All my life, Denise had claimed she met Mark at a church charity event two years after leaving Nathaniel.
That story had also been fabricated.
Elena slid another page toward me. “There is more. Your mother’s original custody filing included allegations that Nathaniel struck her and threatened to take you overseas. The police reports attached to the filing appear authentic, but the police department has no record of the incidents.”
“Forged?”
“Likely. We cannot state that conclusively until a forensic examiner reviews them.”
Richard continued, “Nathaniel’s lawyers discovered inconsistencies years ago, but Denise had already moved. Each time they located a possible address, someone warned her.”
“Mark?”
“We believe so. He had access to vendor databases and, later, credit-reporting systems through his work.”
I stared at the photograph of Nathaniel carrying me on his shoulders.
“Why didn’t he go public?”
“He feared publicity would drive your mother farther underground,” Richard explained. “He also feared humiliating you. Eventually, he became convinced that a quiet search was safer.”
Part of me wanted to hate him for remaining quiet. I wanted the situation to contain one obvious villain and one blameless victim.
Instead, I had a deceased father who had made serious mistakes, a mother who had constructed my childhood from lies, and an adoptive father who had viewed me as a burden until my existence became financially valuable.
Elena asked whether I wished to speak with Denise.
“Yes,” I said. “But only here.”
Denise came that afternoon without Mark. She seemed smaller than she had the previous night. For once, she carried no purse, no phone, and none of her usual armor.
Elena placed a recorder on the table and informed her that the entire conversation would be documented.
Denise nearly walked out.
Then she looked at me and lowered herself into a chair.
“I loved you,” she began.
“That isn’t an explanation.”
“Nathaniel loved the idea of being a father. He was rarely there. When you had pneumonia, he took a meeting in London. When I begged him to slow down, he told me the company would one day belong to you.”
“That doesn’t explain the money.”
Her lips pressed into a hard line.
“I believed I deserved security. I helped him when Ashford Maritime was still struggling. I hosted clients, moved for his work, raised you alone most weeks. Then the company became valuable, and he treated every dollar like proof that he was smarter than everyone.”
“So you stole it?”
“I took what I thought I was owed.”
“And the police reports?”
Her gaze shifted toward Elena.
“Answer me.”
“I was afraid he would use his money to take you.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
Denise shut her eyes. “Mark knew someone who could create documents.”
The confession seemed to remove all the air from the room.
“You told a court Nathaniel beat you.”
“He never hit me.”
“Did he threaten me?”
“No.”
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