Chapter 12 - My Mother Came Back
Rebecca looked different without the performance.
No styled hair.
No jewelry.
No maternity dresses.
No carefully arranged tears.
She wore jeans and a gray sweater.
For the first time in months, her body looked like itself.
I met her in a federal interview room with Susan and Tom present.
My father refused to come.
At first.
Rebecca looked at me.
“Anna.”
I sat.
“Do not ask me to forgive you.”
“I wasn’t going to.”
That surprised me.
She looked exhausted.
“I want to tell you everything.”
“You’ve had twenty-eight years.”
“I know.”
I waited.
Rebecca folded her hands.
“Caleb told me he would expose our history if I did not help him.”
“When?”
“Seven years ago.”
“The affair?”
“Restarted afterward.”
“Why?”
She looked ashamed.
“Because I was weak.”
“Try again.”
She closed her eyes.
“Because part of me still loved him.”
There.
Truth without decoration.
“Did you fake the pregnancy to steal Dad’s company?”
“Yes.”
The direct answer almost shocked me.
“Did you plan Project Lily?”
“Yes.”
“Did Caleb?”
“He expanded it.”
“What does that mean?”
“The pregnancy was my idea.”
“I wanted Daniel to delay filing.”
“Only until the anniversary?”
“At first.”
“And Monica?”
“Caleb found her later.”
“Did you intend to take her baby?”
Rebecca’s eyes filled.
“Yes.”
I felt sick.
“How could you?”
“I convinced myself she wanted the money.”
“She didn’t.”
“I know now.”
“You met her.”
“Yes.”
“You saw her pregnant.”
“Yes.”
“You watched Dad build a nursery.”
Rebecca’s face broke.
“Yes.”
“Did you feel anything?”
“Every day.”
“Not enough.”
“No.”
At least she did not argue.
“What happened with Caleb?”
Rebecca took a breath.
“After the belly fell, he panicked.”
“He told me to go to Martin.”
“I did.”
“Then he told me we needed Monica’s baby immediately.”
“Why?”
“Because if Daniel saw me holding a newborn, Caleb thought we could claim Anna staged the pillow incident.”
I stared.
“What?”
“He wanted to say the fake belly was a maternity support device.”
“That I had misunderstood.”
I almost laughed at the insanity.
“And the baby would prove pregnancy?”
“He said confusion would buy time.”
“Enough time for what?”
“To move the founder certificates.”
“Diane.”
“Yes.”
“Then?”
“Caleb told me he was cutting me out.”
My eyes narrowed.
“What?”
“He said the plan had become too risky.”
“He wanted the documents.”
“The offshore accounts.”
“He said he would give me five million and disappear.”
“You were supposed to get forty-six percent.”
Rebecca looked surprised.
“You know.”
“Yes.”
She lowered her eyes.
“He lied to me.”
I almost laughed.
“The man who helped you lie to everyone lied to you.”
“I deserve that.”
“Did he try to kill you?”
Rebecca’s face changed.
“Yes.”
“How?”
“He asked me to meet at the old Northbridge house near the river.”
“He said we needed to destroy documents.”
“When I arrived, Trevor was there.”
“Diane too?”
“No.”
“That was earlier.”
“What happened?”
“Caleb poured wine.”
“I didn’t drink it.”
“Why?”
“Victor.”
I frowned.
“What?”
“I had learned Victor’s collapse happened after lunch with Caleb.”
“For once, you noticed a pattern.”
She flinched.
“I switched glasses.”
“What happened?”
“Caleb drank half of mine.”
“Then realized.”
“He became furious.”
“He grabbed me.”
“I ran.”
My stomach tightened.
“Where did you go?”
“To the airport.”
“Portugal.”
“Yes.”
“You used Diane’s identity.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Caleb knew my passports.”
“You had three.”
“One was old.”
“One was prepared for escape.”
“And Rebecca Morgan?”
She looked ashamed.
“That identity was from years ago.”
“When?”
“Before I married Daniel.”
“Were you and Caleb legally married?”
“No.”
“We prepared documents.”
“Never completed them.”
I nodded.
“Why come back?”
“Because Caleb found me in Lisbon.”
My skin prickled.
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
“He sent a photograph of me sitting at a café.”
“He said next time I would not see the camera.”
Rebecca started shaking.
“So you came home.”
“Yes.”
“And surrendered.”
“Yes.”
“Because prison felt safer than Caleb.”
She looked at me.
“Yes.”
That was dark enough to be believable.
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
“Martin?”
“He knows more.”
“About what?”
“The founder shares.”
“Other fourteen percent.”
Rebecca’s expression changed.
“You saw that too.”
“Who is P?”
She looked toward Tom.
“I want a deal.”
I laughed.
Of course.
Tom remained calm.
“That is between you and prosecutors.”
Rebecca looked at me.
“I need protection.”
“Then tell the truth before negotiating what truth is worth.”
She stared.
I sounded like my father.
Maybe that was good.
“P is Patricia Reeves.”
My heart stopped.
“My grandmother?”
Rebecca nodded.
