Chapter 16 - Richard Vale Returns
No one moved.
Richard stepped into the room.
He looked older than Nathan remembered.
Thinner.
More tired.
But unmistakably alive.
Ethan stared at him.
“You let everyone believe you were dead.”
Richard nodded.
“I needed Adrian to believe it too.”
Vanessa laughed in disbelief.
“Well, he knows.”
Richard’s expression changed.
“Yes.”
Nathan stepped forward.
“Where is Box C-17?”
Richard looked at him.
“Safe.”
“With you?”
“No.”
“Then where?”
Richard leaned on his cane.
“Your father designed a secondary vault beneath this clinic years ago.”
Nathan frowned.
“The abandoned clinic?”
Richard nodded.
“Margaret removed C-17 from the archive.”
Margaret stared.
“You knew?”
“I asked her to.”
Her face hardened.
“You could have told me you were alive.”
“I could not trust anyone.”
Margaret looked hurt.
“You trusted Charles with your son.”
Richard lowered his eyes.
“That was my greatest mistake.”
Adrian was his son.
The truth finally sat between them.
Nathan asked,
“Why did Adrian believe my father was his?”
“Because I let him.”
Vanessa stared.
“You let your own son spend his life believing another man abandoned him?”
Richard’s jaw tightened.
“I was a coward.”
No one argued.
Richard explained that Evelyn had threatened to tell Adrian the truth before her death.
She died before she could.
Afterward, Adrian found old letters from Charles.
He assumed Charles was his father.
Richard never corrected him.
Years later, Adrian discovered the Cole trust.
He became obsessed.
He decided Charles had hidden him to protect Nathan and Ethan’s inheritance.
“He wanted revenge.”
Nathan said.
Richard shook his head.
“Eventually it became more than revenge.”
“Money.”
“Power.”
Richard nodded.
“He wanted to take Cole Meridian and Vale International.”
Ethan frowned.
“How?”
“By creating scandals large enough to destabilize both companies.”
Nathan suddenly understood the offshore accounts.
“You moved the money.”
Richard looked ashamed.
“Years ago.”
“How much?”
“More than thirty million.”
Vanessa stared.
Richard continued.
“I hid it from my wife during our divorce.”
Nathan’s disgust was immediate.
“My father covered for you.”
“Yes.”
“And Adrian found the records.”
“Yes.”
“So he can expose you.”
“He can expose all of us.”
Nathan shook his head.
“No.”
“He can expose you.”
Richard looked at him.
Nathan continued.
“I’m not carrying your crimes because you were my father’s friend.”
Richard studied him.
Then he smiled faintly.
“You sound more like Charles than you realize.”
Nathan’s face hardened.
“I hope not.”
Ethan’s phone rang.
This time it was Cole Meridian’s general counsel.
Ethan answered.
His expression became grim.
“What happened?”
He listened.
Then looked toward Nathan.
“Adrian filed something early.”
Nathan felt his stomach tighten.
“What?”
Ethan ended the call.
“A petition claiming he is Charles Cole’s biological son.”
Richard closed his eyes.
Ethan continued.
“And he attached Vanessa’s sworn statement supporting the claim.”
Everyone turned toward her.
May you like
Vanessa stared in horror.
“I never signed anything.”
