Rebecca denied it.<\/p>\n
Not cautiously.<\/p>\n
Not thoughtfully.<\/p>\n
Immediately.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grant placed Arthur\u2019s opened letter on the table.<\/p>\n
Rebecca pushed it away.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cArthur wrote\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know what he wrote.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen explain why he was wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I never slept with Victor Shaw.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marcus said nothing.<\/p>\n
That was worse.<\/p>\n
I looked at Rebecca.<\/p>\n
\u201cNever?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNever.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course. He worked for my father.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWere you alone with him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid he ever pursue you?\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca\u2019s hesitation was small.<\/p>\n
But I saw it.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marcus looked at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou never told me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt didn\u2019t matter.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt matters now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca stood.<\/p>\n
\u201cVictor flirted with every woman he met. I rejected him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cArthur believed otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cArthur believed whatever allowed him to control people.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was also true.<\/p>\n
Grant examined the letter.<\/p>\n
\u201cCould Arthur have been intentionally lying?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marcus finally spoke.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a date problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
He had been reading the hospital archive on his tablet.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat date?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy employment records.\u201d<\/p>\n
The room quieted.<\/p>\n
Marcus had met Rebecca through Arthur\u2019s company.<\/p>\n
That was the story both told.<\/p>\n
Except bank records showed Marcus\u2019s first meeting with Arthur\u2019s firm occurred after Rebecca was already pregnant.<\/p>\n
Rebecca stared at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat can\u2019t be right.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marcus turned the screen.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy first recorded meeting was October seventeenth.\u201d<\/p>\n
I was born in May.<\/p>\n
If the pregnancy had been full term, conception was around the previous August.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow did you meet?\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca sat down.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt a restaurant.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThrough Arthur?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought so.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marcus remembered differently.<\/p>\n
A man introduced them at a charity dinner.<\/p>\n
Victor Shaw.<\/p>\n
The room went still.<\/p>\n
Victor had introduced Marcus to Rebecca.<\/p>\n
Then later arranged for Marcus to work with Arthur\u2019s bank accounts.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was deliberate,\u201d Grant said.<\/p>\n
Rebecca looked sick.<\/p>\n
Victor had placed Marcus into her life after she was already pregnant.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you know you were pregnant when you met Marcus?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you have any relationship immediately before him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grant did not move on.<\/p>\n
\u201cRebecca.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo consensual relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n
The word changed everything.<\/p>\n
Marcus stood.<\/p>\n
I felt cold.<\/p>\n
Grant\u2019s voice softened but remained precise.<\/p>\n
\u201cWas there an incident involving Victor?\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca looked toward the window.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce.\u201d<\/p>\n
She had never told anyone.<\/p>\n
Not Marcus.<\/p>\n
Not Arthur.<\/p>\n
Not police.<\/p>\n
After a company event, Victor offered to drive her home.<\/p>\n
She remembered drinking wine.<\/p>\n
She remembered entering his car.<\/p>\n
Then almost nothing until morning.<\/p>\n
She woke in a guest room at Arthur\u2019s Greenwich house.<\/p>\n
Her dress was partly removed.<\/p>\n
Victor said she had become sick.<\/p>\n
She believed him because believing him was easier.<\/p>\n
Weeks later, Victor introduced Marcus to her.<\/p>\n
They fell in love quickly.<\/p>\n
Then she discovered the pregnancy.<\/p>\n
\u201cI assumed Marcus was the father because I wanted him to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marcus looked devastated.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou should have told me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI barely admitted it to myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
I could not speak.<\/p>\n
There are discoveries that feel like answers.<\/p>\n
This did not.<\/p>\n
It felt like another theft.<\/p>\n
Victor had possibly assaulted Rebecca.<\/p>\n
Then positioned Marcus beside her.<\/p>\n
Why?<\/p>\n
Grant asked the same question.<\/p>\n
Rebecca didn\u2019t know.<\/p>\n
Marcus did.<\/p>\n
\u201cCover.\u201d<\/p>\n
If Rebecca became pregnant, Marcus would appear to be the father.<\/p>\n
Victor protected himself.<\/p>\n
Arthur later learned the truth somehow.<\/p>\n
That explained the letter.<\/p>\n
It also explained why Arthur destroyed Marcus\u2019s career.<\/p>\n
Not because he hated Marcus.<\/p>\n
