Chapter 6 - THE HIDDEN SON
DNA confirmed it.
Victor Hale was Eleanor Pierce's biological son.
Born when Eleanor was seventeen.
Thomas Pierce was the father.
The pregnancy had been hidden to protect Thomas's inheritance.
Victor was registered under Eleanor's sister's name and raised by relatives.
Years later Eleanor married Thomas and had Christopher.
The public heir.
Victor grew up watching his younger brother inherit the life he believed was his.
Eleanor secretly paid him for decades.
Contracts.
Investment money.
Board access.
Then Victor wanted legal control.
Hale Meridian Fund carried four hundred million dollars in hidden debt.
The proposed merger would dump that debt into Pierce Holdings.
Emma's shares blocked approval.
Anna discovered the merger structure.
Then she died.
Every generation of his family had erased someone to protect ownership.
First Victor.
Then Anna's evidence.
Now Emma.
Juliette admitted Victor recruited her before Eleanor did.
He told her the Pierces had stolen his life.
He trained her to resent Christopher before she met him.
"Did you know he was your father?"
Victor was not Juliette's father biologically.
That part had been another lie Victor told her to bind her emotionally.
Her actual father had died when she was a child.
Victor became a substitute father and used that dependence.
Juliette still chose to help him.
Still chose to push Emma.
Then Brooks found a second DNA comparison in Vale's files.
EMMA PIERCE / VICTOR HALE.
Relationship probability: paternal uncle.
Emma's sample could prove Victor was Thomas's son.
She blocked the merger and carried the DNA evidence that could expose him.
"They wanted her gone for two reasons."
Pierce Harbor Lodge had been entered.
Security cameras showed Eleanor inside.
Burning files.
Police surrounded the property.
Christopher arrived as smoke poured from the library chimney.
Eleanor stood beside the fireplace holding a folder labeled ANNA.
"You should have let this end at the pool."
"My daughter stopped breathing."
May you like
"She was never supposed to die."
That answer was worse than denial.
