Chapter 6 - THE PHOTO FROM SIX YEARS AGO
Sarah stared at the photograph until the room became a blur around it.
"Where did this come from?"
Lily flinched at the sharpness in her voice.
Sarah immediately softened.
"I'm sorry, baby."
She sat beside her again.
"Do you know who put this in your backpack?"
Lily shook her head.
Felix stood at the foot of the bed, looking at the photograph as if it contained a ghost.
"That was in Oregon?"
Sarah nodded.
"Portland General."
"Who was there?"
"My sister."
"Anyone else?"
"Nurses."
"Your mother?"
"She was dead by then."
Felix closed his eyes briefly.
He had known Sarah's mother.
He had attended the funeral six months before Sarah left New York.
That memory suddenly felt like it belonged to another life.
Detective Ruiz came into the room wearing gloves.
She placed the photograph inside an evidence sleeve.
"Do you recognize the handwriting?"
Sarah looked at it again.
"No."
Felix shook his head.
"Neither do I."
Ruiz examined the back.
"The message may not be from the person who took the photo."
Sarah looked at Lily.
"Did the woman in white touch your backpack?"
Lily frowned.
"I don't remember."
"That's okay."
"She had a bag too."
"What kind?"
"White."
Felix gave a humorless breath.
"Of course."
Sarah shot him a look.
He lowered his voice.
"Sorry."
Ruiz asked Lily only a few gentle questions, then stopped when the child's eyes grew heavy.
Outside the room, Sarah leaned against the wall.
"Someone was in my hospital room when she was born."
"Maybe," Ruiz said.
"That picture is from inside the room."
"Yes."
"My sister did not take it."
"We will ask her."
Sarah shook her head.
"She would have given it to me."
Felix stared at the evidence sleeve.
"Could my mother have sent someone?"
Sarah looked at him.
"Ask her."
Odette had remained in the family consultation room.
When Ruiz showed her the image, the older woman sat down.
Sarah noticed because Odette rarely sat after receiving bad news.
She usually made other people sit.
"Have you seen this photograph before?" Ruiz asked.
Odette's answer took too long.
"Yes."
Felix stepped toward the table.
"Where?"
Odette looked at Sarah.
"A private investigator sent it to me after Lily was born."
Sarah's voice turned cold.
"You had me followed into a maternity ward."
"I had confirmation obtained."
"Confirmation of what?"
"That you had given birth."
Felix stared at his mother.
"You knew the day she was born."
"Yes."
"Did you know she was mine?"
"I knew the timing made it possible."
"Did you test her?"
Sarah stood.
"You better say no."
Odette looked at her.
"No."
"Did you try?"
Odette's silence was enough.
Sarah felt sick.
"You tried to take DNA from my newborn?"
"The investigator was told to obtain a discarded item if legally possible."
Felix slammed his palm onto the table.
The sound cracked through the room.
"What is wrong with you?"
Odette's attorney stepped forward.
Felix pointed at the door.
"Get out."
The attorney looked at Odette.
She nodded once.
Both lawyers left.
Detective Ruiz remained.
Odette turned to Felix.
"I was protecting you."
"From my daughter?"
"From a paternity claim that could have destroyed the financing."
"You keep saying financing like it excuses everything."
"It explains everything."
"No."
Felix's voice dropped.
"It explains you."
Sarah could not decide which feeling was stronger.
Rage that Odette had known.
Rage that Felix truly had not.
Or rage that Celeste somehow possessed a photograph from Odette's secret investigation.
Sarah looked at the photograph one more time before Ruiz continued.
Celeste's knowledge of the maternity image changed the shape of her relationship with Felix too.
"When did you start dating her?" Sarah asked.
Felix frowned.
"Two years ago."
"Engaged?"
"Six months."
"Did she ever ask about me?"
He thought.
"A few times."
"What kind of questions?"
"Why Marlowe House had your name."
"What happened between us."
"Whether there had ever been a settlement."
Sarah stared at him.
"And that did not seem strange?"
Felix looked ashamed.
"She was joining the family."
"So you thought she was curious."
"Yes."
Odette's mouth tightened.
"I thought she was unusually interested in old disputes."
Felix turned.
"You never said that."
"You were thirty-five and in love."
"So?"
"So you had already demonstrated poor judgment around women your mother disliked."
Sarah gave Odette a flat look.
"I assume I am the historical example."
Odette did not answer.
Felix rubbed his forehead.
"Celeste knew enough to ask the right questions and I gave her context."
Sarah looked at him.
"Not Lily."
"No."
"But everything around Lily."
"Maybe."
That word sat heavily between them.
Ruiz asked the question.
"Who had access to the investigator's report?"
Odette's face became guarded.
"My general counsel at the time."
"Name."
"Thomas Arden."
Sarah looked sharply at Celeste's last name.
Felix did too.
"Celeste's father."
Odette nodded.
"He died four years ago."
Felix started pacing.
"You used Celeste's father to bury Sarah's pregnancy."
"He was company counsel."
"And then you welcomed his daughter into the family."
Odette's expression hardened.
"Celeste did not know about this."
Sarah lifted the evidence sleeve.
"She had this in my daughter's backpack."
"You do not know that."
"She was at Lily's school yesterday."
"I know."
"Then stop defending her."