Because he believed Marcus had been part of Victor\u2019s plan.<\/p>\n
\u201cArthur thought you knew,\u201d Rebecca said.<\/p>\n
Marcus stared at the table.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe ruined me because he thought I helped Victor.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arthur\u2019s cruelty had still been cruelty.<\/p>\n
But now its motive changed.<\/p>\n
Grant asked whether Victor could have known I was biologically his.<\/p>\n
\u201cProbably,\u201d Rebecca whispered.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid he ever contact you about Emily?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNever.\u201d<\/p>\n
Robert, brought in again, remembered something.<\/p>\n
Victor attended my first birthday party.<\/p>\n
I had seen photographs.<\/p>\n
A tall dark-haired man near the edge of the garden.<\/p>\n
I never knew who he was.<\/p>\n
He also visited the Wilson house several times during my early childhood.<\/p>\n
Linda said he was handling estate matters.<\/p>\n
Arthur eventually banned him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
Robert had never been told.<\/p>\n
Now we could guess.<\/p>\n
Victor knew.<\/p>\n
Arthur knew.<\/p>\n
Maybe Linda knew.<\/p>\n
And Charles certainly learned eventually.<\/p>\n
My phone vibrated.<\/p>\n
Khloe.<\/p>\n
She had found the missing second page of Teresa Vale\u2019s letter.<\/p>\n
Not on Jackson\u2019s laptop.<\/p>\n
In an email draft synchronized to his phone backup.<\/p>\n
Grant opened it.<\/p>\n
Teresa had written:<\/p>\n
Arthur discovered Victor was Emily\u2019s father after comparing hospital blood records. Victor begged him not to expose the truth. Charles learned next. That was when the money started moving.<\/p>\n
Below that:<\/p>\n
Victor wanted to create a trust for Emily himself. Charles stopped him.<\/p>\n
I looked at Rebecca.<\/p>\n
\u201cVictor tried to leave me money?\u201d<\/p>\n
Apparently.<\/p>\n
According to Teresa, Victor intended to transfer his interest in several Vale family assets to me.<\/p>\n
Charles believed those assets belonged to him as Thomas Vale\u2019s elder son.<\/p>\n
Victor disagreed.<\/p>\n
The brothers fought.<\/p>\n
Then Victor died in the boat fire.<\/p>\n
Under Charles\u2019s identity.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat if it wasn\u2019t an accident?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
Grant\u2019s expression told me she was already there.<\/p>\n
Charles had motive.<\/p>\n
Kill Victor.<\/p>\n
Let the body be identified as Charles.<\/p>\n
Then assume Victor\u2019s identity.<\/p>\n
Control Victor\u2019s legal authority.<\/p>\n
Prevent assets transferring to me.<\/p>\n
It was horrifyingly efficient.<\/p>\n
Rebecca whispered, \u201cHe practiced on Victor before he tried it on me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Two boat explosions.<\/p>\n
Two identity manipulations.<\/p>\n
One successful death.<\/p>\n
One failed.<\/p>\n
Grant reopened the old Maine investigation.<\/p>\n
Photographs of the recovered body existed.<\/p>\n
Dental records had supposedly confirmed Charles Shaw.<\/p>\n
Those dental records came from a dentist who later admitted insurance fraud in an unrelated case.<\/p>\n
Charles may have supplied Victor\u2019s identification with his own dental file reversed\u2014or fabricated the comparison entirely.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need DNA from the remains.\u201d<\/p>\n
The body had been cremated.<\/p>\n
Of course.<\/p>\n
But the medical examiner retained tissue samples.<\/p>\n
A request went out.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Charles had Arthur\u2019s blood sample.<\/p>\n
Why steal it now?<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Arthur\u2019s letter already identifies Victor as my father, Charles would want to disprove it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marcus nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe could manipulate DNA results.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAgain.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOr create a competing test.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grant warned us not to accept any privately produced result.<\/p>\n
Only samples collected under controlled conditions would matter.<\/p>\n
Then the hospital archive delivered something unexpected.<\/p>\n
My newborn blood card still existed.<\/p>\n
A tiny dried sample collected after birth.<\/p>\n
It could establish my DNA independently.<\/p>\n
Rebecca consented to testing.<\/p>\n
Marcus did too, though Arthur\u2019s letter now made his paternity unlikely.<\/p>\n
Robert offered.<\/p>\n
Jackson\u2019s sample was already available.<\/p>\n
Investigators requested preserved tissue from the presumed Charles Shaw body.<\/p>\n
If it was actually Victor, the comparison could establish my biological father conclusively.<\/p>\n
For the first time, science might cut through decades of paper lies.<\/p>\n
While we waited, Linda requested another interview.<\/p>\n
This time she asked for Rebecca too.<\/p>\n
Grant allowed it under supervision.<\/p>\n
Linda looked worse than before.<\/p>\n
Her bruising had darkened.<\/p>\n
When Rebecca entered, Linda stared at her for a long time.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew about Victor?\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca said nothing.<\/p>\n
Linda interpreted the silence.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did you know?\u201d Grant asked.<\/p>\n
Linda looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cVictor told me Emily was his daughter.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter Arthur died.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy would he tell you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause he wanted access to her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca stepped forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat kind of access?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFinancial.\u201d<\/p>\n
My stomach tightened.<\/p>\n
