PART 4: TWENTY YEARS OF LIES
I didn’t speak for several minutes.
Eleanor stared at the ceiling.
Finally, I asked:
“Tell me everything.”
She closed her eyes.
“Twenty years ago, Julian wasn’t the man you thought he was.”
“I know that now.”
“No. You don’t.”
She swallowed.
“Before your wedding, Julian had already been stealing from the family.”
I listened.
“He had debts. Gambling debts. Business debts. He owed people money.”
“Why did you marry him?”
“Because I loved him.”
I looked away.
“He wasn’t my son yet. He was my husband’s son from his first marriage.”
I remembered.
Eleanor had become Julian’s stepmother when he was fourteen.
She had raised him.
Loved him.
Defended him.
And he had repaid her by destroying the family.
“But Sophie?”
Eleanor took a trembling breath.
“When you were pregnant, Julian disappeared for several days.”
“I remember.”
“He told everyone he had a business emergency.”
“He did.”
“No.”
She looked at me.
“He met another woman.”
I closed my eyes.
“Was she the woman in Maui?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Eleanor hesitated.
“Her name was Claire.”
I searched my memory.
The name meant nothing.
“She worked for Julian’s company.”
Eleanor continued.
“Julian believed the child you were carrying might not be his.”
My heart broke.
“Why?”
“Because he knew about your relationship with someone before the marriage.”
I stared at her.
“My relationship?”
She nodded.
“You had an old friend named Daniel.”
My breath stopped.
Daniel.
I hadn’t spoken his name in decades.
Before Julian, there had been Daniel.
We had dated briefly.
We separated peacefully.
I met Julian afterward.
Daniel eventually moved overseas.
That was all.
At least, that was what I remembered.
“Daniel wasn’t Sophie’s father,” I whispered.
Eleanor shook her head.
“I know.”
“Then why did Julian think he was?”
“Because he wanted an excuse.”
“For what?”
“To justify what he planned to do.”
She explained that Julian had discovered Eleanor intended to leave a large portion of her estate to me.
He couldn’t tolerate it.
So he constructed a plan.
He would make me appear financially reckless.
He would create debts in my name.
He would isolate me from Eleanor.
Then, after Eleanor died, he would claim that I had exploited her while she was vulnerable.
The affair wasn’t an accident.
It was part of the plan.
The Maui trip wasn’t simply an affair.
It was an alibi.
He wanted evidence that I had become unstable and jealous.
The woman on the phone had deliberately provoked me.
She wanted me to react.
To send angry messages.
To make accusations.
To create a record Julian could use against me.
I felt sick.
“They wanted me to look crazy.”
“Yes.”
“And the documents?”
“They were preparing to transfer the remaining debts into your name.”
I looked at Eleanor.
“Then why did you wait?”
“I needed proof.”
“You had proof.”
“Not enough.”
She pointed weakly toward the envelope.
“There is one final recording.”
I opened the flash drive.
There was a file I hadn’t seen.
FINAL_MEETING.
I played it.
Julian’s voice filled the room.
“Once Mother dies, Mara becomes the problem.”
Richard answered.
“She’ll fight.”
“She won’t have the money.”
“And Sophie?”
“She can stay with me.”
I froze.
Richard asked:
“What about the inheritance?”
Julian laughed.
“By the time Mara realizes what happened, everything will already be transferred.”
Then another voice entered.
The woman from Maui.
“And if she discovers the accounts?”
Julian replied:
“Then we use the affair.”
Silence.
“She’ll look vindictive.”
The woman laughed.
“And the old woman?”
Julian answered:
“She won’t survive long enough to tell anyone.”
I stopped the recording.
Eleanor was crying.
“He knew you were listening,” I whispered.
“No.”
She shook her head.
“He didn’t know I recorded him.”
Then the door opened.
A police officer entered.
Behind him was a woman in a dark suit.
“Mrs. Bennett?”
“Yes?”
“My name is Detective Alvarez.”
She looked at Eleanor.
“I’m sorry to disturb you.”
Then she turned to me.
“We’ve been investigating several financial crimes involving Julian Bennett.”
I stared at her.
“How long?”
“Almost a year.”
I felt my chest tighten.
“You knew?”
“We suspected.”
She handed me a folder.
“We couldn’t move without evidence.”
I looked down.
Inside were copies of bank records.
Corporate filings.
Wire transfers.
Forged signatures.
And photographs.
One photograph showed Julian meeting Richard.
Another showed the woman from Maui.
But the final photograph stopped me cold.
Julian was standing beside a man I hadn’t seen in twenty years.
Daniel.
I looked at Eleanor.
“What is this?”
She whispered:
“The last lie.”
Detective Alvarez looked confused.
“Who is Daniel?”
Eleanor closed her eyes.
“The man Julian believed was Sophie’s father.”
I stared at the photograph.
Then Detective Alvarez said:
“Mrs. Bennett, there’s something else.”
“What?”
She looked directly at me.
“We found evidence that Julian has been paying Daniel for years.”
My heart stopped.
“Paying him for what?”
She opened the folder.
“For silence.”
I couldn’t breathe.
“Silence about what?”
She answered quietly.
“The identity of Sophie’s biological father.”
