Chapter 5 - THE SISTER WE NEVER KNEW EXISTED
Chloe laughed.
It was not amusement.
It was the short, broken sound people make when reality becomes too strange to process.
“Other daughter?”
Mom covered her face.
Dad said, “Wendy, don’t.”
She looked at him.
“You let me believe she was gone.”
The sentence made everyone still.
I stepped closer.
“Who is Rebecca?”
Mom turned toward me.
“Your half sister.”
My stomach dropped.
“How old?”
“Thirty-four.”
Older than me.
Dad had another daughter before I was born.
Chloe whispered, “With who?”
Mom shook her head.
“I don’t know everything.”
Eleanor did.
I could tell.
I turned to her.
“Who is her mother?”
Eleanor’s expression hardened.
“A woman named Sarah Lane.”
Dad stared at her.
“You have no right.”
Eleanor laughed softly.
“No right?”
She stepped toward him.
“You stole from your daughter, hid another child for three decades, used your wife as a shield, and convinced your children I was dead.”
Her voice became colder.
“Do not lecture me about rights.”
Luca’s security director continued working through the ledger.
“Rebecca Lane received periodic payments until six years ago.”
“What happened then?” I asked.
“The payments stopped.”
Dad looked away.
Eleanor said, “Because she disappeared.”
That word again.
Disappeared.
In my family, people did not die.
They disappeared.
And everyone else was told what to believe.
“Where is she?” Chloe asked.
Eleanor shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
Dad said, “She wanted nothing to do with us.”
Mom spun toward him.
“You told me she died.”
The ballroom erupted again.
Arthur’s control was gone.
Every lie was colliding with another.
Marcus Reed tried to move toward the exit.
One of Luca’s security men stepped aside.
He was free to leave.
That somehow stopped him.
Running would look guilty.
Staying looked worse.
Luca asked the director, “Anything connecting Rebecca to the Meridian breach?”
He searched.
Then paused.
“Yes.”
Dad’s head snapped up.
“What?”
“A consulting entity called Lane Advisory Group accessed Meridian-related materials three weeks ago.”
I stared at Luca.
“So Dad wasn’t first.”
“No.”
“Who hired Lane Advisory?”
The director looked at Marcus.
“Reed Pacific Bank.”
Flynn swore.
Marcus finally lost his temper.
“This is confidential banking business!”
Luca’s expression barely changed.
“So was Meridian.”
Marcus went silent.
I looked at Dad.
“Did you steal the files?”
“No.”
“Did you know they were being accessed?”
“No.”
“Did you know Marcus hired Rebecca?”
“No.”
Too many noes.
Too clean.
Then Chloe said something none of us expected.
“I know Rebecca.”
We all turned.
Dad actually staggered.
“What?”
Chloe was crying now.
“I didn’t know she was Rebecca.”
Mom gripped the table.
“What are you talking about?”
Chloe looked at Flynn.
“Your wedding planner.”
Flynn stared at her.
“What?”
“The woman who handled the private vendor contracts.”
My stomach tightened.
“Name?”
Chloe whispered:
“Becca Lane.”
I remembered her.
Tall.
Dark hair.
Professional.
I had seen her once near the ballroom entrance.
She looked at me longer than strangers usually did.
At the time, I assumed she was judging the dress.
Now I wondered if she had been looking at her sister.
“Where is she?” Luca asked.
Chloe reached for her phone.
“She was here an hour ago.”
The wedding-planning group chat showed her last message at 8:47 p.m.
FINAL FAMILY ITEM COMPLETE.
Then nothing.
Luca’s security director asked to see the vendor schedule.
Chloe handed it over.
He scrolled.
His face changed.
“What?”
“There’s an unscheduled delivery listed under her access code.”
“When?”
“Tonight.”
“What delivery?”
He looked toward the service corridor.
“Private document pickup.”
Dad turned and ran.
Not walked.
Ran.
Across the ballroom.
People shouted.
A security man followed.
Luca grabbed my hand.
Dad slammed through the service doors.
We followed.
Down a hallway.
Past catering carts.
Into a private loading area.
The rear door stood open.
Outside, a black SUV was pulling away.
Dad reached the curb too late.
He stood there breathing hard.
On the pavement beside him was a white envelope.
My name written across the front.
JESSICA.
I picked it up.
Inside was a photograph of three girls.
Me at eight.
Chloe as a toddler.
And an older girl I did not recognize.
Rebecca.
Standing behind us at a park.
Watching.
On the back she had written:
I HAVE BEEN CLOSER THAN YOU THINK.
May you like
Below that:
ASK DAD WHY HE REALLY SENT GRANDMA AWAY.
