Chapter 13: Two Truths And A Lie

I felt a cold shiver run down my spine as I heard the voice on the phone. Louise Bennet. The girl from the vineyards in France, the fake bride my mother used to haunt my life with, was in Berklene.

"Edward?" Serena’s voice pulled me back from my thoughts. She was looking at the phone, her face filled with worry.

"It’s her," I said, setting the phone down with a hand that refused to stop shaking. "She’s at the estate.

I thought Serena would be angry; I thought she would pull away again or question why Louise was calling me "Edward" with such familiarity. Instead, she walked over to me and held my face in her hands. Her grip was firm.

"She’s not just a player in this crazy game your mother is playing, Ed," Serena said. "She’s a clue. If Louise is here, she has the answers we need. We don't solve this by running. We solve it by being smarter than your mother."

"You want us to work together on this?" I asked.

"I’m your wife, Edward. Contract or no contract, I’m the one standing next to you." She looked at the photo on the floor and then back at me. "We’re going to build a case that even Lily Vance can’t pay her way out of."

"First, I need to see Eleanor," I said. "If someone sent that letter to you, they might try to silence the only person who knows the truth about the day she left."

We reached Stanley’s Heart Hospital in time. The atmosphere in the ICU waiting room was thick with a new kind of tension. Michael was standing by the glass doors, his face pale, his chest beating as if he’d just run a marathon. Security guards were swarming the hallway.

"What happened?" I asked, grabbing Michael by the shoulder.

"Someone tried to kill her, Ed!" Michael shouted, his voice trembling. "I went to get a coffee, and when I came back, there was a man in her room. He was messing with her IV, trying to inject something into the line. If I hadn't walked in when I did, she’d be dead."

Serena gasped. "Did you catch him?"

"No," Michael said, running a hand through his messy hair. "He shoved me and disappeared into the stairwell. He was wearing a lab coat, but he wasn't a doctor. He had a tattoo on his wrist—a small, black skull, Edward."

I felt the blood in my veins boiling. My mother wouldn't just forge papers; she was willing to commit murder to keep her secrets buried.

"She’s terrified," I whispered. "Eleanor knows something that would destroy Lily’s hold over the estate. We have to move her. She isn't safe here."

"I’ve already spoken to the head of security," Michael said, his eyes turned to me. "She’s under 24-hour guard now. But you... you need to figure out why your mother is so desperate to keep her quiet."

I looked at Serena. She was staring at Eleanor through the glass, her expression one of deep sympathy. "It’s not just about a fake marriage," Serena murmured. "It’s about what happened ten years ago that Lily is still hiding."

We spent the rest of the afternoon in my private study at the penthouse, surrounded by files, laptops, and the smell of strong coffee. Serena was a natural. She had spent her life navigating the complex lies of debt collectors and landlords; she could spot a discrepancy in a document faster than my senior associates.

"Look at this," she said, pointing to a digital scan of my father’s original will. "The clause about your marriage. It doesn't say you have to be married to a socialite. It just says you have to be married to someone who 'understands the value of the Vance legacy.'"

"My mother interpreted that as someone from the inner circle," I said.

"But look at the signatures on the maintenance fees for the French archives," Serena continued, her eyes lighting up. "The payments from 'Bennet Holdings' started ten years ago. They started just six months after your father’s funeral. "So the marriage has been 'pending' for ten years."

"Exactly," Serena said. "Your mother created a fake wife in order to make Eleanor look like a mistress and me look like a fraud."

I stared at the screen. The logic was perfect. It was a double-blind study. My mother had played everyone.

"We have the proof," I said with grim satisfaction. "The forged digital stamps... we can take her down."

"Not yet," Serena said, grabbing her coat. "We need Louise. If she’s in Berklene, she’s the final piece of the puzzle. She needs to tell us who approached her to sign those papers."

"I’m not letting you go to that estate alone," I said, standing up.

"I’m not going alone," Serena replied. "We’re going together. As Mr. and Mrs. Vance."

The drive to Berklene was silent; the air was so tensed. As we pulled into the long, moonlit driveway of the estate, the limestone walls of the castle looked like white bone against the dark trees.

We were welcomed by Lily’s butler—Simone.

He showed us to the living room where Lily was seated with Louise Bennet, a woman I hadn't seen in a decade. She hasn’t aged a day.

"Edward," Lily said, her voice smooth and dangerous. "I told Louise you’d be coming. She’s been so eager to see you..."

I stepped forward, Serena’s hand firmly in mine. "The only reason we’re here, Mother, is for you to explain the attempted murder at Stanley’s Heart Hospital."

Lily’s smile didn't disappear, but Louise’s face went ghost-white. She looked at my mother, then back at me, her lips trembling.

"Murder?" Louise whispered. "You told me we were just protecting the assets. You didn't say anything about... oh god, Edward, I didn't sign those papers for the money."

"Then why did you do it, Louise?" I asked.

Louise looked at my mother, with fear. "Because she told me that if I didn't, she’d make sure my father’s bankruptcy went public. She blackmailed me into being your 'wife' on paper."

"That’s enough, Louise," Lily snapped, her voice like a whip. "Edward, don't listen to this girl. She’s unstable."

"I have the evidence, Lily," I said. "I have the digital trail. It’s over."

Lily laughed softly. She reached into the pocket of her gown and brought out a small, leather-bound notebook.

"Is it, Edward? You think a few digital timestamps can shake me? You’ve always been so focused on the law that you forget about the secrets." She turned her eyes to Serena, a condescending look in her eyes. "Tell me, Serena... did Edward ever tell you how his father died?"

The world stopped. I felt Serena’s hand go cold in mine as she stared at my mother in confusion.

"What?" Serena whispered.

"Your father wasn't just a man who worked with his hands, dear." Lily smiled. "He was a man who worked for the Bennets. And ten years ago, he was paid a very large sum of money to make sure my husband never made it to that merger meeting with GABRIEL BENNET."