Chapter 13 - The Son Hélène Stole
DNA testing took forty-eight hours.
Those hours felt longer than the previous twenty-nine years.
Margaret stayed in a rented house outside Lyon.
Claire remained with her.
Luca spent most of his time walking through the vineyard.
He spoke little.
The possibility was unbearable.
If the records were correct, he might be Margaret’s half-brother.
That would make him Claire’s uncle.
Their engagement would become impossible.
Claire removed her ring but kept it in her pocket.
Neither of them discussed it.
When the results arrived, Inspector Mercier brought them personally.
Margaret, Claire, and Luca sat at the kitchen table.
Mercier placed the envelope before Margaret.
“You should prepare yourselves.”
Margaret opened it.
She read the first page.
Then the second.
Claire could not wait.
“What does it say?”
Margaret looked at Luca.
“You are not my brother.”
Claire gasped.
Luca closed his eyes.
Margaret continued.
“But you are related to me.”
“How?”
“The test shows you are my first cousin once removed.”
Mercier opened another file.
“Lucien Bastien Laurent was not the son of Isabelle Moreau-Laurent. The birth certificate was altered.”
“Whose son was he?” Luca asked.
Mercier placed an old photograph on the table.
It showed Margaret’s cousin, Céleste Laurent, at seventeen.
She had died in the château fire.
“Céleste gave birth secretly,” Mercier said. “The father’s identity was hidden. The child was placed with another family.”
Margaret remembered the official death count.
Her parents.
Céleste.
But if Céleste had already given birth, the Laurent bloodline had continued through her child.
“Lucien,” Margaret said.
Mercier nodded.
“Lucien Bastien Laurent grew up under another name. He later married a woman named Sabine Roche.”
“Did they have children?” Claire asked.
“One son.”
Mercier looked at Luca.
“You.”
The room became silent.
Luca stared at him.
“My parents are Philippe and Hélène.”
“Biologically, no.”
Luca pushed back from the table.
“No.”
Mercier continued gently.
“You were born in a clinic outside Marseille. Sabine Roche died during childbirth. Lucien disappeared three days later.”
“And Philippe?”
“Arrived at the clinic with legal documents transferring custody.”
Luca stood.
“Hélène gave birth to me.”
“No medical records support that.”
“I have photographs.”
“Staged photographs.”
Luca shook his head.
“My mother showed me scars.”
Margaret’s voice softened.
“Scars can come from many things.”
Luca turned away.
Claire rose and touched his arm.
He flinched.
“I need air.”
He left.
Claire followed him to the vineyard.
Margaret remained with Mercier.
“Why take him?” she asked.
“The Circle needed a controllable Laurent heir.”
“To inherit assets if I remained dead.”
“Yes.”
“And Claire?”
“Your direct daughter. A competing heir.”
“So they arranged for them to meet.”
Mercier nodded.
“A marriage between Luca and Claire would combine both Laurent claims under Beaumont influence.”
Margaret’s stomach turned.
“They planned their relationship.”
“Parts of it.”
“Did Luca know?”
“No evidence suggests he did.”
“What about Étienne?”
Mercier opened another folder.
“Étienne discovered Luca’s adoption.”
“That is why he was taken.”
“Likely.”
“Is he alive?”
Mercier hesitated.
“We found a financial record showing payments to a medical facility in northern Italy for a patient identified as E.B.”
Luca’s brother.
“After his supposed death?”
“For eleven years.”
Margaret looked toward the vineyard where Claire and Luca stood together.
“Then why did the payments stop last year?”
“The facility closed.”
“Where did the patients go?”
“No records.”
Margaret closed her eyes.
“Philippe may know.”
“He refuses to speak.”
“And Hélène?”
“She asked for you.”
Margaret looked up.
“She wants to see me?”
“She says she will tell you where Étienne is.”
“What does she want?”
“Protection.”
“From the Circle?”
Mercier nodded.
“She says someone inside the investigation belongs to them.”
Margaret studied him.
“Do you believe her?”
“I believe frightened people sometimes tell the truth for selfish reasons.”
“When can I see her?”
“Tonight.”
At the detention center, Hélène appeared smaller without silk dresses and jewelry.
She sat behind thick glass.
Margaret picked up the telephone.
Hélène did the same.
For several seconds, they stared at one another.
“You stole Luca,” Margaret said.
“I saved him.”
“From whom?”
“From the people who killed his father.”
“You served those people.”
“My family served them. That does not mean I had choices.”
“There is always a choice.”
Hélène laughed bitterly.
“You disappeared and let the rest of us burn.”
“My parents died.”
“And mine would have died if I refused.”
“Where is Étienne?”
Hélène looked toward the guard.
“Not here.”
“You promised information.”
“I want relocation and immunity.”
“You shot your husband.”
“I saved Claire.”
“You shot him because he was exposing you.”
Hélène’s eyes hardened.
“Both can be true.”
Margaret leaned toward the glass.
“Give me one reason to help you.”
Hélène’s expression changed.
“Because Étienne is alive.”
“Where?”
“I do not know his current location.”
“Then you know nothing.”
“I know who took him.”
“Who?”
Hélène whispered a name.
Margaret’s hand tightened around the phone.
“That is impossible.”
“No.”
“He died before the fire.”
“That is what your father wanted you to believe.”
Margaret stared at her.
Hélène smiled without warmth.
“The head of the Black Rose is not Philippe.”
Margaret’s voice became unsteady.
“Say the name again.”
May you like
Hélène leaned closer.
“Your uncle, Laurent Moreau.”
