Chapter 10 - Victor's version of the truth)
Victor surrendered two days later.
Not to Westbridge police.
To a federal attorney.
His lawyer demanded immunity negotiations before he would speak.
Daniel wanted to punch him.
Alvarez prevented it.
Victor sat across from Daniel in a secure conference room.
He looked exhausted.
"You're angry."
Daniel stared at him.
"You let me bury the wrong woman."
Victor's face tightened.
"I didn't know which sister died until months later."
"You knew Mara had a twin."
"Yes."
"You knew Lila had a twin."
Victor hesitated.
"Yes."
Daniel lunged forward.
Alvarez grabbed him.
"You knew I had another daughter?"
"I knew a second child existed. I didn't know she was yours."
"You expect me to believe that?"
"No. I expect you to listen."
Victor claimed he became involved with Hollow Creek Holdings at twenty-two.
Their father used the company for confidential investments.
Later Victor discovered hidden payments tied to Project Juniper.
At first he believed Robert was responsible.
Then he discovered someone else had control.
Thomas Reed.
Marcus's uncle.
Daniel looked at Marcus.
Marcus said nothing.
Victor continued.
"Thomas wasn't an innocent caretaker. He was moving genetic files."
Marcus's jaw tightened.
"You have proof?"
"Yes."
"Then why did he die?"
"Because he tried to stop."
Victor said Thomas discovered children were being reassigned through falsified documents.
Some went to wealthy families.
Others disappeared into private adoption networks.
Sophie had been one of them.
Someone at the clinic separated her from Lila.
Years later, Mara found her.
"Who ordered the separation?" Daniel asked.
Victor looked at him.
"Our father."
Daniel's anger disappeared into shock.
"Why?"
"I never learned."
Victor claimed Robert became horrified by the consequences of Project Juniper and tried to undo it.
That was when he contacted Evelyn.
Not to expose her.
To recruit her.
Evelyn and Mara began working together.
Victor joined them later.
Daniel laughed bitterly.
"So all of you were secretly protecting my family except me?"
Victor looked ashamed.
"You were the one person Mara wanted outside it."
"Why?"
"Because she loved you."
Daniel nearly struck him again.
Victor continued.
"The night she disappeared, we had a plan. Mara would move Sophie. Evelyn would move Lila. I would create a false trail."
"But Lila ended up with Jonathan Hayes."
"Because someone intercepted Evelyn."
"Who?"
Victor looked toward the observation window.
"I don't know."
Daniel stared.
"Convenient."
"Evelyn arrived late and found the children already moved. She believed I betrayed her."
"Then why did her body end up in Mara's car?"
Victor's face darkened.
"Because she tried to meet Mara."
"What happened?"
"I found the car burning."
"Did you start the fire?"
"No."
"Did you put Evelyn in it?"
"No."
Daniel studied him.
"Why did you run from my wedding?"
Victor glanced at Alvarez.
Then back at Daniel.
"Because Mara contacted me that morning."
Daniel's heart stopped.
"How?"
"A burner phone."
"What did she say?"
"She said Eli was coming."
Victor swallowed.
"She said once Lila saw him, she might remember everything."
"Why did that make you run?"
"Because she also said the person responsible would be at your wedding."
Daniel went cold.
"Who?"
"She wouldn't tell me."
"Then why leave?"
"Because she told me if Lila spoke, I would be blamed."
Daniel remembered Eli pointing.
Don't let that man leave.
"Why would Mara frame you?"
Victor shook his head.
"She wasn't framing me. She was warning me."
Daniel leaned closer.
"About whom?"
Victor looked genuinely frightened.
"Someone wanted you to chase me."
The room fell silent.
Daniel thought about every assumption made since the wedding.
Victor fleeing.
The emerald ring.
The old house.
Every clue pointed toward him.
Perhaps too neatly.
"Who owns Hollow Creek Holdings now?" Daniel asked.
Victor smiled bitterly.
"That's the question I've spent nine years trying to answer."
"Records show you."
"Records are false."
"Then who?"
Victor reached into his attorney's folder.
He placed a photocopy on the table.
A signature.
Daniel recognized it.
Claire Bennett.
Daniel stared.
"No."
Victor leaned back.
"The controlling shareholder is the Bennett Family Trust."
Daniel's chest tightened.
Claire's father had died fifteen years earlier.
Her mother died when she was a teenager.
The Bennett fortune funded children's charities.
Including Project Juniper.
Daniel whispered.
"Claire doesn't know."
Victor looked at him.
"Maybe."
Daniel glared.
"You accused her at the house?"
"I accused nobody."
"The message said ask Claire what happened."
"Not from me."
Daniel froze.
Victor's phone had been cloned.
Someone else sent the text.
A new possibility emerged.
Claire might not have been working with Hollow Creek.
She might have inherited it without knowing.
May you like
Which meant the mystery was older than any of them.
And someone had spent years making sure every survivor distrusted the others.
