Chapter 8 - green hollow)
Green Hollow was not a hospital.
It was a private residential facility hidden in the Vermont mountains.
Officially, it specialized in long-term neurological rehabilitation and protected living arrangements for wealthy clients.
Unofficially, it was the kind of place where privacy cost more than most houses.
Daniel found the payments.
Every three months.
Always routed through a legal trust.
The beneficiary was listed as R.M.
Rebecca Marlowe.
My mother.
Alive.
For seven years, I had visited an empty grave.
For seven years, Dominic had watched me leave flowers there.
For seven years, he had held me when I cried.
I vomited in Victor's bathroom.
Then I washed my face and told Daniel we were going to Vermont.
Adrian objected.
"Dominic's competency hearing is tomorrow afternoon."
"My mother is alive."
"We don't know her condition."
"Exactly."
"Elena."
"If you want me in court tomorrow, get me to Vermont tonight."
Daniel arranged a helicopter.
We landed forty minutes from Green Hollow shortly before dawn.
The director tried to refuse entry.
I placed my mother's photograph on his desk.
"I'm Rebecca Marlowe's daughter."
His expression changed.
"I'm afraid I can't discuss residents."
Daniel placed a court document beside the photograph.
Adrian had obtained an emergency order during the flight.
The director read it.
Then he looked at me.
"Ms. Marlowe has not used that name here."
"What name does she use?"
"Rebecca Vale."
"Is she alive?"
"Yes."
The word nearly broke me.
"Is she conscious?"
"Yes."
"Does she know who she is?"
"Yes."
"Does she know who I am?"
The director looked uncomfortable.
"Yes."
That hurt more than anything.
"Then why hasn't she contacted me?"
"I think you should ask her."
We walked through a quiet building toward a glass conservatory.
My mother was sitting beside a window.
Older.
Thinner.
Her hair completely gray.
But unmistakably her.
I stopped.
She looked up.
The book fell from her hands.
"Elena."
I could not move.
My mother stood.
She covered her mouth.
I had imagined seeing her again a thousand times since learning she might be alive.
I imagined running to her.
Crying.
Holding her.
Instead I said, "You let me bury you."
She began to cry.
"I know."
"Seven years."
"I know."
"You knew where I was."
"Yes."
"You knew I thought you were dead."
"Yes."
My anger arrived so fast it frightened me.
"Why?"
She looked toward Daniel.
"Alone."
He left.
I remained standing.
My mother sat again.
"Twenty-one years ago, I helped expose fraud on Victor's waterfront project."
"I know."
"The contractor was not acting alone."
"Who else?"
"Victor's company."
I stared at her.
She continued.
"Not Victor personally. Two executives. One was Dominic's godfather. Victor discovered it only after I went to regulators."
"Why does that matter now?"
"Because I kept copies of everything."
She folded her hands.
"Years later, Dominic found out."
"How?"
"Victor told him part of the story."
"Why would Dominic care?"
"Because one of the executives was still on the DeLuca board. Dominic was using him to move money."
Helix.
My mother nodded when I said the name.
"I discovered the first transfers before Victor did."
"Seven years ago?"
"Yes."
"Then why fake your death?"
Her face tightened.
"Because someone tried to kill me."
The room went silent.
"What?"
"My car brakes were cut."
My breath disappeared.
"The accident."
"It wasn't the accident you were told about. I realized the brakes were failing before I reached the highway. I left the road deliberately. The car rolled."
"Dominic told me you died at the scene."
"I was taken to a small hospital under another patient's identity because Victor's security team got to me first."
"Victor knew?"
"Eventually."
"Dominic?"
My mother looked at me.
"Dominic arranged the attack."
Everything inside me became cold.
Jessica had said he didn't kill her.
Technically, she had been right.
"He tried to kill you."
"Yes."
"Then why did Victor's journal say Dominic was protecting you?"
"Because Dominic told him someone else ordered it."
"Who?"
"Jessica's father."
I frowned.
"Jessica's father was already dead."
"Exactly."
Dominic blamed a dead man.
Of course he did.
"Why didn't Victor tell me?"
"Because I begged him not to."
"Why?"
"Because Dominic threatened you."
My mother started crying.
"He sent photographs. You leaving work. You shopping. You sleeping beside the windows in your old apartment. He told me that if I contacted you, the next accident would involve you."
I sat down because my legs could no longer hold me.
"He showed me photographs of you every month for two years."
My mother reached for my hand.
I pulled away.
"I thought staying dead kept you safe."
"It kept me married to him."
Her face collapsed.
"I know."
"Victor knew too."
"Not all of it."
"When did he learn?"
"About eight months ago."
Seven months.
Around the time he began investigating Helix.
Victor had finally connected everything.
I looked at my mother.
"Do you have proof?"
She stood slowly.
From beneath her sweater, she pulled a thin chain.
A small key hung from it.
"That is why Dominic never stopped paying for this place."
"What does it open?"
"The one thing Victor could never find."
May you like
She looked toward the mountains outside.
"The original recording of Dominic ordering my death."
