Chương 13
“It just sounds exactly like every terrible family secret in America.”
For one second, Maya almost laughed.
Laura heard the sound and began crying again.
“Maya, I am so sorry.”
Maya’s expression changed.
“Don’t.”
“I should have told you.”
“Not yet.”
“I need you to know—”
“No.”
Maya’s voice sharpened.
“You do not get to make yourself feel better before I understand what you did.”
Silence followed.
Daniel looked at her.
Something in his face shifted.
Not forgiveness.
Respect, maybe.
Or simply recognition that Maya was no longer asking to be protected from the truth.
Laura spoke carefully.
“You’re right.”
Maya swallowed.
“Why did you hide it?”
“Because Samuel was scared.”
“Of Richard?”
“Of what Richard would do if the records became public.”
Daniel frowned.
“My father wasn’t violent.”
Laura did not answer.
Daniel’s face hardened.
“Was he?”
“No.”
Laura paused.
“Not physically.”
Daniel looked away.
Laura continued.
“He had money, lawyers, people who owed him favors.”
“What did the ledger show?” Maya asked.
“That the investor fraud wasn’t a few bad deals.”
Laura’s voice steadied as she spoke about numbers rather than people.
“It showed they moved losses between properties, inflated appraisals, redirected funds, and paid people to sign things they shouldn’t have signed.”
“Richard?”
“Yes.”
“Vale?”
“Yes.”
“Samuel?”
A longer pause.
“Yes.”
Maya closed her eyes.
“So my father was involved too.”
“Yes.”
“How involved?”
“Enough.”
Maya nodded once to herself.
That answer hurt in a clean way.
There was nothing to romanticize.
Daniel sat on the edge of the visitor chair.
“Why would Samuel keep records that incriminated himself?”
“Because Richard had started pushing him out.”
Laura’s voice turned bitter.
“Samuel thought the ledger gave him leverage.”
“Did it?”
“For a while.”
“What happened?”
“He died.”
Maya opened her eyes.
“How?”
Laura did not answer immediately.
“Car accident.”
Maya stared at the phone.
“You told me my father left.”
“I know.”
“You let me think he abandoned me.”
“I know.”
“Why?”
“Because he was already dead when you were born.”
The room seemed to tilt.
Daniel stood.
Maya’s face went blank.
“What?”
Laura began crying again.
“Samuel died six weeks before you were born.”
Maya looked at nothing.
The baby shifted in the bassinet.
Daniel crossed to him automatically.
Maya whispered, “You made me hate a dead man.”
Laura’s voice broke.
“I thought hate was safer than curiosity.”
Maya laughed once, but there was no humor in it.
“That worked out well.”
“Maya.”
“No.”
She wiped her face.
“No, I need to say this while I can.”
Daniel watched her.
“You took every question I had and replaced it with a lie because it was easier for you.”
“I was afraid.”
“So was I.”
Laura went silent.
Maya continued.
“I spent my whole life thinking there was something about me that made my father leave.”
Daniel looked down.
Maya’s voice trembled but stayed controlled.
“And now you’re telling me he didn’t leave.”
“No.”
“He died.”
“Yes.”
“And then Richard Carter spent years looking for me because of a ledger you had.”
“Yes.”
Daniel looked at the baby.
“And somehow my father’s plan to keep us apart became a plan to bring us together.”
Laura inhaled sharply.
“I didn’t know about that.”
Daniel’s eyes hardened.
“Who did?”
“I don’t know.”
Maya looked toward the door.
“Aaron might.”
Daniel nodded.
He reached for the call button.
Rachel returned a minute later.
One look at Maya’s face and she said, “You need to rest.”
“I need five more minutes.”
“You said that fifteen minutes ago.”
“Please.”
Rachel looked at the monitor.
Then at Daniel.
“Five.”
Daniel opened the door and stepped into the hallway.
Aaron was sitting in a chair across from Evelyn.
Neither of them looked comfortable.
Evelyn stood immediately.
“How is she?”
Daniel ignored the question.
“Aaron.”
Aaron rose.
“Who reversed the assignment after my father died?”
Aaron looked at Evelyn.
Then back at Daniel.
“That’s what Caleb finally figured out.”
“Who?”
Aaron took a breath.
“Thomas Vale.”
Daniel frowned.
“Vale himself?”
“Yes.”
“Why would he spend money setting up a relationship between us?”
“He didn’t spend his own money.”
“Then whose?”
“Northline’s.”
“My father’s company.”
“After Richard died, Vale became the administrator controlling payments related to the investigation.”
Daniel’s face tightened.
“So he changed the purpose.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Aaron looked toward Maya’s room.
“Because he believed Laura still had the real ledger.”
Daniel understood before Aaron finished.
“He used Maya to get close to me.”
“Yes.”
“And me to get close to my mother.”
Evelyn went pale.
Aaron nodded.
“Vale believed Richard may have hidden something in the Carter estate.”
“What?”
“Another copy.”
Evelyn stared at him.
“There isn’t one.”
“Apparently Vale didn’t know that.”
Daniel’s expression hardened.
“So he put Maya in my path hoping eventually she’d have access to family records.”
“Yes.”
“And Maya didn’t know.”
“Not that part.”
Daniel looked toward the closed door.
For the first time all day, anger and relief arrived together.
Neither felt good.
“Caleb found out.”
“Eventually.”
“Then disappeared.”
Aaron nodded.
“Why mail the birth certificate now?”
“Because it was fake.”
Daniel stared at him.
“What?”
“The copy was fabricated.”
Evelyn spoke for the first time.
“By whom?”
“Vale.”
Maya’s voice came from the doorway.
“Why?”
Everyone turned.
She stood there gripping the doorframe, pale and unsteady, Rachel behind her with both hands ready to catch her.
Daniel crossed to her immediately.
“What are you doing?”
“Standing badly.”
“Maya.”
“I heard enough.”
Rachel looked furious.
“She insisted.”
Maya looked at Aaron.
“Why fake the birth certificate?”
Aaron answered slowly.
“To make Richard believe you might be his daughter.”
Daniel stared.
Maya’s face went still.
“Why would that matter?”
“Because Richard was willing to spend more if the search became personal.”
Maya closed her eyes.
Daniel put one hand under her elbow.
She did not pull away.
Aaron continued.
“Vale knew Richard had an affair with Laura.”
Laura’s voice came faintly from the speakerphone still lying on Maya’s bed.
“No.”
May you like
Everyone turned toward the room.
Maya looked at the phone.
