Chapter 7 - THE WOMAN ISAAC COULDN’T CONTROL
Clover was waiting at the hotel when we returned.
She looked exhausted.
No makeup.
Hair pulled back.
The silver dress from my birthday was gone.
She wore a plain gray coat.
When she saw me, she stood.
“I didn't know where else to go.”
Noah remained between us.
“You followed us.”
“I needed to make sure Flora got the message.”
I looked at her.
“You knew about Evan.”
Clover nodded.
“I've known for six months.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because Isaac threatened him.”
Her voice broke.
“He told me if I said anything, Evan would disappear.”
Marcus stepped closer.
“Who is Evan?”
Clover looked at me.
“Your mother's son.”
I closed my eyes.
“That still doesn't explain why Isaac was paying for him.”
Clover sat down.
“Because Evan is the reason Isaac married you.”
The words hit harder than I expected.
“What?”
“Isaac knew about the trust before you met.”
I stared at her.
“He was told that marrying you would give him access.”
“By whom?”
Clover hesitated.
“Arthur.”
Noah's face hardened.
“Arthur knew about the child?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
Clover shook her head.
“I don't know.”
I sat opposite her.
“Then tell me what you do know.”
She took a breath.
“Five years ago, Isaac found documents in Arthur's office.”
“What documents?”
“Letters between your father and Arthur.”
“About the trust?”
“Yes.”
“About Evan?”
“Yes.”
My hands tightened.
“What did they say?”
“That your father had discovered someone was trying to steal the trust.”
“Who?”
Clover looked at Marcus.
“Your father's own attorney.”
Marcus frowned.
“What was his name?”
“Richard Hale.”
Marcus immediately searched his records.
“Hale died nine years ago.”
Clover nodded.
“Exactly.”
Noah looked confused.
“Then how could he be involved five years ago?”
Clover looked at me.
“Because Isaac found a letter written before Hale died.”
Marcus continued searching.
Then he stopped.
“There was another person using Hale's credentials after his death.”
“Who?”
Marcus looked at the screen.
“Someone with access to the Vance corporate legal system.”
He turned the laptop.
A name appeared.
Arthur Vance.
I felt sick.
Clover shook her head.
“Arthur wasn't the person behind everything.”
“Then who was?”
She looked toward the door.
“Wendy.”
Noah stared.
“What?”
Clover's eyes filled with tears.
“Wendy knew about the trust before Arthur.”
I remembered her face.
The fear.
The regret.
The bracelet.
“Why?”
“Because your mother trusted her.”
I couldn't speak.
Clover reached into her coat.
She removed an old rosary.
It was worn.
Wooden beads.
A tiny silver cross.
“My mother gave this to me.”
I stared.
“Why are you giving it to me?”
“Because your mother gave it to her.”
I took it.
A tiny folded paper was hidden beneath the cross.
I opened it.
One sentence.
If Flora ever comes looking, tell her I was not afraid of the Vances.
My eyes burned.
“Your mother?”
Clover nodded.
“My mother was Eleanor's closest friend.”
I stared at her.
“You're saying our families knew each other.”
“Yes.”
“Then why did you become Isaac's mistress?”
Clover looked down.
“Because I thought he was helping me.”
“With what?”
“My brother.”
She swallowed.
“My brother owed money to people he couldn't escape.”
Isaac offered to pay the debt.
“In exchange for what?”
“Information.”
Noah's eyes narrowed.
“What information?”
“About Flora.”
I looked away.
Clover continued.
“At first I thought he only wanted financial information.”
“And then?”
“I realized he wanted control.”
She wiped her eyes.
“He told me you were the key to saving Vance Construction.”
I asked,
“Saving it from what?”
She looked at Marcus.
“Debt.”
Marcus nodded.
“That's true.”
Everyone looked at him.
He explained.
“Vance Construction has been losing money for years.”
Arthur's public statements had hidden it.
“They borrowed against future contracts.”
Leo frowned.
“Which contracts?”
Marcus opened the records.
“Contracts they didn't actually have.”
I stared.
“So the company was already collapsing.”
“Yes.”
“Then why did Isaac need my trust?”
“To keep it alive.”
I felt a strange sadness.
For the first time, Isaac's obsession made sense.
It didn't excuse him.
But it explained him.
He had grown up believing the Vance name could never fall.
His father had built his identity around that belief.
And Isaac had been willing to destroy me to protect it.
Clover suddenly looked at me.
“There is one thing you don't know.”
“What?”
“Isaac never intended to keep the trust.”
I frowned.
“He planned to transfer it.”
“To whom?”
She hesitated.
“Your father.”
I stared.
“My father is dead.”
“I know.”
“Then what do you mean?”
She reached into her coat again.
This time she pulled out a photograph.
It showed my father.
Alive.
Standing beside a woman.
Not my mother.
A younger woman I had never seen.
On the back was a date.
Six months after my father's supposed death.
I felt the room disappear.
Noah took the photograph.
“This can't be.”
Clover whispered,
“That photograph came from Isaac's private safe.”
Caleb examined it.
“The image is genuine.”
Marcus looked at the date.
“Then someone has been hiding the truth about your father's final year.”
I stared at the photograph.
My father was smiling.
Healthy.
Alive.
And beside him stood the woman who had been listed in the trust records as—
Florence Elizabeth Sterling.
I looked at Noah.
“My mother.”
“No.”
He shook his head.
“That's not your mother.”
The woman in the photograph turned slightly toward the camera.
I saw her face clearly.
She looked exactly like my mother.
But older.
And wearing my mother's necklace.
Clover whispered,
“That woman is not Eleanor.”
May you like
Then she looked at me.
“She is your mother’s sister.”
