Chapter 6 - THE WOMAN WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD

Gabriel had been told his mother died thirteen years earlier.

Private plane accident.

Storm over Nevada.

No survivors.

The funeral had been closed-casket.

Cassandra was twenty-three.

Gabriel was twenty-eight.

Their father had already died.

Theodore became the center of the family afterward.

Now Elijah placed a surveillance photograph on the table.

A woman with silver-blonde hair stepped from a black sedan outside a private clinic in Arizona.

Gabriel stared at her.

“That’s impossible.”

Elena touched his arm.

The woman was older.

Thinner.

But the face was unmistakable.

Vivienne Vale.

Gabriel’s mother.

Elijah explained.

“Theodore discovered the truth last year.”

“Vivienne never boarded the plane.”

“She disappeared intentionally.”

“Why?”

“Money.”

Vivienne had been accused privately of transferring funds from several family accounts.

Before Theodore could confront her, she staged her death.

An employee died in the crash.

Vivienne used the confusion to disappear.

Gabriel sat down.

“She let us bury an empty coffin.”

“Yes.”

Elena watched pain move across his face.

Cassandra had always been more like Vivienne.

Elegant.

Demanding.

Obsessed with status.

Gabriel had spent years defending his sister because he believed they only had each other.

That lie suddenly collapsed.

“Does Cassandra know?”

Elijah nodded.

“We believe so.”

“When?”

“At least eighteen months.”

Gabriel stood so quickly the chair moved backward.

“She knew our mother was alive?”

“Yes.”

“And said nothing?”

“Yes.”

Elena understood the inheritance war differently now.

Cassandra was not acting alone.

Vivienne had returned.

Theodore knew.

Then he changed the trust.

Elijah placed another document beside them.

The amendment redirected Vivienne’s former interest.

Part went to Gabriel.

Part to Cassandra.

But if either child participated in coercion against Elena, that beneficiary’s entire share passed to Elena.

Gabriel looked confused.

“Why Elena?”

Elijah hesitated.

“Because she did something for Theodore nobody else knows about.”

Elena looked at him.

“What?”

Elijah smiled faintly.

“You refused his money.”

Three years earlier, Theodore offered Elena ten million dollars to leave Gabriel.

It had been a test.

Elena tore up the check.

She never told Gabriel because she did not want to damage his relationship with his grandfather.

Theodore never forgot.

“He wanted to know whether you married into the family for wealth.”

Elijah said.

“You proved you didn’t.”

Then Gabriel’s phone rang.

Unknown number.

He answered.

A woman’s voice said one word.

“Gabriel.”

His entire body froze.

He knew that voice.

“Mom?”

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Vivienne Vale laughed softly.

“Your sister made a terrible mistake today.”