Chapter Fourteen Remi
Chapter Fourteen
Remi
Remi was at it again. She sat on the floor, her back against the sofa, surrounded by stacks of folders, documents, and Gerard’s laptop, which she’d had Bas break into for her. It was amazing how kids knew how to get past passwords yet couldn’t manage to fold their own clothes and put them away.
Zoe had agreed to drive down to the beach with Bas for a conversation, to hash things out, finally.
On one condition: Sage wouldn’t be there.
Meanwhile, Mila was tucked away in her room, completely absorbed in the series that had her in a chokehold.
She had barely emerged for food or daylight since Bianca left.
Leo had stopped by, making good on his promise of helping her sort through Gerard’s documents. He emerged from the kitchen with two steaming cups of chamomile tea. “Tea break,” he said gently, setting one mug beside her.
Remi glanced up with tired eyes. “Thanks. I’ve been at this for hours and I’m still not through half of it.”
He settled beside her on the floor, stretching his long legs across the hardwood and moving some tax documents out of the way. Their shoulders touching. The smell of his cologne trickling across her nose.
“I know things are hard right now, but they’ll get better. Grief doesn’t leave, it just changes. The memories are what will keep you going.”
“How long did it take for you to get some normalcy in your life?”
“’Bout a year before I started carving my own path, one that didn’t include Viv. This is going to sound crazy, but … before that, I held on to this thought … this hope that she might return.”
“I kept thinking the same thing—expecting that Gerard was going to walk through that door and tell me it was all a bad dream. That was, until I received his ashes by courier the other day.” She motioned toward the box resting on the mantel.
“Damn. That’s heavy. How you doing?” His eyes held a genuine, deep concern.
“I’m fine.” She gave him a light smile.
“Once I let that go—realized it wasn’t going to happen—that she wasn’t going to walk through the door … that’s when I was able to move on. It freed me, in a sense.”
Remi grabbed Leo’s hand and rested it on her knee, observed his well-manicured nails.
He had piano fingers. She’d heard her grandmother Lorraine say that about people who had long, skinny fingers. He pulled her hand to his lips, kissed the back of it. “I’m here for as long as you need me, until you get to that place where you can move on.”
“I appreciate that,” she whispered. Her eyes met his. Her palm found his cheek. With a faint smile, she said, “Now, help me finish going through these files.”
“Let’s get to work, then.” Leo chuckled.
Remi came across a worn, leather-bound journal.
She hesitated before opening it. Inside, Gerard’s neat script filled the pages—business notes, scattered thoughts.
She even saw ideas for the winery scribbled on notebook paper.
He was making his own plans for Joie, she thought with a subtle smile.
Tucked between two pages, a photograph caught her attention.
A candid shot of the two of them—Remi’s stomach the size of a watermelon.
Both of them young, smiling like they had the world in their hands. Her throat tightened.
Leo seemed to notice the change in her posture. “What’s up?”
She held up the photo with a soft, bittersweet smile. “We were so young. Just starting our family. So full of vision. We thought we had forever.”
Leo reached over, gently took the journal, and set it aside. “You did start to build something. Something worth continuing. You’re building Joie.”
She blinked back tears. “I don’t even know what that looks like without him.”
“Maybe it’s not about doing it without him,” Leo said, “but with the part of him that’s still here.”
Remi looked at him, her eyes softened. “You always say the right things.”
Leo gave a half smile. “I say what I mean. There’s a difference.”
She touched his arm. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For being here.”
“Anytime.” He gave a small nod. “What is it that you’re looking for in all of this stuff, anyway?”
She sighed. “Just trying to make sense of everything. I’ve found bank statements I didn’t know existed, stock options, a trust I forgot he set up for Zoe. Another insurance policy. This man had money everywhere.”
Leo took a sip of his tea. “He was diversifying.” He chuckled.
“He was doing too much and not telling me.” Remi giggled.
Leo reached for one of the unopened file folders.
“After reviewing these bank statements, I’m still trying to figure out who he made this five-thousand-dollar payment to. Just an odd payment that stands out.”
“Let me see.” Leo grabbed it from her. “You have to look at the detailed ledger.”
“My eyes are starting to cross,” Remi said.
Leo studied the bank statement. “Okay, here’s the payment.”
“Who’s it to?” Remi asked, while taking a long sip of her tea.
