Chapter 6 - THE MISTRESS WHO KNEW TOO MUCH
Melissa arrived at my house three days later.
She stood on the porch wearing dark sunglasses and a black coat. She looked exhausted, but her posture remained defiant.
“I need to talk to you.”
“About what?”
“Victor.”
I stepped aside.
She entered the living room and sat without waiting to be invited.
“His doctors say he may only have days.”
“I know.”
“He keeps asking for you.”
I said nothing.
Melissa removed her sunglasses.
For the first time since I had met her, she looked less like a rival and more like a frightened woman who had run out of places to hide.
“He told me you were trying to destroy us,” she said.
“Did he tell you he was transferring disputed assets?”
“He said everything belonged to him.”
“Did you believe him?”
She stared at her hands.
“I wanted to.”
That was the first honest thing she had said to me.
I sat across from her.
“Why are you here?”
“Because Victor told me something last night. He said if anything happened to him, I should find you.”
My heart began beating faster.
“What exactly did he say?”
Melissa took a folded piece of paper from her handbag.
“He wrote this before the doctors gave him medication.”
I unfolded it.
The handwriting was shaky.
Melissa, if Eleanor asks about the ledger, tell her I never had the original. Mother kept it. The properties were never meant to be yours or Caleb's without a proper accounting. I made promises I had no right to make.
I read the note twice.
Melissa watched me.
“He told me he loved me,” she whispered. “He said he was going to leave you eventually. He promised we would have a real life together.”
I folded the paper carefully.
“And did you believe him?”
“I had a baby with him. I waited years. I accepted excuses, money, and holidays when he could get away. I told myself he was protecting us.”
She laughed bitterly.
“Then I came to the hospital, and he started giving Caleb everything. I thought it meant he was finally choosing us.”
“But he wasn't choosing you. He was trying to control what happened after he died.”
Melissa's face tightened.
“I know that now.”
I waited.
She leaned forward.
“There's something else. Victor told me that Northstar Advisory wasn't just a company for moving money. It was supposed to be a reserve for the family business. His father wanted it kept separate. Victor and Margaret started using it when the company was struggling.”
“For what?”
“Bills. Investments. Private expenses. I don't know everything.”
“Did you know about EH Legacy Services?”
Melissa shook her head.
“No. But I remember Victor once saying he needed a name that wouldn't attract attention. He said you were the one person everyone trusted.”
The words chilled me.
“Did he say he was going to use my identity?”
“No. I swear I didn't know.”
I believed that she might be telling the truth, though belief was not proof.
“What do you want from me, Melissa?”
She looked at the floor.
“I want Caleb to be safe. I don't want him to lose his father and then be dragged through a court case for the rest of his life.”
“Neither do I.”
“Then help me protect him.”
I studied her.
For thirteen years, I had imagined confronting Melissa. I had pictured demanding answers, asking why she had accepted money from a married man, and forcing her to face the damage she had helped create.
Now that she was sitting in my living room, I found that anger was not as simple as I had expected.
She had made choices.
She had accepted the secrecy.
But Victor had also lied to her, promising a future he never intended to build honestly.
And Caleb had done nothing wrong.
“I will support a fair arrangement for Caleb,” I said. “But I won't agree to hide the truth or give away assets that don't belong to you.”
Melissa nodded slowly.
“I understand.”
“Do you?”
She met my eyes.
“No. Not completely. But I'm trying.”
Before she left, she told me about a second set of documents Victor had kept in a safe at his office. They concerned the properties and included instructions for a private company to assume control after his death.
Daniel immediately requested preservation of those records through the proper legal channels.
The following morning, Victor's attorney filed an objection to our petition.
He argued that Victor had made the transfers voluntarily and that the properties were his separate assets.
Daniel submitted the trust agreement, Richard's letter, and the preliminary accounting.
The judge ordered an expedited hearing.
For the first time, Victor's attorney had to acknowledge that the ownership of the properties was genuinely disputed.
That afternoon, I returned to the hospital.
Victor was conscious, though his voice had weakened.
Melissa sat beside him. Caleb was reading a book in the corner.
When Victor saw me, he asked Melissa to leave us alone.
She hesitated, then took Caleb into the corridor.
Victor stared at the ceiling.
“Did Melissa tell you about the note?”
“Yes.”
“I wanted to fix things.”
“You wanted to control things.”
He closed his eyes.
“Maybe both.”
I sat beside the bed.
“Who created the company in my name?”
He breathed slowly.
“Margaret handled the paperwork. I approved it.”
“Did you forge my signature?”
“I didn't sign it myself.”
“That isn't an answer.”
He swallowed.
“The documents were prepared using an old signature of yours. I knew what they were doing.”
My hands tightened around the chair.
“You allowed someone to use my identity.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because the company needed to receive money without attracting questions. Mother said it would be temporary. She said everything would be corrected later.”
“And you believed her?”
“I wanted to.”
I looked at the man I had once loved.
“You had a wife. You had a son. You had a family business and a father who trusted you. Why wasn't that enough?”
Victor's eyes filled with tears.
“Because I was weak.”
The answer was so small that I almost didn't recognize it.
He continued.
“Melissa made me feel admired. Mother made me feel important. I wanted to be the man they thought I was, and I kept lying until I couldn't tell where the lies ended.”
I let the silence settle.
“Did you ever intend to tell me?”
He shook his head.
“Not while I thought I could keep everything.”
“And now?”
He turned toward me.
“Now I'm afraid.”
“Of dying?”
“Of what happens after.”
I leaned forward.
“Then tell the truth while you still can.”
He stared at me for a long time.
Finally, he whispered, “I'll cooperate with the investigation.”
It was not an apology.
It was not forgiveness.
But it was the first useful decision he had made in years.
As I stood, Victor reached for my hand.
“Eleanor, I never thought you'd leave me.”
I looked down at his fingers.
“I didn't leave you, Victor. You built a life where I was never allowed to see the truth.”
He released me.
I walked out of the room and found Caleb sitting on a bench beside Melissa.
He looked up.
“Is my dad going to die?”
I knelt in front of him.
“The doctors are doing everything they can to keep him comfortable.”
“That's not what I asked.”
I took a breath.
“Yes, Caleb. It looks that way.”
His eyes filled with tears.
Melissa put her arms around him.
For once, I didn't see her as the woman who had shared my husband's bed.
I saw a mother trying to explain a loss she could not prevent.
I stood and gave them space.
The legal battle would continue.
The financial records would be examined.
Margaret would have to answer questions she had spent years avoiding.
But that evening, I made one decision that had nothing to do with money.
May you like
Whatever happened to Victor, I would not let his children become weapons against each other.
They had already lost enough.
