Chapter 8 - THE OTHER CHILD
Julian assumed Thomas meant Vanessa.
DNA made that impossible if the trust related to Adrian's biological child.
Mara knew of no other child.
Eleanor said nothing.
Julian noticed.
"What do you know?"
Eleanor looked sick.
"Your father had a daughter."
Mara stared at her.
Eleanor explained that before marrying Mara, Adrian had a relationship with Claire Hart.
Claire became pregnant.
The child was born and placed privately with relatives.
Years later Claire married Douglas and had Vanessa.
Adrian created the child account for his first daughter.
Vanessa was not that daughter.
She was the younger half-sister of the unknown beneficiary.
Now Vanessa's connection to the trust became clear.
If her older half-sister was dead or could not be found, Vanessa might claim some rights through Claire's estate.
But why marry Julian?
Access.
To Vale records.
To Adrian's private papers.
To the family itself.
Vanessa had spent years positioning herself near the trust.
Julian felt violated in a new way.
Had she ever loved him?
He confronted her privately.
She did not deny knowing about the child account.
"I found it after my mother died."
"When?"
"Nine years ago."
"You met me eight years ago."
Vanessa held his gaze.
That was answer enough.
Julian's anger turned cold.
"You targeted me."
"At first."
The honesty surprised him.
Vanessa continued.
"Then I loved you."
"Enough to hit my mother?"
Vanessa's face tightened.
"Mara told me she was going to expose my father, destroy my claim, and ruin everything I spent years trying to understand."
"So you beat her."
"I lost control."
It was the first direct admission.
Not enough for the larger crimes.
Enough to end any doubt about the wedding.
Julian asked who Vanessa's older half-sister was.
Vanessa claimed she did not know.
Mara doubted her.
Thomas Bell called again.
This time he arranged a meeting.
Before Julian arrived, police found Thomas unconscious in his car after an apparent overdose.
He survived.
At the hospital, he whispered one name.
"Rose."
No surname.
No explanation.
Julian searched Adrian's files for Rose.
Nothing.
Eleanor remembered a Rose Bennett, a young nurse who worked briefly at the private clinic where Mara was held.
Mara remembered her too.
Rose had been kind.
Too kind.
She smuggled letters out for Mara.
Then disappeared.
Julian found public records.
Rose Bennett had died twelve years earlier.
But she had a daughter.
A woman named Caroline Bennett.
Age thirty-five.
Same age as Vanessa.
Julian found a photograph.
Caroline had dark hair and Adrian's unmistakable eyes.
The child account likely belonged to her.
Before Julian could contact her, Vanessa did.
Caroline received an offer.
Ten million dollars in exchange for signing away any claim to the trust.
Caroline refused.
Then someone sent police evidence suggesting Caroline had stolen money from her employer.
She was arrested the next morning.
May you like
Vanessa had found the missing heir—
and immediately built a cage around her.