“That is impossible.”
“She died sixteen years ago.”
“Yes.”
“Then what does Other fourteen percent mean?”
Rebecca looked terrified.
“It means Caleb found an old trust she created before she died.”
My father’s mother.
Evelyn Reeves.
Not Patricia.
I frowned.
“My grandmother’s name was Evelyn.”
Rebecca shook her head.
“Not Daniel’s mother.”
My skin prickled.
“Whose mother?”
“Caleb’s.”
Margaret Morgan?
“No.”
Rebecca whispered.
“Caleb lied about his mother too.”
The room went silent.
“What?”
“Margaret raised him.”
“She is not his biological mother.”
“Then who is Patricia Reeves?”
Rebecca’s answer came quietly.
“William Reeves’s sister.”
My grandfather’s sister.
I barely remembered hearing her name.
She disappeared from family stories after a scandal.
“What are you saying?”
“Patricia had a child.”
“Out of wedlock.”
“The family hid it.”
“That child later had Caleb.”
I stared.
“That would make Caleb Dad’s…”
“First cousin once removed genetically.”
“But the DNA suggested half-brother.”
Rebecca nodded.
“Because that is not the whole story.”
I felt dizzy.
“Then stop giving pieces.”
She swallowed.
“William fathered Caleb too.”
The room froze.
“What?”
“Patricia’s daughter was Caleb’s mother.”
“And William…”
Rebecca looked sick.
“Had an affair with his niece?”
“No.”
She shook her head quickly.
“Patricia’s child was adopted out.”
“William did not know she was his niece’s daughter when they met years later.”
My stomach turned.
This family had become a genealogical nightmare.
But the result remained.
Caleb was William’s son.
Margaret had only raised him.
“Why does Patricia’s trust matter?”
Rebecca took a breath.
“Because she created a secret trust for her descendants.”
“Caleb found it.”
“Value?”
“About sixty million.”
I stared.
“Then why steal Dad’s company?”
Rebecca’s expression became bitter.
“Because Caleb believes every Reeves asset belongs to him.”
There was no satisfying greed.
No amount ever became enough.
“What was your fourteen percent?”
“Not mine.”
“The P share was money Caleb planned to move into Patricia’s trust.”
“Why?”
“To legitimize control.”
Tom frowned.
“Money laundering through inherited trust assets.”
Rebecca nodded.
I asked, “What did Martin do?”
“He created the legal structure.”
“Did he know the pregnancy was fake?”
“Yes.”
“Did he know about Monica?”
“Yes.”
“Did he know about kidnapping Diane?”
“No.”
“Victor?”
Rebecca looked away.
“Did you know Caleb drugged Victor?”
“I suspected.”
“And stayed.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“Yes.”
I stood.
“Then you were not trapped enough.”
She looked at me.
“I know.”
I moved toward the door.
“Anna.”
I stopped.
“There is something about your father.”
“What now?”
Rebecca’s eyes filled.
“He thinks Caleb wanted the company because of William.”
“He did.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“That is what Caleb says.”
“What is the real reason?”
Rebecca whispered.
“Daniel discovered Northbridge was stealing from Reeves Development three years ago.”
My stomach tightened.
“Did Dad know?”
“No.”
“He found irregularities but did not know who was behind them.”
“So?”
“Caleb believed Daniel was getting close.”
“He needed control before the audit.”
“Why not just leave?”
“Because the money was bigger than what you’ve found.”
“How much?”
Rebecca looked toward Tom.
“More than one hundred eighty million dollars.”
Silence.
That was almost the entire value of the company’s liquid holdings.
“Where?”
“Projects that never existed.”
“Land purchases through shell companies.”
“Loans to fake vendors.”
“For how long?”
“Twenty-two years.”
My father’s best friend had been stealing almost from the day he joined.
“Did you know?”
Rebecca began crying again.
“Not at first.”
“When?”
“Seven years ago.”
“And you joined him.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He showed me documents proving I had signed approvals without realizing.”
“He told me if he went down, I went down.”
“So you helped him steal more.”
“Yes.”
I opened the door.
“Anna.”
I looked back.
Rebecca’s face crumpled.
“I am sorry.”
I almost said something cruel.
Instead I gave her the truth.
“You are sorry because the plan failed.”
She closed her eyes.
I left.
My father was waiting in the hallway.
He had come after all.
He looked at me.
“Is she telling the truth?”
“Some of it.”
He nodded.
“Do you want to see her?”
He looked toward the closed interview-room door.
Twenty-nine years stood on the other side.
He shook his head.
“Not yet.”
Then Tom’s phone rang.
He answered.
His expression sharpened.
“Where?”
Pause.
“When?”
Another pause.
He hung up.
“They found Caleb’s car.”
My father looked at him.
“Where?”
“Near the Potomac.”
“Caleb?”
“No.”
The driver’s seat was empty.
The passenger seat contained blood.
A lot of it.
And on the dashboard police found a handwritten note.
DANIEL TOOK EVERYTHING FIRST.
May you like
NOW I’M TAKING IT BACK.
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