Chapter 2 - RACHEL KNEW ABOUT THE TRUST MONEY.
Marcus ended the call.
He didn't ask permission.
He reached down, hit the red icon, and disconnected Rachel while she was still breathing into the speaker.
Valeria stared at him.
"Call her back."
"No."
"Call her back."
"You're not doing this."
She almost laughed.
The side of her face was beginning to throb.
"Doing what?"
"Letting him turn this into an interrogation."
Marcus pointed toward Arthur.
Arthur didn't move.
Valeria looked at her father.
"Dad, don't say anything."
Arthur's expression hardened.
"Valeria—"
"I mean it."
A few years earlier, Arthur would have ignored her.
He would have decided the room needed command and taken it.
That was how he had lived most of his adult life.
Rank.
Order.
Action.
But Valeria was not seventeen anymore.
And this was not his marriage.
Arthur stepped back.
Marcus noticed.
For years he had accused Valeria of hiding behind her father.
Now she deliberately removed that shield.
"Tell me about St. Agnes."
Marcus rubbed one hand over his mouth.
"Rachel had a medical issue."
"What kind?"
"That's private."
Valeria felt something almost absurdly calm settle into her.
"You slept with her?"
Marcus looked toward Arthur again.
Valeria snapped, "Look at me."
He did.
"Did you sleep with Rachel?"
His silence answered before his mouth did.
"It wasn't—"
"Yes or no."
"Yes."
Arthur's fists tightened.
Valeria pointed at him without looking.
"Don't."
Arthur forced his hands open.
Marcus saw it and gave a bitter smile.
"This is exactly what I'm talking about."
Valeria stared.
"You just admitted you cheated on me and you're still talking about my father?"
"You have no idea what our marriage has been like."
"I've been in it."
"No. You've been protected from it."
That sentence confused her.
Marcus continued.
"You never worry about a mortgage. You never worry about health insurance. You never worry whether one mistake destroys your career because Colonel Arthur Vale has a trust account for every problem."
Valeria looked at the babies.
"Apparently not every problem."
Marcus flinched.
Good.
She hated that she was glad.
Arthur moved toward the sofa.
"Let me take one of the boys."
Valeria hesitated, then handed him the twin closest to her shoulder.
Arthur's entire body changed.
The stern retired officer disappeared for a moment.
He held the baby carefully, supporting the head the way the hospital nurse had shown him.
Valeria looked at the other twin.
"Marcus, when did the affair start?"
"I don't know."
"That's a strange thing not to know."
"It wasn't one affair."
Valeria looked up.
Marcus realized what he had said.
"No. That's not what I mean."
"Then explain."
"It stopped. Then it started again."
Arthur closed his eyes.
Valeria's stomach turned.
"How long?"
Marcus said nothing.
"Was I pregnant?"
Silence.
"Marcus."
"Yes."
Her son shifted against her chest.
Valeria looked at the baby's face.
He was asleep.
Perfectly unaware that the adults around him were destroying the story of how he had entered the world.
"When?"
"Second trimester."
Valeria swallowed.
"Which time?"
Marcus looked at her.
"The first time."
There was that word again.
First.
Valeria heard Rachel's voice.
I won't bear this alone ever again.
"What happened at St. Agnes?"
Marcus sat down opposite her.
For the first time that morning he looked exhausted too.
"Rachel got pregnant."
Arthur's head lifted.
Valeria could not immediately process the sentence.
"When?"
"Last year."
"Last year when?"
Marcus gave a date.
Valeria did the math.
She had been pregnant with the twins.
Not visibly yet.
But pregnant.
She had found out six days before.
"Did she have the baby?"
"No."
"What happened?"
Marcus looked toward the phone.
"She miscarried."
The word landed quietly.
Valeria's anger changed shape.
Rachel's pain was not Valeria's pain.
It did not cancel the betrayal.
But suddenly Rachel was no longer only a name on a phone screen.
She had been pregnant.
She had lost that pregnancy.
And according to her own words, she had gone through it alone.
"Were you with her?"
Marcus rubbed his forehead.
"No."
"Why?"
"I couldn't."
"You couldn't?"
"I was here."
Valeria thought back.
That week.
Her first ultrasound.
Arthur had taken them to dinner afterward.
Marcus had complained about the restaurant.
Valeria remembered him taking several calls in the parking lot.
One had lasted almost twenty minutes.
"Did she ask you to come?"
"Yes."
"And you didn't."
"Valeria, what exactly do you want me to say?"
