Chapter 8: The Man I Never Knew
I returned to the mansion expecting chaos.
Instead, I found Mark sitting calmly in the drawing room.
That frightened me more.
Victoria stood near the window.
Eleanor sat across from them.
Clara had taken Lily upstairs and locked the nursery wing.
I walked directly toward Mark.
“You never knew my mother.””
He looked at me.
“That’s what you believe.””
“Stop playing games.””
“I met Grace once.””
“Impossible.””
“No.””
His voice was disturbingly calm.
“You just don’t remember.””
I laughed bitterly.
“You and I met when I was twenty-four. Mom died when I was nineteen.””
“I know.””
“Then explain.””
Mark leaned forward.
“I was seventeen.””
I froze.
He was older than me by three years.
The dates worked.
Barely.
“My father worked security for Whitmore Industries,” he continued.
“Your mother came to our house.””
Eleanor looked sharply at him.
“Who was your father?””
Mark smiled.
“Samuel Collins.””
Thomas, standing near the doorway, stiffened.
“That name is in the old investigation.””
Mark nodded.
“Now you’re catching up.””
I stared at him.
“You told me your father was an accountant.””
“I told you many things.””
That sentence destroyed something inside me.
Not love.
That had died long ago.
It destroyed my confidence in my own memories.
Our first date.
Our wedding.
The birth of Lily.
How much of my marriage had been real?
“Did you know who I was when we met?””
Mark looked away.
“Answer me.””
“Yes.””
The word landed softly.
Still, it felt enormous.
“You married me because of my mother?””
“At first, I approached you because I thought you might know where Grace hid the records.””
My stomach turned.
“At first?””
He stood.
“I did love you.””
“Don’t.””
“Ava—”
“Do not use that word.””
He stopped.
I looked at Victoria.
“And you knew?””
“Not until recently.””
Mark laughed.
“That’s another lie.””
Victoria spun toward him.
“Be careful.””
“No,” Mark said.
“I’m finished being useful to you.””
Victoria’s face changed.
Mark reached into his jacket and placed his phone on the table.
“I recorded our meetings.””
She stared at him.
“You idiot.””
“I learned from experts.””
Eleanor almost smiled.
Victoria moved toward the phone, but Thomas stepped between them.
“Leave it.””
Mark looked at me.
“She paid me to reopen your mother’s history. The custody threat was supposed to scare you away from Eleanor.””
“Why?””
“Because once Victoria learned you were Grace’s daughter, she knew Eleanor might eventually recognize the connection.””
Eleanor looked devastated.
“I should have recognized Ava immediately.””
“No,” I said.
Everyone looked at me.
I wasn’t ready to forgive her.
But truth mattered.
“I was five the last time my mother worked for you. You couldn’t have known.””
Eleanor nodded slowly.
Victoria folded her arms.
“This is absurd. We’re discussing events from decades ago.””
“No,” Eleanor said.
“We’re discussing what you did last month.””
Thomas picked up Mark’s phone.
“If these recordings confirm payments and document tampering, the board will need to know.””
Victoria laughed.
“You think the board cares about Ava?””
“No,” Eleanor said.
“But they care about fraud.””
Victoria’s confidence finally cracked.
“You would destroy your own family for her?””
Eleanor looked at me.
Then toward the ceiling, where Lily was safely upstairs.
“My family destroyed itself.””
Victoria’s eyes filled with anger.
“You always loved your daughter more.””
Eleanor’s expression softened.
“Yes.””
The honesty stunned Victoria.
“I did.””
“You never looked at my father the way you looked at her.””
“Because your father spent his life trying to become Richard.””
Victoria flinched.
“And you,” Eleanor continued, “spent yours trying to become me.””
Silence.
“You thought power was what made me strong.””
Eleanor touched the wheels of her chair.
“It wasn’t.””
“What was?””
Eleanor looked at me.
“Surviving the things power couldn’t save me from.””
Victoria grabbed her handbag.
“This isn’t over.””
“No,” Thomas said.
“It isn’t.””
She stopped.
He had opened the audio files on Mark’s phone.
One recording began playing.
Victoria’s voice filled the room.
“Make Ava desperate enough and she’ll leave. Threaten custody if you have to.””
Victoria went white.
Thomas stopped the recording.
“That will be enough for today.””
Victoria left without another word.
Mark remained.
I turned toward him.
“Get out.””
“Ava, listen.””
“No.””
“I can help you.””
“You already helped yourself.””
“I can testify against Victoria.””
“Then do it.””
He looked toward the staircase.
“I want to see Lily.””
“No.””
“I’m her father.””
“And you used her as leverage.””
His face tightened.
“I made mistakes.””
“Mistakes?””
I stepped closer.
“You married me while searching for something my dead mother might have hidden.””
“I stayed because I loved you.””
“You stayed because you never found the box.””
He couldn’t answer.
That silence was all I needed.
“Leave.””
Mark walked toward the door.
Before stepping outside, he turned.
“Ask Eleanor about Charles Vale.””
Eleanor stiffened.
Mark noticed.
“So she hasn’t told you.””
“Told me what?””
He smiled sadly.
“Why Grace was really afraid.””
Then he left.
I turned toward Eleanor.
“Who is Charles Vale?””
Eleanor’s hands tightened.
“Victoria’s father.””
“I know that.””
She looked suddenly older.
“What aren’t you telling me?””
Eleanor closed her eyes.
“When my daughter died, everyone called it an accident.””
A terrible silence filled the room.
“But Grace’s documents may prove it wasn’t.””
I stared at her.
“What are you saying?””
Eleanor looked at the old list from my mother’s safe-deposit box.
“I’m saying Charles Vale was with my daughter the night she died.””
Thomas went still.
May you like
Eleanor’s voice trembled.
“And for the first time in years, I think I know why my daughter called me three minutes before her death.””
