Chapter 14 - Diane Cole
The photograph was dated nine years after Diane’s funeral.
Jack laughed because the alternative was screaming.
“My mother too?”
Marianne looked equally shaken.
“I saw her body.”
Open casket.
Natural illness.
Cancer.
No ambiguity.
Then the photograph was authenticated.
The woman looked like Diane.
But perhaps wasn’t.
Finally, someone asked the obvious question before building a conspiracy.
Could Diane have had a sister?
Yes.
Twin sister.
Jack and Marianne had never been told.
Her name was Evelyn Cole.
Separated from Diane after their parents divorced when the girls were six.
Evelyn grew up with their father in Arizona.
Diane with their mother in California.
The sisters later reunited privately.
Evelyn worked as a nurse.
Then for Warren Medical Ventures.
That explained her access.
Marcus had used Diane’s twin sister to make Ava comfortable during early medical visits because Evelyn resembled the grandmother Jack’s records showed.
Creepy.
Manipulative.
But not resurrection.
Evelyn was still alive.
She agreed to speak.
She admitted helping Marcus obtain Jack’s stored sample.
“I was told Jack consented.”
He had not.
“And Rachel’s eggs?”
“I was told those were legally donated.”
They were not.
Evelyn had been lied to too.
But she also ignored warning signs because Marcus paid her.
Again, responsibility without cartoon villainy.
Then the $22 million account.
Evelyn knew.
It came from a settlement.
Not for Ava.
For Natalie Warren.
Eric’s dead wife.
Before her death, Natalie discovered Marcus’s reproductive scheme.
She threatened to expose it.
Marcus paid David to silence the issue through legal pressure.
Natalie refused.
Then she later died in Marianne’s motel explosion.
Marcus did not cause the explosion.
But after Natalie died, he diverted money he had prepared for settlement into Ava’s trust.
Why?
Guilt.
Or concealment.
Maybe both.
Then Marianne finally went to authorities and confessed her role in the bombing.
She did not know Natalie entered the room.
But she had created an illegal destructive device.
Two people died.
Her “protection plan” had consequences.
Jack visited her before she surrendered.
“You could go to prison.”
“I know.”
“You saved Rachel.”
“And killed Natalie.”
Both true.
Jack hugged her anyway.
Love did not erase accountability.
Then David resurfaced.
Through an attorney.
He offered the Meridian ledger in exchange for immunity.
Authorities did not simply grant everything he wanted.
Negotiations began.
But David revealed one final fact.
Marcus wasn’t the person who ordered Jack’s motorcycle forced off the road.
Jonathan wasn’t.
David had.
Personally.
“Why?”
Not to kill Jack.
To see whether Lily would recognize him.
Jack stared at him across an interview-room table.
“That makes no sense.”
David explained.
Rachel had secretly shown Lily a photograph of Jack years earlier.
Not labeled.
Not explained.
David learned from a hacked family backup that the image existed.
He suspected Rachel had emotionally prepared Lily in case Jack ever returned.
The roadside accident created an uncontrolled encounter.
If Lily immediately recognized Jack, David would know Rachel had told her more than she admitted.
“She didn’t recognize me.”
“No.”
“So you endangered everyone for nothing.”
David looked ashamed for the first time.
“Yes.”
Then Jack asked:
“Why did you call her Elizabeth?”
David stared at him.
“Because that name wasn’t Rachel’s idea.”
“Whose?”
“Diane’s.”
Jack frowned.
“My mother?”
Before dying, Diane had created a sealed family trust.
Beneficiary:
Elizabeth Cole.
Not born yet.
Not even conceived.
Jack whispered:
“How could she name my daughter before Rachel got pregnant?”
May you like
David answered:
“Because Elizabeth wasn’t supposed to be Lily.”
