Chapter 6 - Roger and Camila Break Their Silence
When Roger and Camila came downstairs and saw their mother standing in the kitchen, the emotional dam broke entirely.
Camila sprinted across the room, throwing herself into Vanessa’s arms with an intensity that knocked both of them to the floor. Roger followed immediately, burying his head against his mother’s shoulder. For ten minutes, no one spoke. The kitchen was filled only with the sounds of a mother soothing her children and the quiet murmur of Marcus typing legal motions on his keyboard.
Once the initial shock subsided, Vanessa sat with the children at the breakfast bar while Marcus gently guided them through what had happened during their week in South Carolina.
“Camila, sweetheart,” Vanessa said, stroking her daughter’s hair. “Did your dad take you anywhere besides the beach while you were in Hilton Head?”
Camila looked at Roger, hesitating.
“It’s okay, Cami,” Roger said quietly. “Tell Mom. Dad can’t hurt us anymore.”
Camila took a deep breath. “On Wednesday, Dad took us to a fancy restaurant by the harbor. But he didn't sit with us. He paid the waiter to put us at a small table by the arcade games and told us to stay there until he came back.”
“Who was he with?” Marcus asked, looking up from his legal pad.
“A woman with long blonde hair,” Camila replied. “She was wearing white sunglasses and a fancy dress. Dad was holding her hand. When I walked over to ask for more quarters for the arcade, Dad got really mad. He pinched my arm under the table and whispered that if I ever mentioned her to Claire or Mom, he would leave me at a gas station.”
Vanessa gasped, her eyes flashing with pure fury. “He threatened my daughter?”
“What was the woman’s name, Camila?” Marcus asked calmly.
“I saw her name on her phone screen when it was on the table,” Roger interjected, his voice firm. “Her name was Evelyn. Evelyn Cross. Dad called her 'babe' when he thought we weren't listening.”
Marcus’s fingers flew across his keyboard. Within sixty seconds, he let out a low whistle.
“Evelyn Cross,” Marcus read aloud. “Senior VP of Acquisitions at Palmetto Coast Development—the exact real estate firm attempting to purchase the Chicago property.”
The room went dead silent.
Gideon wasn't just attempting to steal my mother’s estate through corporate loopholes. He had been conducting an extramarital affair with the executive handling the development deal. The trip to Hilton Head hadn't been a family vacation at all; it had been a romantic rendezvous and business meeting funded entirely by the money he had stolen from my dead mother’s trust.
“He used our children as an alibi while he wined and dined his mistress with your inheritance,” Vanessa said, her voice shaking with rage.
“Not just that,” Marcus added, turning his screen toward us. “Look at the flight logs. Evelyn Cross flew into Columbus two days before Claire left for Chicago. She stayed at the Hilton Downtown on Gideon’s corporate card. Gideon didn't just plan this vacation—he orchestrated the entire timeline with Evelyn to coincide with Claire’s absence.”
Just then, my phone rang. It was the Franklin County Prosecutor’s Office.
“Mrs. Vance?” a sharp female voice spoke. “This is Assistant District Attorney Meredith Vance—no relation to your husband, I assure you. I am handling the state’s felony case against Gideon Vance. We have just completed his preliminary arraignment.”
“What happened?” I asked, gripping the counter.
“His defense attorney requested bail at $25,000,” ADA Meredith Vance replied. “Given the evidence of premeditation, the flight risk posed by his financial transfers, and the severe nature of the child endangerment charges, the judge set bail at $500,000 cash surety. He couldn't pay it. He’s being remanded to the county jail pending his grand jury indictment.”
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“He has $140,000 in a South Carolina shell company,” I warned her immediately.
“Not anymore,” ADA Meredith said with a small chuckle. “Marcus Vance filed an emergency federal freeze on all Vance Holdings LLC accounts twenty minutes ago. Gideon is penniless, Mrs. Vance. And we are going to ensure he stays behind bars for a very long time.”
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