Chapter 17 - THE CHILDREN OF DANIEL CROSS
Patrick refused to talk.
Margaret didn't.
Not after DNA confirmed everything.
Daniel Cross was Patrick Sloan's biological father.
Margaret confessed within six hours.
She had met Daniel in 1998.
After Rebecca's crash.
After Charles died.
After Daniel received the settlement.
She was a junior attorney then.
Ambitious.
Smart.
Angry at wealthy families.
Daniel recognized all three traits.
They had an affair.
Patrick was born the following year.
Daniel vanished publicly.
But privately, he stayed in Margaret's life.
He paid for schools.
Connections.
Career opportunities.
And eventually helped place her on Bellavere's board.
By the time Julian began working with Thomas, Margaret was already there.
Waiting.
I listened to her interview from Bellavere's legal office.
She stared at the table.
"Daniel said the Vales stole everything."
I asked:
"Did you believe him?"
"Yes."
"Even after you knew Charles committed fraud with him?"
"Daniel said Charles betrayed him."
"Both can be guilty."
Margaret looked at me.
"I know that now."
"Convenient."
She accepted it.
"Did Patrick know Daniel was his father?"
"Since he was sixteen."
"Did he know Julian?"
"Yes."
"Adrian?"
"Only by name."
"Did Julian know Patrick was his brother?"
"No."
Julian was sitting behind me.
He went still.
Margaret looked at him.
"Daniel didn't trust you."
Julian laughed.
"Apparently I wasn't special."
Margaret's face hardened.
"You weren't."
I looked at her.
"Did you sleep with Julian because Daniel told you to?"
She hesitated.
Julian stared at her.
"Answer."
"At first."
His face changed.
I almost laughed at the symmetry.
The man who married me as part of a plan had also been seduced as part of one.
No one escaped Daniel's design.
Margaret continued.
"Then it became real."
Julian shook his head.
"No."
"You know it did."
"Don't."
I stared at both of them.
The affair suddenly became less painful than pathetic.
Everyone believed they were choosing.
Most were being positioned.
"Where did Sabrina fit?"
Margaret looked confused.
"She didn't."
That was interesting.
"Daniel didn't send her?"
"No."
"Thomas?"
"No."
Julian looked at me.
"Sabrina was just me."
Meaning his own betrayal.
Not conspiracy.
That almost made it worse.
There was no mastermind to blame for everything.
Some sins were simply choices.
Good.
That mattered.
"Patrick started the archive fire for Daniel?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"To destroy the original trust."
"Did he know about the forged resignation?"
"Yes."
"Did he know Rebecca was alive?"
Margaret froze.
"No."
That hurt her.
Even Daniel hadn't trusted Margaret with everything.
"Any other children?"
She looked at me.
"I don't know."
"That's not good enough."
"I really don't."
We tested financial records.
Daniel had funded five education trusts over the decades.
Three matched known children.
Adrian.
Julian.
Patrick.
Two did not.
Names hidden.
Beneficiaries coded.
A-4.
E-5.
I stared at them.
"More?"
Owen nodded.
"Possibly."
"Where?"
"One trust paid tuition in California."
"Other?"
"London."
"Current ages?"
"Approximately thirty-two and thirty-five."
Dad looked exhausted.
"How many lives did this man build around revenge?"
Rebecca answered quietly.
"As many as he needed."
But then forensic accountants found something else.
The two unknown trusts weren't connected to Daniel's children.
They were connected to mine.
I had no children.
That was why the discovery made no sense.
Beneficiary surname:
Mercer.
My stomach dropped.
"Julian?"
He looked as confused as I felt.
"What?"
Owen turned the screen.
Two education accounts.
Created nine years ago.
The year we married.
One beneficiary born ten years earlier.
Another seven years earlier.
Julian went pale.
"No."
I stared at him.
"Do you have children?"
"No."
"Think carefully."
"I don't."
"Before me?"
"No."
Margaret laughed bitterly.
"Apparently Daniel lied to everyone."
Rebecca leaned closer.
"Who created the trusts?"
"David Corwin."
Daniel.
One beneficiary name appeared after legal unsealing.
Emily Mercer.
Julian froze.
"Emily?"
