THE RIVAL HEIR

CHAPTER 5:THE TRUTH FINDS ME

.Victoria pov

I woke up to my phone vibrating against the lampstand.At first, I ignored it.It stopped.Then it started again.And again.I groaned and reached for it, expecting another email from the bank or another message from Sofia reminding me to eat breakfast.Instead, my screen was filled with missed calls. Sofia, three from the office, two from unknown numbers.Before I could make sense of it, another notification appeared.Sofia: Don't believe anything you see online. Call me first.That message alone told me something was wrong.I opened the news app without thinking.The first headline stole the air from my lungs.ISABELLA NEUMAN LINKED TO FIFTEEN-YEAR-OLD SCANDAL. NEW EVIDENCE SURFACES.I read it once, then again.The words didn't change.My hands started to shake as I opened the article.There it was, a photograph of my mother.She looked younger, standing beside a man I had never seen before.The caption claimed she'd hidden information connected to the scandal that destroyed Neuman Hotels."No..."The word escaped before I realized I'd spoken.It couldn't be true. Not my mother.Not the woman who still reminded me to bring a jacket when it looked like rain.Not the woman who couldn't even lie about liking my terrible cooking.My phone rang again.This time, I answered."Victoria?" Sofia's voice came through immediately."Tell me they're lying."She went silent Not the silence of someone who believed the article. But the silence of someone who didn't know what to say."I'm on my way," she said quietly. "Don't read the comments."“Too late.” I answered. I was still staring at the screen when the front door opened."Victoria?"Sofia walked in without waiting for an answer, her expression tightening the second she saw me.Sofia: "You read it."I couldn't even look at her.Victoria: "Tell me it's fake."She didn't answer, that scared me. Victoria: "Sofia."Sofia: "I don't know if it's true," she said carefully. "And neither do you."I laughed, but there wasn't anything funny about it.Victoria: "The entire country seems convinced it is."She came over and gently took my phone from my hand.Sofia: "I told you not to read the comments."Victoria: "I couldn't help it."Sofia: "They're cruel."Victoria: "I know."People I'd never met were calling my mother a liar, a criminal.Some even said my father deserved everything that happened to him.I wanted to throw my phone across the room.Instead, I stood."I need to talk to my mom."Sofia nodded."I'll wait here."The apartment felt strangely quiet as I walked down the hallway.I stopped outside my mother's bedroom door.For a second, I couldn't bring myself to knock.I was scared, not of the truth but of what it might change.Finally, I knocked."Mom?"Her voice came a moment later."Come in."She was sitting by the window, still wearing yesterday's clothes.A cup of tea rested on the table beside her.Untouched.That wasn't like her. She never let tea go cold.Never.She looked up when I walked in, and the moment our eyes met, I knew.She'd seen the article, she looked exhausted. Not because she hadn't slept.But because she'd been carrying something for a long time.I held up my phone. "Tell me they're wrong."She looked at the screen for only a second before looking away again.The silence stretched between us.Too long.My heart started beating faster."Mom..."Her hands trembled as she reached for the teacup, but she didn't drink from it.Instead, she whispered,"I always hoped you'd never have to find out like this."Every muscle in my body went still."What do you mean?"She closed her eyes for a brief moment."When your father died... I thought the past had finally stayed where it belonged."I took a slow step closer."What is the past?"She looked at me then.There were tears in her eyes."The article isn't entirely wrong."The words hit harder than I expected.I shook my head immediately.Victoria: "No."Isabella: "I'm sorry."Victoria: "No."Isabella: "I wanted to tell you."Victoria: "Then why didn't you?"Her voice cracked.Isabella: "Because I was trying to protect you."I swallowed hard.Victoria: "Protect me from what?"She stared out at the rain sliding down the window.Isabella: "From the truth."I suddenly wasn't sure I wanted to hear whatever came next.She didn't speak right away.I could hear the rain outside, the clock in the hallway.Even my own breathing.It felt like the whole apartment was waiting for her to say something.Finally, she looked at me."Do you remember your father's office?"I frowned."Of course I do."It had been his favorite room in the house.The shelves were always overflowing with files, newspapers, and notebooks filled with handwriting only he seemed to understand.When I was little, I'd sit on the floor while he worked. He'd hand me folders and pretend I was helping, even though I usually mixed everything up.A small smile crossed my mother's face.Isabella: "He loved having you in there."Victoria: "I know."Her smile disappeared.Isabella: "He used to bring work home because he didn't trust leaving important documents at the office.""That sounds like Dad.""He trusted very few people."I nodded.That part hadn't changed in my memories either.Victoria: "So... what does any of this have to do with the article?"She looked down to her hands.Isabella: "Years before everything fell apart, your father wasn't running the