Chapter 4 - RACHEL CAMDEN
Rachel contacted me before I could contact her.
A text.
I need to speak to you without Marcus.
I stared at it for several minutes.
Arthur wanted security present.
Rebecca wanted the conversation documented.
I wanted answers.
We met in a private room at Rebecca's law office.
Rachel arrived wearing a beige coat.
She looked younger than I expected.
Thirty.
Maybe thirty-one.
No dramatic red lipstick.
No cruel smile.
She looked terrified.
That complicated my anger.
I had prepared myself to hate a villain.
Instead I got a woman with shaking hands.
She sat.
“I'm sorry.”
“Don't start there.”
She nodded.
Fair.
“How long have you known Marcus?”
“Two years.”
Not fourteen months.
Again, Marcus lied.
“When did the affair begin?”
“Eighteen months ago.”
I closed my eyes.
“When did he tell you he was married?”
She stared.
“After I miscarried.”
Arthur swore under his breath.
I looked at her.
“You didn't know?”
“No.”
“Seven months?”
She started crying.
“He said he was separated.”
Of course.
“He told me you lived in another state.”
I almost laughed.
“He came home to me every night.”
Rachel looked sick.
“I know that now.”
“What did he tell you about IVF?”
She wiped her face.
“That he couldn't have children naturally.”
I stared.
Noah and Liam existed upstairs because that was false.
“He said his family expected him to have an heir but you refused children.”
My entire body went cold.
I had undergone years of treatment.
Rachel whispered:
“I didn't know.”
Arthur asked:
“What happened with the first pregnancy?”
Rachel looked at him.
“Marcus suggested IVF.”
“With whose embryo?”
“I thought ours.”
I leaned forward.
“Rachel.”
She looked at me.
“The embryo was mine.”
Her face changed.
“What?”
“Genetically mine and Evan Vance’s.”
She stared at Arthur.
Then me.
“No.”
She began shaking.
“Marcus said it was ours.”
“Did you ever provide eggs?”
“No.”
There.
Marcus had not merely lied to me.
He had lied to Rachel too.
He used her as a gestational carrier without informed consent.
Her first pregnancy had been my embryo and Evan's genetic material.
She miscarried at ten weeks.
Rachel covered her mouth.
“That baby wasn't mine?”
My anger changed shape.
“No.”
She began sobbing.
For a moment, neither of us knew what to do.
Two women betrayed by the same man in different directions.
I handed her a tissue.
Not forgiveness.
Humanity.
Then I asked:
“And this pregnancy?”
Rachel looked terrified.
“Marcus said we tried again naturally.”
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
“So it could be his.”
“Yes.”
“Any treatment?”
She shook her head.
“No.”
Rebecca asked whether she would consent to legal genetic testing when medically appropriate.
Rachel nodded immediately.
“I want the truth.”
Then she pulled out her phone.
“There’s something else.”
Messages from Marcus.
Dozens.
One immediately mattered.
Once Evan has an heir on paper, Dad can’t redirect that branch of the trust. We finally get leverage.
Arthur went completely still.
Rachel stared at him.
“He told me that meant his father was trying to steal from him.”
Arthur's voice was low.
“What else?”
Another message:
Valeria will sign after the twins are born. She'll be too exhausted to fight.
My stomach turned.
Rachel looked at me.
“I thought you already knew you were divorcing.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Apparently everyone knew except me.”
Then another message:
Dean has the settlement drafted. Once she waives the house and investment accounts, we move everything cleanly.
Arthur stood.
“Dean Harrow.”
Rebecca nodded.
“He knew.”
Rachel looked confused.
“Who?”
“Marcus's attorney.”
Arthur's face hardened.
The scheme was larger.
Marcus had not improvised divorce papers because Rachel was pregnant.
He had planned the divorce before the twins were born.
He needed me out.
Why?
Because Noah and Liam had become protected trust beneficiaries at birth.
As their mother, I had standing to challenge management decisions.
Before they were born, Marcus had more freedom.
Afterward, everything changed.
Arthur looked at me.
“The boys triggered a mandatory fiduciary review.”
“Yes.”
“Marcus knew that?”
“Of course.”
“So he started preparing to remove Valeria before the review discovered the transfers.”
Exactly.
The affair was real.
The cruelty was real.
But divorce was also financial strategy.
Rachel handed Rebecca one final document.
Marcus had sent it to her accidentally.
A spreadsheet.
Trust distributions.
Potential inheritance branches.
Names.
Marcus.
Noah.
Liam.
Evan.
And one projected line:
E.V. Descendant — 18.6% future control.
Marcus had tried to create a biological descendant of his dead brother in order to manipulate ownership of the family company.
Rachel's first pregnancy wasn't romance.
It was corporate engineering.
She whispered:
“I thought he loved me.”
I looked at her.
“So did I.”
That was the first moment we stopped seeing each other as enemies.
Then Arthur noticed another name on the spreadsheet.
A beneficiary listed under initials:
J.V.
He went pale.
“No.”
Rebecca looked at him.
“Who is J.V.?”
Arthur said nothing.
“Colonel?”
His voice barely worked.
“Jonathan Vance.”
“Who?”
“My oldest son.”
I stared.
Marcus had an older brother?
Arthur looked devastated.
“Jonathan died twenty-nine years ago.”
Rebecca pointed toward the spreadsheet.
“Then why does Marcus have a current beneficiary projection under his name?”
Arthur whispered:
“Because Jonathan had a child.”
The room went silent.
“A daughter.”
“Where is she?”
Arthur looked toward the window.
“I don't know.”
And suddenly Marcus's plan was no longer about creating an heir.
May you like
It was about replacing one who already existed.
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