Chapter 10 - Serena’s Confession
Serena had a deep cut across her left shoulder.
Bruises covered her wrists.
Doctors found traces of a sedative in her bloodstream.
She claimed she had been abducted after leaving Bellhaven.
Investigators were skeptical.
Julian was not allowed into her room immediately.
Elena was.
Serena laughed when she saw her.
“Of course they sent you.”
“Nobody sent me.”
“Julian?”
“Outside.”
Serena looked disappointed.
Elena sat beside the bed.
“Who hurt you?”
Serena stared at the ceiling.
“You won’t believe me.”
“Try.”
“A man named Adrian Vale.”
Elena’s expression remained neutral.
“Your former husband.”
Serena turned toward her sharply.
“You found Caroline.”
“Yes.”
Serena laughed once.
“Then you’ve found almost everything.”
“Almost?”
Serena closed her eyes.
“I didn’t forge your signature.”
Elena waited.
“I paid someone to forge it.”
“That distinction will impress prosecutors.”
“I’m serious.”
“Who?”
“Adrian.”
“Why?”
“Because he promised the mineral rights could be acquired legally once the trust transferred.”
“You married Julian to control the trust?”
Serena stared at her.
“At first?”
Elena’s stomach tightened.
Serena continued.
“I met Julian intentionally.”
The words hit even though Elena expected them.
“I knew who he was. I knew Henry had supported me after my father disappeared. I wanted answers.”
“And then?”
Serena’s eyes became wet.
“I fell in love with him.”
Elena said nothing.
“You think that’s impossible.”
“I think love does not excuse what you did.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
Serena looked away.
“My father vanished because of this family.”
“Victor died saving Henry.”
“That’s the story.”
“What is the truth?”
Serena’s jaw tightened.
“Victor wasn’t my father.”
Elena froze.
Serena continued.
“My mother lied.”
“Then who was?”
“I don’t know.”
“You investigated Bellhaven for years and never found out?”
“I found one possibility.”
“Who?”
Serena looked directly at Elena.
“Henry.”
For several seconds Elena could hear only the hospital monitor.
“No.”
“Exactly what I said.”
“No.”
“I found payments to my mother beginning before Victor died.”
“Henry supported many people.”
“Letters too.”
Elena stood.
“You are lying.”
“I wish I were.”
Serena reached toward the bedside drawer.
The investigator allowed her to remove a folded photocopy.
She handed it to Elena.
A letter from Henry to Patricia Hale.
Dated March 1993.
Patricia,
I cannot keep living with what happened.
Elena deserves the truth.
But if I tell her now, everything will collapse.
Protect the child.
I will provide whatever is needed.
H.
Elena read it slowly.
Then again.
The room seemed to tilt.
Serena watched her.
“I found that when I was twenty-seven.”
Elena whispered, “A letter proves nothing.”
“I know.”
“Did you take a DNA test?”
Serena hesitated.
“Yes.”
Elena stopped breathing.
“With Julian.”
“What?”
“I secretly submitted samples before we married.”
Elena felt sick.
“And?”
“We are not siblings.”
Relief came so quickly Elena hated herself for feeling it.
Serena continued.
“But Henry was cremated, so I couldn’t test him.”
“Then you know nothing.”
“I know Patricia received money from him before Victor died.”
Elena folded the letter.
“I want the original.”
“Adrian has it.”
“Why?”
“He has everything.”
“Where?”
Serena laughed bitterly.
“You think Adrian financed me because he believed in the resort?”
“He wanted the lithium.”
“No.”
Serena shook her head.
“He wants whatever is beneath the lithium.”
Elena frowned.
“That makes no sense.”
“That is what I thought.”
Serena leaned closer.
“Marker 17 wasn’t created for the mineral deposit.”
“Then what?”
“There’s another chamber.”
Elena remembered Thomas describing the 1994 accident.
“What kind?”
“Nobody knows.”
“Adrian does.”
Serena’s breathing quickened.
“He kept asking me about something Henry called Harbor Vault.”
Elena had never heard the phrase.
“He said the lithium was a distraction.”
“From what?”
Serena whispered:
“A sealed archive created before White Harbor Chemical ever existed.”
A knock came at the door.
The investigator entered.
“Mrs. Brooks, we need to stop.”
Serena grabbed Elena’s hand.
For the first time, arrogance vanished entirely.
“If Adrian thinks you know where Harbor Vault is, he will kill you.”
Elena pulled her hand free.
“You humiliated me in my home.”
Serena’s eyes filled with shame.
“I know.”
“You stole my identity.”
“I know.”
“You manipulated my son.”
Serena whispered, “Yes.”
“And now you expect me to trust you?”
“No.”
Serena looked toward the doorway where Julian’s shadow was visible through the glass.
“I expect you to save him from what I started.”
Elena walked toward the door.
Behind her, Serena said one final thing.
“Ask Thomas who Patricia Hale really was.”
May you like
Elena stopped.
But she did not turn around.
