Chapter 18 - THE NIGHT ROSEWOOD BURNED
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Rosewood was surrounded by security when we arrived the following evening.
Arthur's attorney had arranged for investigators to monitor the property. Vincent and I entered through the front doors while the others remained outside.
I carried a replica of the jade bracelet.
The original was secured elsewhere.
Vivian stood in Eleanor's old study, wearing a dark suit and the leaf-shaped ring.
She looked almost exactly like Evelyn.
Only the scar beneath her left ear distinguished them.
"You have Eleanor's stubbornness," she said when she saw me.
"And you have spent years trying to destroy what she built."
Vivian smiled.
"I spent years watching this family reward weakness and call it loyalty."
"You stole money from a charity."
"I reclaimed what should have been mine."
"The trust was never yours."
"Everything in this family belonged to me before Richard decided I was inconvenient."
Vincent stepped forward.
"Did you kill my father?"
Vivian looked at him.
"I didn't kill Richard. I merely allowed him to make a mistake that cost him his life."
Vincent's face went white.
"What does that mean?"
"Your father was driving too fast on a road he knew well. He was distracted. I could have called for help sooner."
"You left him to die?"
Vivian's expression remained calm.
"He would have destroyed me."
I felt sick.
"And Margaret Ellis?"
Vivian laughed softly.
"Margaret discovered what I was doing. She intended to expose me. So I borrowed her identity and allowed the family to believe she had died."
"You used her name to forge documents."
"I used it to survive."
Vincent's voice trembled with rage.
"You ruined my life."
"No, Vincent. You ruined your own life by believing every lie that made you comfortable."
She looked toward me.
"And Claire? She ruined yours by refusing to stay where you put her."
I stepped forward.
"You don't know anything about me."
"I know that Eleanor chose you because she believed you would be difficult to manipulate. I know Vincent married you without telling you about the trust. And I know you are the only person who can stop the family from losing everything."
She extended her hand.
"Give me the agreement."
"No."
Vivian's smile vanished.
She reached into her coat and produced a small device.
The security system went dark.
An alarm sounded somewhere in the house.
Vincent grabbed my hand.
"Claire, we need to leave."
Vivian pressed a button.
A fire ignited in the adjoining archive room.
Smoke began pouring beneath the door.
She had set the fire before we arrived.
"You cannot destroy the evidence," I shouted.
Vivian's expression hardened.
"I can destroy whatever I need to destroy."
Vincent moved toward her, but she stepped back into the smoke.
A loud crash echoed through the corridor.
The archive room was burning.
I ran toward the door, but Vincent pulled me back.
"Claire, the records aren't worth your life."
I stared at him.
"They're worth the lives of the people this trust was created to protect."
Together, we entered the adjoining room through a side passage.
We found the original ledger inside a metal cabinet, still intact.
Vincent carried it toward the exit while I retrieved a small box containing Eleanor's letters.
When we reached the garden, investigators had surrounded the house.
Vivian was gone.
The fire was extinguished before it reached the main structure, but the archive had been badly damaged.
Arthur stood beside the ambulance, coughing from the smoke.
He looked at the ledger in Vincent's hands.
"Did you find the original agreement?"
I shook my head.
"No."
Then a firefighter approached.
He carried a small metal box recovered from the burned room.
Inside lay a document with Eleanor's signature.
The original beneficiary agreement.
May you like
But beneath my name, someone had added a second beneficiary.
A name none of us recognized.
