Chapter 7 - Rebecca Cross Tells Her Version
Rebecca did not run.
She opened her door to investigators and asked:
“Did Daniel finally do something stupid?”
Victor was not permitted to participate in the formal interview, but Rebecca later agreed to speak with him with attorneys present.
She was seventy-two.
Sharp-eyed.
Calm.
And furious at her son.
“I told him to stop.”
Victor placed Henry’s letter on the table.
Rebecca did not touch it.
“He always did love writing apologies after the damage.”
Victor asked what happened between them.
Rebecca told a version consistent with much of Henry’s ledger.
She helped save Vale Meridian during a liquidity crisis.
Then her own family business collapsed.
Henry offered to buy her stake.
She needed money immediately.
He knew it.
The price was legally defensible.
Morally, she believed, it was predatory.
“I signed,” she said. “That matters. So does why I signed.”
Victor nodded.
Both could be true.
Rebecca raised Daniel with anger toward Henry.
Years later, she regretted it.
Daniel turned a family grievance into identity.
When he discovered Henry had considered restitution, he became convinced the entire company belonged partly to him.
Rebecca denied participating in the wedding scheme.
“What does M mean?” Victor asked.
Rebecca laughed without humor.
“Not me.”
She said Daniel often referred to someone as “Mother” in encrypted messages.
Victor stared.
Rebecca’s face hardened.
“He wasn’t talking about me.”
Emma felt cold.
Who else would Daniel call Mother?
Rebecca said Daniel had become close to Eleanor Vale.
Victor’s mother.
Years earlier, Eleanor sought Rebecca out.
She wanted to understand Henry’s old dispute.
The two women developed a strange alliance built on resentment toward Henry.
Rebecca eventually withdrew.
Eleanor did not.
Victor immediately called Julian.
No answer.
Then his phone rang from Eleanor’s number.
A woman spoke.
Not Eleanor.
A nurse at Eleanor’s Connecticut home.
“Mr. Vale, your mother collapsed.”
Victor and Julian rushed there.
Eleanor was alive.
She had suffered a severe panic episode after receiving news that Daniel’s scheme was unraveling.
In her study, investigators found Marlow fund records.
Daniel’s messages.
And copies of Emma’s trust documents.
Victor confronted her after doctors cleared a brief conversation.
“Were you helping him?”
Eleanor looked at her son.
“I was trying to repair what your father did.”
“By telling Emma I was dead?”
Her eyes filled.
“I never agreed to that.”
“But you gave Daniel access.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because your father left wreckage everywhere and called it business.”
Victor had spent years defending Henry.
Now the evidence would not let him keep a simple version of his father.
Eleanor admitted helping Daniel locate the Marlow structure.
She believed he would pursue a lawful claim.
When she realized he was forging documents, she tried to withdraw.
Daniel threatened to expose her involvement.
Then he threatened Julian.
Eleanor stayed silent.
Victor asked:
“Did you send Emma the photograph proving I was alive?”
Eleanor nodded.
That was the first unexpected answer.
She had sent the warning.
May you like
Not to force the wedding.
To stop it.
