Chapter 5 - THE UNCLE WHO WANTED THEIR NAMES
Thomas Vance stood at the top of the stairs as though he belonged there.
Maybe that was the most frightening part.
He didn't look like a criminal.
He looked like an older executive at a charity dinner.
Perfect suit.
Silver hair.
Quiet voice.
Warm smile.
The kind of man strangers trusted immediately.
The girls did not.
Lily moved closer to Evelyn.
Thomas noticed.
“I don't blame her.”
He walked downstairs.
My mother stepped between him and the children.
“You shouldn't be here.”
Thomas smiled.
“Eleanor, this house belongs to the family.”
“You lost that privilege.”
“No.”
His smile disappeared.
“You gave it away.”
I stepped forward.
“Enough.”
Thomas looked at me.
For the first time, I saw recognition.
“You look exactly like your father.”
“You knew him.”
“Very well.”
“Did you threaten Evelyn?”
“No.”
“Did you follow my daughters?”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
Thomas smiled faintly.
“You're asking the wrong questions.”
I hated that answer.
“What do you want?”
“The truth.”
My mother laughed bitterly.
“You've never wanted the truth.”
Thomas looked at her.
“You lied for twenty-eight years.”
“I protected my son.”
“And destroyed his family.”
Silence.
Evelyn looked at me.
“What does he mean?”
Thomas turned toward her.
“Your father knew the trust would eventually pass to Marcus's children.”
I frowned.
“I knew nothing about this.”
“Exactly.”
Thomas smiled.
“That is why your mother was able to manipulate everything.”
I turned toward Eleanor.
She looked exhausted.
“I never wanted the trust.”
“That's what you say now.”
Thomas placed a leather folder on the table.
Inside were foundation records.
The Vance Foundation controlled several historic properties.
Including the Boston estate I had been traveling to purchase.
I stared at the documents.
“The estate belongs to the foundation?”
“Yes.”
“Then why was I buying it?”
Thomas looked at me.
“You weren't.”
He turned a page.
“The acquisition was structured to transfer the property into a new trust.”
Whose trust?
I already knew.
“Mine.”
Thomas nodded.
“And once you accepted the transfer, your daughters became beneficiaries.”
I looked at Evelyn.
She understood too.
“This whole deal was designed to bring them back.”
Thomas smiled.
“Partly.”
“What's the rest?”
He hesitated.
Then my mother answered.
“Thomas wanted Marcus to sign away his voting rights.”
I looked at the document.
There it was.
A clause buried on page forty-seven.
If I accepted the estate under the proposed structure, I would lose control of the foundation.
Thomas would gain it.
I stared at him.
“You set me up.”
“No.”
“I was going to sign tomorrow.”
“You would have.”
“Why?”
“Because you trusted your mother.”
I looked at Eleanor.
She lowered her head.
Thomas continued.
“And because you believed the acquisition was about business.”
My anger turned toward my mother.
“Did you know?”
“Yes.”
“Were you going to let me sign?”
She began crying.
“I thought I could protect you afterward.”
“By letting me lose everything?”
“By keeping Thomas from getting access to the girls.”
Thomas laughed softly.
“You see?”
He looked at me.
“Your mother has always believed fear is a form of love.”
That sentence hurt because it was true.
My mother looked at him.
“Don't pretend you're different.”
Thomas's smile faded.
“I am.”
He walked toward the girls.
Evelyn immediately moved between them.
Thomas stopped.
“I don't want to hurt them.”
“Then stay away.”
“I want to give them what they deserve.”
“What's that?”
“A name.”
Lily looked at him.
“I already have a name.”
Thomas smiled.
“You have two.”
Claire frowned.
“I don't like two.”
Thomas's expression changed.
For the first time, his mask slipped.
“These children are the future of this family.”
I stepped forward.
“They are children.”
“They are heirs.”
“They don't need your trust.”
“They will.”
I took the folder.
“I won't sign anything.”
Thomas nodded.
“I expected that.”
He turned toward the door.
Before leaving, he looked at my mother.
“Tell him about the photograph.”
My mother froze.
“What photograph?”
Thomas smiled.
“The one Eleanor burned.”
He left.
I turned to my mother.
“What photograph?”
She didn't answer.
Evelyn looked frightened.
I asked again.
“Mom.”
My mother slowly walked to the fireplace.
She opened a hidden compartment.
Inside was a metal box.
She removed an old photograph.
My father stood beside a younger Thomas.
Between them was a woman.
I recognized her.
Evelyn.
But the photograph was dated seven years ago.
A year before she supposedly met me.
I looked at Evelyn.
She went completely pale.
“That isn't possible.”
Thomas's voice came from outside the door.
“It is.”
Evelyn whispered,
“I never met him before Marcus.”
My mother stared at the photograph.
Then she said,
“You weren't supposed to remember.”
Evelyn's eyes widened.
“What?”
May you like
My mother looked at me.
“You and Evelyn had met before.”
