Chapter 8 - Gillian’s Bargain
Vivian had approached Gillian after noticing Yasmin searching through estate documents.
She did not accuse her granddaughter.
She asked for help.
“If your mother pressures Alana, record everything.”
Gillian agreed.
At first.
Then Yasmin discovered a message from Vivian on Gillian’s phone.
She threatened to expose Gillian’s private debts, substance treatment, and a hit-and-run accident from years earlier that Yasmin had quietly covered up.
“If Alana controls the company,” Yasmin warned, “you will go to prison.”
Gillian panicked.
She chose her mother.
But she kept one piece of Vivian’s plan alive.
The phone she used in the foyer did not upload only to Yasmin’s private cloud.
Gillian had secretly connected it to the emergency address Vivian provided.
That was why Alana’s message transmitted instantly.
“You helped us?” Alana asked.
“I helped too late.”
“You smiled while Dad hit me.”
Gillian covered her face.
“I was terrified they would know.”
Alana’s voice stayed quiet.
“So you made me believe you enjoyed it.”
“I’m sorry.”
The apology did not erase the footage.
It did explain why Gillian’s phone had continued transmitting even after she tried to stop it.
Daniel confirmed the emergency system had received months of recordings from Gillian.
Arguments.
Financial planning.
Discussions of the forged medical report.
Yasmin ordering the security technician to disable cameras.
Mark demanding that Alana surrender the shares.
Gillian had been documenting everything in secret.
But she had also participated.
She filmed coercion.
She helped arrange the papers.
She failed to warn Alana about the bat.
The investigators made that clear.
Cooperation might reduce consequences.
It would not remove them.
Gillian handed over her phone voluntarily.
Then she unlocked a hidden folder.
Inside was a video recorded two nights before Vivian died.
Vivian sat in her bedroom speaking directly to the camera.
“If this is being watched,” she said, “then someone in my family has chosen greed over blood.”
Alana’s breath caught.
Vivian continued.
“The company is not the greatest inheritance.”
She held up a sealed envelope.
“The truth about Mark’s birth is.”
Mark froze.
Yasmin whispered, “Turn it off.”
May you like
No one did.
👉 Vivian’s final secret was not about money—it concerned the identity of Mark’s real father and the origin of the Darcy fortune.
