Chapter 14 - My Mother’s Secret
I confronted Margaret at her townhouse.
She was seventy-two.
Elegant.
Controlled.
She didn’t deny knowing Emma had survived.
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
The word almost destroyed me.
“For how long?”
“From the beginning.”
I stepped backward.
“My own mother?”
She remained seated.
“You were barely functioning.”
“Because I thought my wife was dead!”
“Damon—”
“You watched me bury an empty coffin.”
Tears appeared in her eyes.
“Richard told me Emma’s condition was temporary.”
“Five years?”
“He kept changing the explanation.”
“And the money?”
Margaret looked down.
Richard had convinced her that Emma’s trust assets needed temporary restructuring to prevent Ellison Biomedical shares from falling into hostile hands.
Margaret signed corporate papers.
She received distributions.
She claimed she believed the money belonged to a family investment vehicle.
“You never asked why?”
“I should have.”
“Did you know about Lily?”
Margaret began crying.
“No.”
That answer I believed.
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Because when I showed her Lily’s photograph, something in my mother’s face broke.
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