Chapter 5: The Mother Who Was Buried Alive
I couldn't move.
My mother stood halfway down the staircase, one hand gripping the railing.
She looked older.
Thinner.
There were deep lines around her eyes that hadn't been there before.
But the small scar above her right eyebrow was unmistakable.
So was the way she tilted her head when she looked at me.
"Mom?""
Her lips trembled.
"Eleanor.""
I took one step forward.
Then another.
For three years, I had dreamed of hearing that voice again.
I'd dreamed of seeing her walk through the front door, carrying one of her ridiculous shopping bags, complaining that I'd forgotten to eat lunch.
I'd dreamed of telling her about my marriage.
About Adrian.
About how lonely I'd become.
And now she was standing in front of me.
Alive.
I ran toward her.
She opened her arms.
I buried my face against her shoulder.
Her coat smelled of lavender.
The same lavender I remembered from childhood.
"You're alive," I whispered.
She held me tightly.
"I'm so sorry, darling.""
I pulled back.
"Where have you been?""
She closed her eyes.
"Somewhere I never wanted you to find me.""
"Why did you let me bury you?""
Her face crumpled.
"Eleanor...""
"Why?""
My voice broke.
"I sat beside your coffin. I held your photograph. I scattered your ashes by the sea.""
My mother looked down.
"I know.""
"Do you have any idea what that did to me?""
"I know, sweetheart.""
"No, you don't!""
The words echoed through the atelier.
I stepped away from her.
"You let me believe you were dead.""
She nodded slowly.
"I did.""
"Why?""
My mother looked toward the windows.
"Because someone was trying to kill me.""
Silence.
Marcus returned from upstairs.
"Mrs. Vale, the building is secure. There was no one else.""
He noticed my mother.
His hand moved instinctively toward his radio.
"Who is this?""
I swallowed.
"My mother.""
He stared at her.
My mother offered a faint, exhausted smile.
"Isabelle Vale.""
Marcus looked at me.
I nodded.
He lowered his hand.
"Understood, ma'am.""
My mother turned toward Vanessa.
"Why is she here?""
Vanessa stepped backward.
"I came because Adrian told me to find the documents.""
My mother's expression hardened.
"Then you have no idea what you've involved yourself in.""
Vanessa shook her head.
"I know more than you think.""
She held up the flash drive.
"I have recordings.""
My mother looked at me.
"Did you hear them?""
"Not yet.""
"Good. We need to listen together.""
She led us into the old fitting room.
Behind a large wooden mirror was a narrow door I had never noticed as a child.
She unlocked it with a small key.
Beyond it was a private office.
The walls were lined with bookshelves. A desk stood beneath a window, and an old leather armchair sat beside a fireplace.
My mother had preserved everything.
Even the framed photograph of me at my university graduation.
I touched the frame.
"You kept this?""
"Of course.""
She smiled sadly.
"I never stopped being your mother.""
I wanted to forgive her.
I wanted to throw my arms around her again.
But there were three years of grief between us.
And I wasn't ready to pretend they hadn't happened.
"Tell me everything," I said.
She sat down.
And began.
"Your father wasn't your biological father.""
The words came without warning.
I stared at her.
"What?""
She folded her hands.
"Robert Vale raised you. He loved you. He was your father in every way that mattered.""
"Then who was the man in the photograph?""
My mother took a slow breath.
"His name was Thomas Ashford.""
The name meant nothing to me.
"Who was he?""
"An investor. A businessman. And the man I loved before I married Robert.""
I sat opposite her.
"Why didn't you tell me?""
"Because Thomas was involved in something dangerous.""
She reached into her handbag and removed an old photograph.
It showed a younger version of herself standing beside the dark-haired man.
Thomas.
"We met in London in 1989. He helped me secure the first major investment for the atelier.""
She smiled faintly.
"He believed in my designs before anyone else did.""
"What happened?""
"He disappeared.""
"Disappeared?""
"He was investigating a group of investors who were stealing money from struggling fashion houses. He discovered that several wealthy businessmen were using shell companies to acquire smaller brands, strip their assets, and sell their intellectual property.""