“Looks like …” He paused for a moment. “Bianca Fuentes Perez.”
“What?” She snatched the paper from his grasp. Observed the line item for herself. “Why in the hell would he give Bianca five thousand dollars and not tell me?”
Leo observed the other statements. “It wasn’t a one-time thing, Rem. It was a recurring auto payment that spans … years, looks like.”
Remi froze. Her heart started beating rapidly against her chest. The beating was so loud, it rang in her ears. A silent scream brewed in her belly.
Leo reached for one of the unopened file folders and flipped it open. “This one says ‘Private—Personal Correspondence.’ You wanna look—or no?”
Remi’s mind raced. She didn’t know if she was ready for more. She was stuck somewhere between curiosity and not wanting to know what was inside the file folder. The payments to Bianca already had her stomach in knots. “That’s the folder that was in the safe.”
Leo passed it to her without a word.
She sat there, closed her eyes for a moment, then opened it slowly.
Her thoughts drifted back to a time when a woman named Iris had invaded their lives.
She’d been a co-worker at Gerard’s firm, long before he started his own business.
What started as a fling turned into months of betrayal.
Late nights, secret phone calls. Gerard had insisted that Iris meant nothing—she was something to kill time while they were going through a rough patch.
A mistake, he’d said. But Iris had fallen in love.
She’d even called Remi on the phone just to tell her how much in love she was with Gerard—to declare that he was going to leave his family for her.
He hadn’t, of course. He’d apologized, begged her forgiveness.
And though it had taken Remi months to forgive him, and even longer to trust him again, they had managed to move forward and start fresh.
In time, they found their rhythm again. But now, with Gerard gone, she feared that somewhere in this stuff—in his belongings—Iris would be there, buried in the pages.
Her heart pounded in her chest. She didn’t want to relive it again.
Didn’t want the pain to creep back in. But she braced for it as she reached for the thick bundle of printed emails and handwritten letters, clipped together.
The pages didn’t seem to scream Iris’s name.
No. But Bianca’s handwriting she recognized immediately.
Her hands trembled as she skimmed the pages.
Leo didn’t interrupt, just silently watched her as she read.
Some letters were short. Others were rambling and emotional. They spanned several years. One from three years before simply read:
Gerard, my marriage is falling apart. Harry has learned the truth, and my relationship with Mila is crumbling.
She’s wondering why Harry is leaving us.
I’m not sure how long I can keep the truth from her.
She deserves to know you’re her father. I’m not asking for anything more—you’ve been more than generous over the years—but she needs to know the truth. And so does Remi.
Remi’s throat tightened. “Oh my God …”
“You okay?” Leo asked quietly.
Her breathing was rapid, scattered. She felt like her heart might stop at any moment—it seemed to skip a few times. Leo rested his hand on her shoulder.
“Gerard is Mila’s father,” Remi whispered in a daze, connecting the dots.
She wasn’t sure if he understood the gravity of what she was saying. She said it, not necessarily to him but to herself. Leo gave her a moment. She exhaled slowly, dropped the pages into her lap. Her voice was hollow. “They both lied to me. For years.”
Leo reached for her hand. She was grateful he didn’t say anything to try to explain or justify Gerard’s actions.
He didn’t ask any questions, either. He was just silent, allowing her to just be.
She needed to make sense of everything. Remi let the silence settle between them, the fireplace whispering softly, crackling in its own rhythm.
She whispered, “This changes everything.”
Leo looked at her steadily. “It only changes what you let it.”
She blinked at him, tears threatening to fill her eyes.
She got up and started pacing. Anger replaced the shock she’d felt only moments earlier.
Then the hurt set in, followed by shock.
Anger—shock—hurt, took turns filling her space like a roller coaster.
She wanted to scream. “I don’t know how to carry this. ”
“You don’t have to. It’s not your burden to bear. It’s hers, now that Gerard is gone. She owes you some answers. She owes her daughter some answers as well.”
She sat back down on the floor next to Leo, leaned into him slowly, her cheek against his chest. For a moment she let herself feel both the devastation and the comfort—grief tangled with betrayal.
The pain was softened by his presence, just a little bit.
But there was still a sting in her chest, and anger was beginning to develop again where the hurt once was.
Outside, the wind rustled through the vineyard, as if the land itself understood the secrets that had just been unraveled.