"The truth."
"I'm telling you."
"No, you're giving me pieces when I find the right question."
Arthur adjusted the baby.
Valeria looked at her father.
"$860,000."
Arthur's expression returned to stone.
"Yes."
"Which trusts?"
"Two accounts established under the family trust structure."
"For me?"
"For you and your children."
Valeria's body went cold.
She looked at Marcus.
He spoke before Arthur could.
"I didn't steal from our sons."
"Then what did you do?"
"I moved money temporarily."
"To where?"
"Investments."
Arthur laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
"Tell her the destination."
Marcus looked at him.
Valeria said, "Dad."
Arthur stopped.
She turned back.
"Where?"
Marcus didn't answer.
Arthur opened the gray dossier.
He pulled out a bank summary and placed it on the table.
Valeria stared at the figures.
There were multiple transfers.
Not one.
$175,000.
$120,000.
$90,000.
$200,000.
More.
Dates spread across several months.
Several occurred while Valeria had been pregnant.
One had happened while she was in the hospital after delivery.
Valeria looked at the destination names.
Three were business entities she didn't recognize.
One was a law firm.
One name appeared twice.
R. HALE CONSULTING.
Valeria looked at the phone.
Rachel.
"What is Rachel's last name?"
Marcus didn't answer.
Arthur did.
"Hale."
Valeria stared at the transfer.
R. HALE CONSULTING — $95,000.
The woman Marcus had slept with had received money from the trust.
Valeria's first instinct was rage.
Then she remembered what her father had taught her when she was younger and furious over some unfairness at school.
Never make the accusation before the evidence makes it for you.
She looked at Marcus.
"Did you send Rachel ninety-five thousand dollars?"
"No."
Arthur tapped the page.
"Your authorization credentials were used."
"That's not the same thing."
Valeria looked at her father.
"Is that true?"
Arthur paused.
"Yes."
That surprised Marcus.
Arthur continued.
"The records identify his credentials. They don't prove who physically made every keystroke."
Valeria nodded.
Facts.
Not assumptions.
"Then we verify."
Marcus looked at her.
Something in his face changed.
He had expected screaming.
Maybe tears.
Maybe Arthur throwing him out.
He had not expected Valeria to become methodical.
She touched her swollen cheek.
"First, you leave."
"This is my home."
"We'll deal with that legally."
"You don't get to kick me out because Daddy shows up in a uniform."
Valeria looked toward the divorce petition.
"You filed for divorce."
Marcus said nothing.
"You came here prepared to end the marriage."
"Yes."
"You hit me while I was holding our children."
He looked away.
"And now you want to argue about your right to sleep upstairs?"
Arthur stepped closer.
Valeria raised her hand.
"I said I have this."
Arthur stopped again.
Valeria looked at Marcus.
"You can go voluntarily, or I call the police and report exactly what happened."
Marcus's face tightened.
"You'd do that to the father of your children?"
Valeria stared at him.
"You did this to their mother."
That ended it.
Marcus went upstairs.
He returned twelve minutes later with a leather overnight bag.
He did not kiss the babies.
He did not apologize.
At the door he looked at Valeria.
"You think your father is saving you."
Valeria shook her head.
"No."
Marcus waited.
"I'm saving myself."
He left.
Arthur closed the door.
For the first time since the papers hit the table, the room became quiet.
Valeria began shaking.
Not delicately.
Her whole body.
Arthur sat beside her.
"You need a doctor."
"I need a lawyer."
"You need both."
She nodded.
That was fair.
Arthur reached for the dossier.
Valeria stopped him.
"Leave it."
"Valeria—"
"On the table."
He obeyed.
She looked down at the divorce petition.
There was more than dissolution paperwork inside.
Custody requests.
Property requests.
Temporary orders.
She began turning pages.
Halfway through, she stopped.
Marcus was asking for temporary exclusive possession of the house.
That was painful.
Then she reached the parenting section.
Her breath left her.
Marcus had requested temporary primary custody of the newborn twins.
Attached to the filing was an affidavit.
In it, he described Valeria as emotionally unstable, exhausted, dependent on her father, and potentially unable to care safely for two infants without supervision.
The affidavit was dated five days earlier.
Two days before the twins had even come home.
Valeria looked at Arthur.
"He planned to take the babies before he served me."
Arthur's face darkened.
Valeria read the final paragraph.
May you like
Then she found the witness Marcus claimed could verify concerns about her emotional state.
RACHEL HALE.