I leaned forward.
"Was Adrian involved?""
My mother shook her head.
"Not then. But the same people are involved now.""
She took a document from a drawer.
"Thomas discovered that one of the men behind the scheme had infiltrated our family business.""
"Who?""
She looked at me.
"Your father's closest business partner.""
I frowned.
"Robert's partner?""
"Yes. A man named Victor Ashford.""
The surname made me pause.
"Related to Thomas?""
My mother nodded.
"His younger brother.""
She explained that Victor had become obsessed with gaining control of the company.
Robert had discovered the fraud and threatened to expose him.
Then, on July 14, 1998, Robert's private plane crashed.
The official investigation ruled it an accident.
But my mother had never believed it.
"Did Victor cause the crash?""
"I couldn't prove it.""
"Then why did you disappear?""
My mother looked down.
"Because two weeks after the funeral, someone left a photograph of you outside my bedroom.""
I felt sick.
"Me?""
"You were six years old. You were sleeping at your grandmother's house.""
She pressed her fingers together.
"There was a note attached. It said that if I continued investigating Robert's death, you would be next.""
I stared at her.
"Why didn't you go to the police?""
"I did. But the officer handling the case was connected to Victor.""
She paused.
"So I disappeared.""
I shook my head.
"How did you fake your death?""
My mother explained that she had been taken into protective custody through an arrangement with a private investigator and a solicitor.
A staged accident.
A falsified identification.
A funeral built around an unidentifiable body recovered from a separate incident.
I listened without speaking.
Everything I had believed about my childhood seemed to be breaking apart.
"Who knew?""
"Two people. My solicitor, Daniel Price, and one other person.""
"Who?""
She hesitated.
"Robert's brother.""
"Victor?""
She nodded.
"He helped me disappear.""
I stared at her.
"Why would the man who wanted to destroy our family help you?""
"Because he wasn't the man I thought he was.""
She looked at the old photograph.
"Victor and Thomas had been working together. But after Thomas disappeared, Victor became afraid.""
"Afraid of what?""
"That the people behind the acquisitions would discover what Thomas had found.""
I looked at the photograph again.
"Then who is Thomas?""
My mother lowered her voice.
"He's alive.""
I stood abruptly.
"What?""
"He has been living under another name for years.""
I paced toward the window.
"You're telling me my biological father might still be alive?""
My mother nodded.
"And I believe Adrian has found him.""
Vanessa inserted the flash drive into the laptop.
A folder appeared.
There were dozens of audio files.
One was dated three weeks earlier.
She clicked it.
Adrian's voice filled the room.
"...once Eleanor signs the transfer, the company is ours. Northbridge gets the European division, and we keep the licensing rights.""
Another man's voice responded.
"Your wife needs to cooperate.""
"She will. Sophie has already handled the preliminary documents.""
"And the mother?""
Adrian laughed.
"Isabelle is a problem, but she's been quiet for three years. If she appears now, we'll deal with her.""
My mother went pale.
I gripped the edge of the desk.
The recording continued.
"There's another issue," the unidentified man said.
"The girl.""
"Vanessa?""
"No. Eleanor.""
Adrian sighed.
"She's not the problem. She's predictable. She still thinks I'm in love with her.""
Vanessa covered her mouth.
I closed my eyes.
The unidentified man continued.
"And what about the necklace?""
Adrian laughed.
"Let her see it. Let her lose control in public. Once the footage goes viral, we'll make her look unstable. The board will have an excuse to remove her.""
The recording ended.
Nobody spoke.
Vanessa began to cry.
My mother stared at the laptop.
"He was planning to destroy your reputation before taking the company.""
I nodded slowly.
"Yes.""
But something else had caught my attention.
The unidentified man's voice.
It sounded familiar.
I replayed the recording.
Once.
Twice.
Then I recognized it.
I had heard that voice at a charity gala six months earlier.
A man had approached Adrian, congratulated him on his success, and shaken his hand.
I had even spoken to him.
He was the chairman of Northbridge Capital.
Victor Ashford.
My mother's supposed ally.
Her protector.
The man who had helped her disappear.