company alone."I waited."He had a business partner."I blinked.Victoria: "A partner?"She nodded.Isabella: "But he was more than that. They were best friends."That surprised me.I'd heard stories about investors and shareholders. Never a best friend.Victoria: "Who was he?"She hesitated long enough for me to notice.Isabella: "Daniel Mercer."The name meant nothing to me.Victoria: "If they were that close, why have I never heard of him?"My mother let out a tired breath.Isabella: "Because after the scandal... Nobody talked about Daniel anymore."Victoria: "Why?"She looked toward the window again.Isabella: "Because he disappeared."The room suddenly felt colder.Victoria: "What do you mean he disappeared?"Isabella: "He vanished three months before the scandal became public."Victoria: "Did anyone ever find him?"She slowly shook her head.Isabella: "No."I looked at her face. She wasn't hiding tears anymore.She was hiding memories.Victoria: "And Dad believed Daniel had something important?"She nodded.Isabella: "The documents."Victoria: "What documents?"Isabella: "The ones your father believed could expose several very powerful people."I stared at her, trying to make sense of it.Victoria: "Expose them for what?"Isabella: "Corruption."The word hung between us.Isabella: "He found financial records that should never have existed. Hidden accounts. Illegal transactions. Money that had been moved through companies that looked completely legitimate."I could barely keep up. It felt like every answer only created three more questions.Victoria: "If Dad had proof..." I said slowly, "...why wasn't his name cleared?"My mother didn't answer.She looked down at the cold cup of tea beside her.She didn't have to say anything, I already knew.Victoria: "The documents disappeared."She gave a small nod.Isabella: "So did Daniel Mercer."And somehow, I had the feeling this was only the beginning of a story I'd never really known.Neither of us spoke for a while.The rain kept falling outside, tapping softly against the windows.I looked at my mother, but it felt like I was seeing her for the first time.Not just as my mom also as a woman who had been carrying a secret for years.Victoria: "You should've told me," I said quietly.Isabella: "I know."Victoria: "I had a right to know."Isabella: "I know."Victoria: "Then why didn't you?"She let out a shaky breath.Isabella: "Because every time I tried, I couldn't do it."Her voice broke.Isabella: "I kept telling myself I'd wait until things settled down. Then your father died, the company started falling apart, and before I knew it... years had passed."I wanted to be angry. Part of me was.But looking at her now, all I saw was guilt.The kind that had been sitting on someone's shoulders for far too long.She stood and walked toward a cabinet near the bookshelf.For a moment, I thought she was trying to avoid the conversation.Instead, she unlocked one of the drawers and pulled out a large brown envelope.It looked old.The corners were bent, and the paper had faded with time.She carried it back carefully and placed it on the coffee table between us."I've kept this hidden ever since your father died."I stared at it."What is it?""Everything I couldn't bring myself to throw away."She opened the envelope and slid several photographs onto the table.Hotel openings, charity dinners, business conferences.At first, they looked completely ordinary.Then my eyes landed on one photograph.Three men stood outside one of our hotels.The man on the left was my father. He looked younger, happier.The man beside him had to be Daniel Mercer. I recognized him immediately from the picture in the article.Then I looked at the third man. My breath caught.It was Vincent Carter. I picked up the photograph, staring at it as if it might change.It didn't."They knew each other?" I asked.My mother's eyes filled with sadness."Long before either of you were born."I looked back at the photograph.They weren't standing like business rivals.They looked comfortable together. Like people who trusted one another.Nothing about the picture matched the story I'd grown up believing."What happened to them?" My mother looked away."I wish I knew."She reached into the envelope one last time and took out a folded piece of paper.Unlike the photographs, it wasn't old.The paper looked almost new. She hesitated before handing it to me."This arrived last week." I unfolded it carefully.It wasn't a report or a legal document. It was a handwritten note.Only a few lines.My eyes went straight to the signature. Daniel Mercer, my heart skipped.Then I looked at the date. Six days ago.I was so shocked. "He's alive?" My mother nodded slowly, tears slipping down her cheeks."He was." I froze."What do you mean... was?"She struggled to answer."When the letter arrived, he asked to meet us.""Did you?""Yes.""And?"Her shoulders slumped."He never came." The room suddenly felt too small."What happened?"She shook her head."We waited for hours."Her voice was barely above a whisper now."Two days later... he disappeared again."A chill crept through me."Do you think someone took him?"She stared at me."I don't know."It was the first time that answer didn't comfort me.Because for the first time in my life, I wasn't sure my family's past had ever really been buried.I was beginning to think someone had simply been making sure it stayed hidden