed with Callaway Holdings.
He had also disappeared from public life six years earlier.
Officially, he had retired.
Elliott's files suggested otherwise.
Julian had been investigating Callaway Holdings for years.
Sable found a letter.
Weston believes the company belongs to his family.
It doesn't.
Another page:
The Callaway dynasty was built on stolen intellectual property.
Sable frowned.
“What does that have to do with Marlo?”
Olivia read over her shoulder.
“Maybe everything.”
They searched further.
The Callaway fortune had originally come from a medical technology company founded in the 1980s.
But one scientist's name appeared repeatedly.
Julian Cross.
He had developed a revolutionary neonatal monitoring system.
Callaway Holdings had commercialized it.
Then the ownership records vanished.
Sable realized something.
“Elliott wasn't protecting me from Weston.”
Olivia looked at her.
“He was protecting you from the company.”
A phone rang.
Sable answered.
It was Julian.
“I've been waiting for you to find that file.”
Sable froze.
“How did you get my number?”
“Elliott gave it to me.”
“Where are you?”
“Not far.”
“Who is the real father?”
Silence.
Then Julian said:
“That's the wrong question.”
Sable frowned.
“What?”
“The question is why Weston is willing to deny his own daughter.”
“He says because of the family line.”
“That's a lie.”
“What is the truth?”
“You're holding the truth.”
Sable looked at the folder.
“The partnership agreement?”
“Yes.”
“What am I supposed to find?”
“Schedule D.”
“Where is it?”
Julian hesitated.
“Weston has it.”
The call ended.
Sable returned home.
Weston was waiting outside.
“You've been asking questions.”
“Have I?”
“You're playing with things you don't understand.”
“I understand that you lied about our daughter.”
Weston looked exhausted.
“I never said she wasn't mine.”
“You refused to put your name on her birth record.”
“Because my parents would use her.”
Sable paused.
“What?”
Weston finally cracked.
“My family has been fighting over Callaway Holdings for years.”
“That doesn't explain Camille.”
He looked away.
“I was trying to protect you.”
“From what?”
“My mother.”
Sable stared.
“Vivian has been manipulating the board.”
“She controls my father.”
“She controls half the company.”
“And you?”
“I control nothing.”
Sable almost believed him.
Then he said:
“Give me Elliott's folder.”
“No.”
“Please.”
It was the first time Weston had said the word.
Sable shook her head.
“Why?”
“Because if my mother sees that clause, she'll come after Marlo.”
Sable stared.
“You're afraid of your mother.”
“Yes.”
“Then why did you bring me into this family?”
Weston looked at her.
“Because I loved you.”
The words hurt.
“Loved?”
He closed his eyes.
“I still do.”
Sable turned away.
“Love doesn't look like this.”
“I know.”
Then he told her the secret he had kept.
Camille's baby wasn't his.
But Weston had publicly claimed him because Vivian demanded it.
The child belonged to Julian Cross's estranged son.
And that son was dead.
Vivian had arranged the lie because she needed a legal heir to protect certain assets.
Sable looked at him.
“You allowed an innocent child to become part of a lie.”
“I was trapped.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“You were afraid.”
Weston nodded.
“Yes.”
That distinction mattered.
But it didn't erase what he'd done.
Then the doorbell rang.
A courier delivered a package.
Inside was Schedule D.
But it wasn't from Julian.
It was from Vivian.
The first page contained a sentence that made Sable's blood run cold:
MARLO BENNETT IS NOT WESTON CALLAWAY'S BIOLOGICAL DAUGHTER.
Sable stared.
“What?”
Weston looked stunned.
“No.”
The document contained DNA results.
The test claimed Weston was not Marlo's father.
Sable's hands shook.
Then she noticed the date.
The test had been conducted before Marlo was born.
Someone had secretly collected her prenatal DNA.
Weston hadn't done it.
Vivian had.
And beneath the result was a handwritten note:
If she is not his daughter, Clause Seven fails.
Sable looked at Weston.
He whispered:
“She's trying to make Marlo legally irrelevant.”
May you like
Then Sable saw one final line.
The biological father is Julian Cross.