I turned toward her.
"Mom.""
She looked up.
"Who is Victor Ashford?""
Her face lost all color.
"Why are you asking?""
I played the recording again.
The moment Victor's voice filled the room, my mother covered her mouth.
"No," she whispered.
"Mom?""
She stood, trembling.
"That's impossible.""
"Is it him?""
She looked at me.
Then nodded.
"Yes.""
She gripped the edge of the desk.
"Victor has been dead for five years.""
My mother sat down heavily.
For several seconds, she looked as though she might faint.
"How can you be certain?"" I asked.
"I attended his funeral.""
I stared at her.
"Then whose voice is that?""
She closed her eyes.
"His son.""
I remembered the charity gala.
The man in the expensive navy suit.
The polished smile.
The way Adrian had introduced him as his most important investor.
"Who is his son?""
My mother looked at me.
"Julian Ashford.""
The name meant nothing until she continued.
"Thomas's son.""
I felt my knees weaken.
"You're saying the man behind Adrian's scheme is my half-brother?""
My mother nodded.
"Your biological father's son.""
Vanessa stared at us.
"So Adrian has been working with his own wife's family?""
My mother turned toward her.
"Not family. Not in the way you mean.""
She looked at me.
"Thomas never knew about you. Victor kept the truth from him.""
I felt anger rising through the shock.
"Why?""
"Because he wanted control of the family trust.""
She took a deep breath.
"Your mother—"
She stopped.
Then corrected herself.
"I mean, Robert's mother, your grandmother, established a private trust for the descendants of the Vale family. Thomas was named as a beneficiary because of an agreement made before you were born.""
I frowned.
"Why would Thomas be a beneficiary?""
"Because he helped finance the original company. And because he and Robert had an agreement that if anything happened to either of them, their children would be protected.""
She looked at me.
"Victor's son has spent years trying to locate the original trust amendment.""
I thought about the missing document.
The stolen archive.
The letter.
The flash drive.
Everything suddenly connected.
"Adrian isn't trying to steal my shares because he wants the company.""
My mother nodded.
"He wants the trust.""
"And Julian wants it too.""
"Yes.""
I walked toward the desk.
"Then why hasn't Julian approached me directly?""
My mother looked frightened.
"Because he doesn't want you to know what the trust actually contains.""
"What does it contain?""
She stared at me for a long moment.
Then she reached into her handbag and removed a small folded document.
It was an old birth certificate.
My name appeared at the top.
Under the section marked FATHER, there was a name.
*THOMAS JAMES ASHFORD.*
But beneath it was another line.
A handwritten note.
Biological father acknowledged. Legal guardianship transferred to Robert Vale.
I looked up.
"Where is Thomas now?""
My mother opened her mouth.
Before she could answer, the laptop chimed.
A new file had appeared on the flash drive.
No date.
No title.
Just a single video.
I clicked it.
The screen showed a dimly lit room.
A man sat in a chair, his hands folded in front of him.
He had dark hair, a scar across his left eyebrow, and the same eyes as mine.
My mother began to sob.
The man leaned toward the camera.
"My name is Thomas Ashford.""
He paused.
Then looked directly into the lens.
"Eleanor, if you're watching this, it means Julian has finally found you.""
His voice trembled.
"I need you to know something about your mother.""
He swallowed.
"She didn't disappear to protect you from me.""
He leaned closer.
"She disappeared because she discovered that I was the one who ordered Robert's plane to be sabotaged.""
My mother screamed.
The screen went black.
And I turned toward the woman who had just returned from the dead.
"Mom...""
She was crying uncontrollably.
But she wasn't looking at me.
She was looking at the dark laptop screen.
Then she whispered six words that shattered everything.
"Thomas didn't know what he was doing.""
I stepped backward.
"What does that mean?""
My mother lifted her eyes.
"Because the man who paid for that plane crash...""
She swallowed.
"...was your husband, Adrian's father.""
And suddenly, I understood why Adrian had spent so many years trying to marry into my family.
He hadn't been looking for an inheritance.
May you like
He had been looking for the last surviving witness to a murder.
And that witness was me.
