Chapter 11 - THE DEAD WOMAN’S LETTERS
Rose Vale had supposedly died in a private plane crash.
The aircraft vanished over the Atlantic.
No body was recovered.
Victor had taken control of the family foundation afterward.
Adrian had been seventeen.
He remembered his mother as intelligent, distant, and fiercely protective.
He also remembered Victor telling him that hope would only prolong his grief.
Celeste was transported to a guarded hospital room.
Before leaving, she gave Nora an address.
A farmhouse near the Canadian border.
“She lives there under another name.”
“How do you know?”
“Victor sent me there three years ago.”
“To kill her?”
Celeste closed her eyes.
“To confirm whether she was alive.”
“Why did you lie to him?”
“Because she showed me what Victor had done.”
Celeste’s voice weakened.
“She made me promise to help Isabelle.”
“But you helped Victor instead,” Adrian said.
“I was afraid.”
“You put that fear above my daughter’s life.”
Celeste began to cry.
“I know.”
Daniel arranged a private aircraft.
Adrian, Nora, and two agents traveled north.
Claire remained at the estate with trusted guards.
During the flight, Nora read more of her mother’s letters.
One passage mentioned Rose.
“Rose discovered that Victor was using the foundation to move money through shell hospitals.”
“She planned to expose him.”
“Victor sabotaged her aircraft, but she never boarded it.”
“She disappeared because one of Victor’s men warned her.”
Adrian looked out the window.
“My mother chose to let me believe she was dead.”
“She may have believed it was the only way to keep you alive.”
They reached the farmhouse after midnight.
The building appeared abandoned.
Nora noticed fresh footprints near the back porch.
Inside, the rooms were empty.
A kettle remained warm on the stove.
Someone had left minutes earlier.
Adrian found photographs covering the wall of an upstairs study.
They showed him at school, at college, at his wedding, and holding Lily after her birth.
Rose had watched his entire life from a distance.
On the desk lay a letter addressed to him.
“Adrian, Victor has taken Lily to the place where our family fortune began.”
“The old Vale mine.”
“He intends to exchange her for the third file.”
“Do not bring the authorities.”
“He has men inside every agency.”
A floorboard creaked behind them.
Adrian turned.
An older woman stood in the doorway holding a rifle.
May you like
Her gray eyes were identical to his.
“Hello, son.”
