Chapter 14 - Victoria’s Real Target
Police located Victoria before she could leave the state.
She insisted the preschool photograph wasn’t a threat.
“It was proof.”
Proof she could reach Ariel.
Which sounded exactly like a threat.
Her attorney advised silence.
She ignored him.
Victoria had been trying to force Glen and Gabriel into opening the Voss estate litigation.
Why?
Because she had recently discovered their adoptive father’s will contained another fraud.
He had transferred most family assets into a trust naming the twins.
Victoria believed the adoption defects could invalidate that trust.
But Bell’s records were necessary.
She needed my mother’s archive.
“So you targeted my daughter.”
“I never intended to hurt Ariel.”
“You entered her medical information.”
“Yes.”
“You followed her.”
“Yes.”
“You impersonated Clara.”
“Yes.”
“Then stop dressing obsession as research.”
She finally shut up.
Then Victoria offered one useful fact.
Dr. Bell had not been acting alone recently.
He had a partner inside Lakeview Clinic.
Someone who accessed records after Bell retired.
Someone tied to my family.
The access log name:
Glen Hale.
My husband stared at it.
“It wasn’t me.”
This time I didn’t automatically believe or disbelieve.
We investigated.
The login occurred while Glen was in surgery for appendicitis two states away.
Impossible.
Someone cloned his credentials.
Who had biometric backup access?
Spouse.
Me.
My stomach dropped.
I had never used it.
But the system showed my fingerprint authorization.
Then Clara remembered something.
At the pool party setup that morning, I had fallen asleep in a lounge chair while relatives arrived.
Someone could have used my hand on my phone.
Who?
Security footage showed Ashley—my cousin, not previously central—borrowing my phone to “take photos.”
But she had no connection to Bell.
Then the footage showed someone else beside her.
My father.
He took the phone for nine seconds.
Dad went pale when confronted.
“I was checking a message.”
“What message?”
He broke.
Bell had been blackmailing him for years.
Not about my parentage.
About the trust.
Dad had secretly paid Bell to keep certain records buried because exposing them would also reveal Claire had known more than she admitted.
“What did Mom know?”
Dad looked at me.
“She knew Bell switched the sperm sample.”
My chest tightened.
“She knew before she died?”
“Yes.”
“And she didn’t tell you?”
“She did.”
“When?”
“The night of the crash.”
My mother was driving to confront Bell.
Not merely gather evidence.
She intended to publicly expose him.
Then Dad admitted the final piece.
He had begged her not to.
Because if Bell fell, their fertility records would become public.
Dad was ashamed of not being my biological father.
My mother went anyway.
The crash happened.
He spent thirty years blaming himself.
Then Victoria interrupted from the interview room.
“Richard still isn’t telling you why Claire was so desperate that night.”
Dad looked terrified.
Victoria smiled.
“Ask him what Bell told her about another child.”
I stared.
“What child?”
May you like
Dad whispered:
“Your twin.”
