Chapter 5 - THE WOMAN WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD:
I stared at Daniel.
“What did you just say?”
“My mother and my uncle were involved.”
“Involved in what?”
“Your grandmother's death.”
I couldn't move.
“Who actually killed her?”
Daniel looked at the floor.
“I don't know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did you marry Olivia?”
“To get access to the estate.”
“What were you supposed to do with it?”
“Transfer it.”
“To whom?”
“Carter Family Holdings.”
“Why?”
“Because my uncle owned the debt.”
I frowned.
“What debt?”
Daniel explained.
Carter Holdings had been drowning in hidden losses for years.
The public saw a successful investment company.
The private books were catastrophic.
My trust was one of the only assets large enough to rescue it.
They believed they could force me into surrendering control.
The marriage to Olivia would create confusion.
The forged separation agreement would weaken my legal position.
The insurance policy would protect them if I died.
And the Vegas marriage would create a new narrative.
A divorced woman.
A wealthy estate.
A husband moving on.
Everything designed to make me seem unstable.
But why kill me?
Because if I survived and challenged the trust—
they lost everything.
I stared at Daniel.
“Where is your sister?”
He looked at me.
“She disappeared.”
“Recently?”
“Five years ago.”
“Name?”
“Emma.”
“Where was she?”
“Las Vegas.”
My heart stopped.
“Las Vegas?”
“Yes.”
I remembered the chapel.
The wedding.
The certificate.
The timestamp.
Maybe Olivia wasn't the only reason Daniel had gone to Nevada.
Maybe he had been meeting Emma.
I called Olivia.
“Do you know Emma?”
She hesitated.
“Yes.”
“How?”
“She worked for Daniel.”
“Did she attend the wedding?”
“No.”
“Where was she?”
Olivia's voice dropped.
“She disappeared the night before.”
I froze.
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
I looked at Daniel.
“Did your mother hurt her?”
He closed his eyes.
“I don't know.”
I believed him.
But something about the timing bothered me.
Emma disappeared the night before the wedding.
The wedding happened.
Olivia was sent a mocking photograph.
The trust was targeted.
Someone wanted everyone distracted.
I called Margaret.
“We need to locate Emma Carter.”
“We've been trying.”
“Why?”
“Her passport was used yesterday.”
My heart stopped.
“Yesterday?”
“Los Angeles.”
“She is alive.”
“Possibly.”
“Can you trace it?”
“We're trying.”
Twenty minutes later, Margaret called.
“Claire.”
“Yes?”
“We found a security video.”
“Where?”
Los Angeles International Airport.
Emma appeared on camera.
Alive.
Holding a folder.
Walking toward a gate.
Then a man intercepted her.
I recognized him.
Daniel's uncle.
Robert Carter.
The same man listed as beneficiary of the insurance policy.
I stared.
“He has her.”
“Yes.”
“And he has the evidence.”
“Yes.”
“What evidence?”
Margaret paused.
“Your grandmother's original death records.”
I felt cold.
Daniel stared at me.
“Then we have to find her.”
“Yes.”
But before we could move, my phone buzzed.
A message from an unknown number.
A photograph.
Emma.
Alive.
Bound to a chair.
Underneath:
Bring the trust documents.
I looked at Daniel.
He whispered:
“I'm sorry.”
I shook my head.
“Not yet.”
“What?”
I grabbed my coat.
“First we get your sister.”
Margaret asked:
“Claire, where are you going?”
I answered:
“To Los Angeles.”
May you like
Then I added:
“And this time, I'm not going alone.”