Odette looked at Sarah.
"I am not defending her."
The words sounded different this time.
Fear had entered them.
Felix heard it too.
"What aren't you telling us?"
Odette turned toward the window.
"Thomas Arden kept copies of sensitive family records."
"Why?"
"Leverage."
Felix laughed without humor.
"You employed a blackmailer as general counsel?"
"I employed a man who understood that wealthy families survive by knowing what can be used against them."
Sarah shook her head.
"And you wonder why your company is rotting."
Odette ignored her.
Sarah remembered Thomas Arden differently than the others did.
Not as a brilliant lawyer.
Not as a dangerous keeper of secrets.
She remembered a man who never called her Sarah when a title would create distance.
Ms. Marlowe.
The phrase had always sounded like a warning in his mouth.
"He was the one who gave me the transition agreement," she said.
Briggs looked at her.
"Thomas?"
"He sat across from me for four hours while I signed."
Felix's expression tightened.
"I thought outside counsel handled that."
Sarah laughed bitterly.
"You thought a lot of things."
He accepted it.
"What did Thomas say?"
Sarah closed her eyes and went back seven years.
Thomas had placed a glass of water near her hand but never asked whether she wanted it.
He had described two hundred thousand dollars as generous.
He had described the release as routine.
He had described Felix as unavailable.
"He told me you agreed I should leave before the financing round."
Felix went still.
"He said that?"
"More than once."
"I never did."
"I know that now."
Odette looked at Sarah.
"Thomas was authorized to negotiate the separation."
Sarah turned on her.
"Separation?"
"From the company."
"You made it a separation from Felix too."
Odette did not answer.
Briggs looked troubled.
"Thomas kept private notes on high-risk negotiations."
Sarah gave him a humorless smile.
"High risk."
"I am not endorsing the language."
"You all have language for turning people into categories."
Felix stared at the evidence sleeve containing the maternity photograph.
"If Thomas documented Sarah's departure, the archive may show exactly what he told each of us."
Briggs nodded.
"If the notes survived."
Sarah looked at him.
"And if Celeste has had that archive for four years, she has had four years to decide what survives."
No one answered.
That possibility made the sealed file feel less like a source of truth and more like a battlefield where the dead had left weapons behind.
"After Thomas died, Celeste inherited his private office and personal archive."
Felix stopped pacing.
"You knew that?"
"I knew she inherited the property."
"Did you know what was inside?"
"No."
Ruiz made another note.
"Where is the archive?"
Odette answered.
"A townhouse on East Seventy-First."
Ruiz stood.
"We will seek a warrant."
Felix pulled out his phone.
"I own half that property through a trust."
Ruiz looked at him.
"Do not go there."
"I am not going there."
"Do not send anyone there either."
Felix put the phone down.
"Fine."
Odette glanced at the time.
"The board vote begins in twenty minutes."
Felix did not react.
"I told you I don't care."
Odette's eyes narrowed.
"You should."
"Why?"
"Because if they suspend you, Graham becomes acting chief executive."
The room went quiet.
Felix's face changed.
"The same Graham who can issue recovery credentials to my vault."
"Yes."
Sarah felt the trap close another inch.
"If Celeste and Graham are working together, suspending you gives them the company."
Odette nodded.
"And the merger."
Felix looked toward Lily's room.
Sarah knew what he was thinking.
If he returned to the board, he might preserve control.
If he left the hospital, Sarah would see a man choosing his empire again.
Felix took out his phone.
He called the board secretary.
"Put me on speaker when the meeting starts."
Odette looked relieved for one second.
Then Felix continued.
"I will not be attending."
Odette's relief disappeared.
"Felix."
He held up a hand.
"I have one statement."
The board secretary said something Sarah could not hear.
Felix looked through the glass at Lily.
"Tell them I will not vote for the merger."
Odette stood.
"Do not do this."
Felix ignored her.
"Tell them I will not authorize any transaction that depends on concealing my daughter, manipulating her medical care, or preserving a trust arrangement built on a lie."
Sarah stared at him.
The secretary asked a question.
Felix's face went still.
"Yes."
He looked at Sarah.
"You heard me correctly."
Then he said the words that would be on every business network in America within an hour.
"Lily Marlowe is my daughter."
He ended the call.
Odette looked at him as if he had set fire to the building.
Sarah felt something inside her shift.
Not forgiveness.
Not trust.
Something more dangerous.
Possibility.
Felix's phone rang immediately.
Graham Vale.
Everyone looked at the screen.
Detective Ruiz spoke first.
"Answer it."
Felix put the call on speaker.
Graham's voice came through, calm and familiar.
"Felix, what the hell did you just do?"
Felix looked at Ruiz.
"I told the truth."
Graham exhaled sharply.
"Then get away from Sarah Marlowe right now."
Sarah went still.
"Why?" Felix asked.
Graham's voice dropped.
"Because Celeste just sent me a copy of a court filing."
"What filing?"
"An emergency petition claiming Sarah intentionally caused Lily's reaction to force you to acknowledge paternity."
Sarah felt the floor disappear beneath her.
Graham continued.
"And Felix, it has medical records attached."
"Forged records?"
"I don't know."
May you like
A pause followed.
"But one of them says Sarah has Munchausen syndrome by proxy."
