Chapter 12: Collateral Damage

The silence in the bedroom was more suffocating than the air of the hospital I was at earlier. I sat on the edge of the bed, my fingers trembling as I collected the envelope from her and went through the content. The photo—an old shot of me and Louise Bennet at a vineyard in Lyon—looked like a confession.

"I didn't even know this existed," I said, my voice sounding empty and clueless in the big room. I took a step towards Serena, but she flinched and withdrew from me almost immediately, the yellowed envelope crumpling as he held it tight to her chest.

"It has your signature, Edward," she said, her voice heavy with a pain that sliced right through my shield. "It has the Vance seal. And it’s dated ten years ago. All this time... am I just a mistress or a distraction from your boring and cold life? Is this 'contract' we signed just a cover-up for a legal mess you never cleaned up?"

"No! Serena, look at me." I immediately knelt down in front of her, reaching for her hands, but she moved away from me to the other side of the king-sized bed. "I was at the office all night because Michael told me my mother had lied to Eleanor. I was on the phone with a solicitor in London until dawn. That document in your hand? It’s a forgery. Something Lily came up with in order to control my life and my late father’s will."

A weak, broken laugh escaped Serena's lips. "A forgery? Edward, you’re a lawyer. You’re a man who lives by the letter of the law. You’re telling me that someone went to the trouble of faking a decade-old marriage in France just to... what? Why would anyone do this?"

"To keep me under my mother’s thumb," I yelled, the frustration finally getting the better part of me. I stood up, pacing the room because the thought of what Lily did is just beginning to hit me and made me realize I might lose my marriage with Serena. "My father left a contract. I don't get control of the Vance assets until I’m married. My mother didn't want me to marry Eleanor because she would lose her power. So she created a 'wife' that didn't exist to scare Eleanor away. And now, she’s using it to drive you away too."

Serena stood up, the paper dropping to the floor. "And Louise Bennet? The girl in the photo? Did she just happen to be there?"

"I met her once, Serena. Once! At a family getaway with both our families ten years ago, we barely spoke, and she persuaded me into taking that photo as a courtesy. She was the daughter of my father's partner and best friend—Gabriel Bennet. I didn’t know it was a setup all along. My mother took that one moment and built a decade of lies out of it."

I grabbed my laptop from my bag and opened the email Goodwill had sent. "Look. Look at the ink density analysis. Look at the payment trail. The Bennet family has been paying to keep this fake record alive in the archives. They wanted in on the Vance fortune just as much as my mother wanted to keep it."

Serena leaned over the screen, her eyes scanning the technical data. For a long minute, she didn't speak. The "sunshine" in her eyes had been replaced by a cold, investigative focus. She was a survivor, and she was looking for the trap.

"If this is a lie," she said slowly, looking back at me, "then who sent it to me? Who wants me to see this today, of all days?"

"My mother," I said, the realization finally hitting me in my stomach. "She knew Michael would talk. She knew I’d find the trail. She sent this to you as a fail-safe. If I found the truth, she wanted to make sure you’d already be gone by the time I got home."

Serena looked at the document on the floor, then back at me. "She thinks I’m a transaction, Ed. She thinks I’ll see this, get scared of a legal battle, and take her ten million dollars to run away."

"Are you?" I asked, my heart pounding against my ribs. "Are you going to run?"

Serena stood up and walked over to where I was standing; I could feel her breath on my face. She didn't look like a girl from the valley anymore. She looked like a woman who had just realized she was in a war.

"I spent twenty-two years watching people break their promises, Edward. I’ve seen my parents sign papers that took away our home, our car, and our dignity. I know what a lie looks like on paper." She reached out, her hand resting over my heart. "But I also know what truth feels like. And last night... last night wasn't a sham."

I let out my breath without realizing I'd been holding it, pulling her into my arms. I buried my face in her hair, the scent of lavender finally calming the storm in my mind. "I won't let them win, Serena. I’m going to take every legal resource I have and burn their 'contract' to the ground."

"Wait," Serena pulled back, her eyes tracing the document on the floor. "If the Bennets were paying to keep this alive... does that mean Louise is coming to Oaktown?"

I’m not sure, but I doubt Louise knows anything about the forged marriage contract. I believe the plan was between my mother and Louise’s father just to keep their grip over my father’s legacy.

I promise I’m going to get to the root of this Serena. I won’t let anything come between us.

I need to head to the hospital in a bit; Eleanor is in a coma, and she’s the only witness I have to build a strong case against my mom and the Bennets.

Just as Serena was about to ask why Eleanor was in the hospital, the phone in the kitchen buzzed, and there came a sharp female voice.

Hi Edward, it’s Louise. I’m currently in berkelene for the weekend with my parents; I’d really love to see you. There’s a lot we need to talk about.