"You know her?"
He sat.
"My cousin."
"Your cousin?"
"My mother's niece."
"Age?"
"Thirty-five."
"Why would Daniel fund her?"
Julian stared.
"I don't know."
Second name:
Aaron Mercer.
Julian's face went white.
"That's Emily's brother."
I frowned.
"So not Daniel's children."
"No."
Rebecca looked at the dates.
"Maybe not beneficiaries."
"What?"
"Custodians."
We dug deeper.
The actual beneficial interests were hidden.
Then Miriam found the key.
Both trusts converted automatically upon the death of Daniel Cross.
To named successor holders.
Emily Mercer.
Aaron Mercer.
Not money.
Shares.
Meridian Crown shares.
My blood chilled.
"How much?"
Miriam swallowed.
"Forty percent combined."
Adrian looked stunned.
"Daniel doesn't own Meridian."
"Not fully."
"He distributed it."
"Why?"
Rebecca whispered:
"Succession."
Daniel wasn't planning a single revenge.
He was building an organization that survived him.
A network.
Family members.
Loyalists.
Hidden equity.
The war was designed to continue after his death.
Unless we dismantled it.
Legally.
Financially.
Publicly.
Completely.
I looked at Miriam.
"Can we unwind Meridian?"
"With fraud findings, possibly."
"How long?"
"Years."
"Can we freeze it?"
"Some assets."
"Do it."
"Already moving."
Julian looked at me.
"Emily and Aaron don't know."
"You sure?"
"No."
"Then find out."
Owen did.
Emily answered in Seattle.
Aaron in London.
Both claimed ignorance.
Bank records supported them.
Daniel had used their names without telling them.
More tools.
More people turned into containers for his war.
By evening, I understood the real legacy of Daniel Cross.
Not revenge.
Control through secrets.
He gave everyone just enough information to act.
Never enough to understand.
I was done playing his game.
I called a press conference for Monday.
Dad stared at me.
"Public?"
"Everything."
"Elena."
"Everything that can legally be disclosed."
"Bellavere will take a hit."
"Yes."
"The family will take a hit."
"Yes."
"You will."
"Yes."
Rebecca smiled faintly.
Adrian nodded.
Julian looked at me.
"Do it."
I stared.
"You'll be exposed."
"I know."
"Fraud."
"Yes."
"Affairs."
He laughed sadly.
"Those too?"
"If relevant."
"Fair."
Thomas would be charged.
Margaret too.
Grant.
Patrick.
Possibly Daniel.
My mother would give a sworn statement about the accident cover-up.
Dad would disclose his unauthorized transfers.
No more selective truth.
At 9:30 p.m., Daniel requested to see me.
He was in federal custody.
I went.
He sat behind glass.
Older now.
Smaller.
He picked up the phone.
"You think confession saves you."
"No."
"Then why do it?"
"Because it stops you."
He smiled.
"You can't stop an idea."
"You're not an idea."
"Revenge is."
"Maybe."
I leaned closer.
"But secrets need darkness."
His smile faded.
"And I'm turning on every light."
He stared at me.
Then whispered:
"You still haven't found the fifth account."
My pulse shifted.
"What fifth account?"
He smiled.
"Ask Julian about Vienna."
The line disconnected.
I left without reacting.
But when I reached the hallway, Julian was waiting.
I looked at him.
"Vienna."
His face changed.
There it was.
Another secret.
"Elena."
"What happened in Vienna?"
He closed his eyes.
"I was hoping he wouldn't use that."
"Use what?"
Julian looked at me.
Then said:
"We had a child."
My entire body went cold.
"What?"
He swallowed.
"You were pregnant."
"I know."
The miscarriage.
Seven years ago.
One of the worst months of my life.
He continued.
"The hospital told us we lost the baby."
My breath stopped.
"No."
Julian's face broke.
"Daniel told me later that wasn't true."
I stared at him.
"No."
"Elena."
"Don't."
"The child survived."
I backed away.
"No."
"He arranged the records."
"No."
"He took our daughter."
Everything inside me shattered.
May you like
And for the first time since this nightmare began, revenge no longer mattered.
Because somewhere in the world, the daughter I had mourned for seven years might still be alive.