Victor had planned to create assets for me.<\/p>\n
But perhaps not purely from guilt.<\/p>\n
Linda said Victor believed placing assets in my name could shield them from Charles.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wanted me to help.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt first.\u201d<\/p>\n
There it was.<\/p>\n
Another piece.<\/p>\n
Some accounts opened under my identity had originally been created to protect Victor\u2019s assets from Charles.<\/p>\n
Then Linda realized I did not know they existed.<\/p>\n
She began using them herself.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou stole from Victor too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Linda gave a tired smile.<\/p>\n
\u201cVictor stole from everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened between Victor and Charles?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cVictor wanted out.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOut of what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTheir fraud.\u201d<\/p>\n
For years, the brothers had manipulated Arthur\u2019s businesses.<\/p>\n
Charles handled accounting.<\/p>\n
Victor handled legal structures.<\/p>\n
When Victor learned I was his daughter, he began redirecting his share toward me.<\/p>\n
Charles considered it betrayal.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe threatened Victor.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore the boat accident.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you warn him?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
Linda looked away.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Victor threatened to tell Robert about our affair.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo you let Charles kill him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t know Charles would kill him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou knew enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
Linda started crying.<\/p>\n
Rebecca did not soften.<\/p>\n
Grant asked about Teresa.<\/p>\n
Linda\u2019s tears stopped.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe knows too much.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere is she?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWith Jackson.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cVoluntarily?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy did Jackson pay her?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo find Victor\u2019s original documents.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid she?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat documents?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHis will.\u201d<\/p>\n
Victor had written a will months before his death.<\/p>\n
Everything he personally controlled was left to one person.<\/p>\n
Me.<\/p>\n
Charles had spent ten years pretending to be Victor partly because Victor\u2019s legal death would trigger that will.<\/p>\n
If Victor officially died, assets passed to me.<\/p>\n
If Victor remained legally alive, Charles could continue controlling them.<\/p>\n
That explained the identity switch perfectly.<\/p>\n
Charles needed Victor dead physically but alive legally.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat assets?\u201d<\/p>\n
Linda whispered, \u201cMore than Arthur\u2019s trust.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHow much?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEstimate.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe sixty million.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stopped processing numbers.<\/p>\n
Forty-six million in Arthur-related assets.<\/p>\n
Potentially sixty million tied to Victor.<\/p>\n
This was no longer about a house.<\/p>\n
It was a private war over fortunes built before I was born.<\/p>\n
Grant asked where Victor\u2019s will was.<\/p>\n
\u201cTeresa had a copy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy Teresa?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe witnessed it.\u201d<\/p>\n
That explained Jackson\u2019s payments.<\/p>\n
He needed her.<\/p>\n
Maybe Charles did too.<\/p>\n
Grant ordered Teresa treated as a potential endangered witness.<\/p>\n
Then a message arrived on my phone.<\/p>\n
Unknown number.<\/p>\n
A photograph.<\/p>\n
Teresa sat in a chair in an unfamiliar room.<\/p>\n
Alive.<\/p>\n
Jackson stood behind her.<\/p>\n
No visible weapon.<\/p>\n
No obvious restraints.<\/p>\n
Then a text.<\/p>\n
EMILY, STOP LETTING EVERYONE ELSE TELL YOU MY STORY.<\/p>\n
A second message.<\/p>\n
COME ALONE AND I\u2019LL GIVE YOU VICTOR\u2019S WILL.<\/p>\n
Grant took my phone.<\/p>\n
Another message arrived before she could respond.<\/p>\n
ASK REBECCA WHAT SHE DID THE NIGHT VICTOR DIED.<\/p>\n
Rebecca\u2019s face changed when she read it.<\/p>\n
I saw fear.<\/p>\n
Not confusion.<\/p>\n
Fear.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did you do?\u201d<\/p>\n
She shook her head.<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRebecca.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jackson sent one final photograph.<\/p>\n
A marina receipt.<\/p>\n
Date: the night Victor died.<\/p>\n
Customer signature:<\/p>\n
Rebecca Wilson.<\/p>\n
My biological mother had been three miles from Victor\u2019s fatal boat fire.<\/p>\n
And she had never mentioned it.<\/p>\n
Rebecca denied it. Not cautiously. Not thoughtfully. Immediately. \u201cNo.\u201d Grant placed Arthur\u2019s opened letter on the table. Rebecca pushed it away. \u201cNo.\u201d \u201cArthur wrote\u2014\u201d \u201cI know what he wrote.\u201d \u201cThen … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2166,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feel-one-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2177"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2177\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2201,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2177\/revisions\/2201"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}