Chapter 15 - Vivienne Finally Talks
Vivienne refused cooperation for six days.
On the seventh, she learned Jonathan had emptied an account containing money she believed was reserved for her defense.
She requested Marianne.
Not Clara.
Clara came anyway.
Vivienne sat behind glass.
Her elegance had vanished.
But not her pride.
“You look pleased.”
Clara sat.
“I don't feel pleased.”
“Then you're weaker than I thought.”
“No. I just don't need your suffering to heal mine.”
Vivienne stared at her.
For once, she had no prepared response.
Clara placed a photograph against the glass.
Isabelle.
Malcolm.
Outside the courthouse.
“Tell me what happened.”
Vivienne looked at it for a long time.
“My brother was brilliant.”
“That isn't what I asked.”
“He built Greyhaven.”
“And stole from it.”
Vivienne's jaw tightened.
“We were going to replace the money.”
Clara almost laughed.
Everyone who steals eventually invents a future version of themselves who planned to return it.
“Your mother found out,” Vivienne continued. “She wouldn't stop.”
“So you threatened her.”
“No.”
“Jonathan did?”
Vivienne looked away.
That was enough.
“Did he kill my mother?”
Vivienne's eyes snapped back.
“No.”
Clara's breath caught.
“Tell me the truth.”
“Isabelle died because she was ill. Whatever else my family did, we did not cause that.”
Clara hadn't realized how much she needed those words.
A piece of fear she had carried since finding Greyhaven loosened.
Vivienne continued.
“But Jonathan watched her. Frightened witnesses. Stole files.”
“And you helped.”
“Yes.”
“Why Adrian?”
“Years later, I learned Isabelle had transferred Greyhaven recovery rights into Halcyon.”
Vivienne swallowed.
“We needed control of the beneficiary.”
“You mean me.”
“Yes.”
“And you offered your son.”
“He agreed.”
The words still hurt.
But less now.
Vivienne looked at Clara with something almost like envy.
“I thought you were weak.”
“I know.”
“You were so eager to please.”
“I was kind.”
Vivienne said nothing.
“You mistook kindness for weakness the same way Adrian mistook my father's silence for powerlessness.”
Clara stood.
“That seems to be a family habit.”
Before leaving, she turned back.
“Where is Jonathan?”
Vivienne hesitated.
May you like
Then whispered:
“Go back to where Greyhaven began.”
