Chapter 3 - THE SECRET MY FATHER BURIED
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My father's old study had been untouched since his funeral.
Blake had always told me there was nothing worth keeping there.
He was wrong.
Every drawer contained something.
Old contracts.
Photographs.
Bank records.
Handwritten notes.
Damien helped me search until almost four in the morning.
Then I found a hidden compartment behind an old bookcase.
Inside was a single metal box.
There was no key.
Only a combination.
Three numbers.
My father's birthday.
My mother's birthday.
And mine.
The lock clicked open.
Inside were twenty-seven letters.
All addressed to someone named Evelyn.
My heart stopped.
“Who is Evelyn?”
Damien shook his head.
“I don't know.”
I opened the first letter.
The handwriting was my father's.
Evelyn, I promised I would protect her. But I failed.
I read the next page.
Then the next.
By the fifth letter, I was crying.
My father had been investigating Blake's family for years.
The Vances and the Sterlings were connected through a private investment network.
But Evelyn wasn't a business partner.
She was my father's first wife.
Before my mother.
Before me.
I stared at Damien.
“My father was married before.”
He nodded.
“So?”
“There was a child.”
Silence.
I read further.
A daughter.
Her name was Claire.
My half-sister.
My father had never told me.
A photograph slipped from the final envelope.
A little girl with dark hair.
Green eyes.
A tiny scar above her eyebrow.
She looked like me.
I turned the photograph over.
On the back my father had written:
Claire is alive. Blake knows where she is.
Damien went still.
“Blake knew?”
“Apparently.”
“Why?”
I read the next letter.
Evelyn, Northstar wants Claire because she controls the voting rights attached to the legacy shares.
My heart pounded.
This was bigger than my fifty-four percent.
Claire had another block of shares.
Together, we controlled nearly seventy percent.
That was why Blake needed me removed.
But why involve Seraphina?
I found the final letter.
If Claire ever contacts Audrey, trust her. If Blake reaches her first, run.
I stared at the words.
“Why would he say run?”
Damien took the letter.
His expression tightened.
“Because this isn't just about shares.”
“What is it?”
He turned the page.
There was one sentence.
Blake's father covered up the accident that killed Claire's mother.
I felt sick.
Claire had been hidden because someone was trying to protect her.
My father had spent years investigating.
Then he died.
Conveniently.
I suddenly remembered what Blake had told me after the funeral.
“Your father had been under enormous stress.”
I had believed him.
But perhaps he had wanted me to believe my father's death was natural.
A knock sounded.
We froze.
No one should have been there.
Damien opened the door.
A woman stood in the hallway.
She looked exhausted.
Her dark hair was wet from the rain.
Her eyes were identical to mine.
She stared at me.
“Audrey?”
I couldn't speak.
She nodded slowly.
“My name is Claire Vance.”
The room disappeared around me.
My sister.
Alive.
She stepped inside.
Then she looked at Damien.
“You married Seraphina's husband?”
Damien shook his head.
“No.”
Claire's expression changed.
“Good.”
“Why?”
She looked at me.
“Because Seraphina isn't the person you should be worried about.”
I swallowed.
“Who is?”
Claire locked the door behind her.
“Northstar Meridian.”
She looked directly into my eyes.
“They killed our father.”
The words shattered me.
May you like
Then she added:
“And they're going to kill us too.”
