Chapter 3 - MY MOTHER'S SECOND FACE
My mother arrived at sunset.
She wore a cream designer coat and carried flowers.
As if this were an ordinary visit.
“Clara.”
I looked at her.
“Mom.”
She smiled.
“Where is my granddaughter?”
“She's sleeping.”
“How wonderful.”
She placed the flowers on the table.
Then she saw Damon.
Her smile vanished.
“Damon Thorne.”
“Evelyn.”
They stared at each other.
“You know him?” I asked.
My mother looked at me.
“Everyone knows Damon.”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“You knew my father knew him.”
She said nothing.
“Mom.”
Still nothing.
Damon stepped forward.
“Tell her.”
My mother glared at him.
“You have no right.”
“I have every right.”
“Your father is dead.”
“And his promise isn't.”
My mother turned pale.
I felt my stomach tighten.
“What promise?”
She sat down.
For several seconds, she stared at the floor.
Then she whispered:
“Your father discovered what the Sterlings were doing.”
“What?”
“They had been laundering money through companies connected to his firm.”
“And you knew?”
“I suspected.”
“You knew.”
She closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
I felt something break inside me.
“You let me marry Julian.”
“I thought I could control it.”
“You sold me.”
“No!”
She started crying.
“I thought I could protect you.”
“By giving me to them?”
“They threatened us.”
“Who?”
She looked at Damon.
“The Sterling patriarch.”
“Julian's father?”
“Yes.”
My mother explained everything.
Years before my marriage, the Sterling family had discovered that my father had secretly transferred the Voss inheritance into my name.
They couldn't touch it while I was unmarried.
But once I married Julian, the prenuptial agreement gave them control over the trust.
I felt sick.
“Then why did my father allow the marriage?”
“He didn't.”
My mother looked at me.
“He tried to stop it.”
“Then why didn't he?”
She began crying harder.
“Because he died before he could.”
The room became silent.
I remembered the official story.
A heart attack.
Sudden.
Unexpected.
But now everything looked different.
I looked at Damon.
“You knew?”
“I suspected.”
“Did my father die naturally?”
Damon's jaw tightened.
“No.”
The word hit me like a bullet.
“What are you saying?”
“I believe your father was murdered.”
My mother covered her face.
I stood.
“Who killed him?”
Damon looked toward the door.
Before he could answer, the hospital lights went out.
The room plunged into darkness.
A second later, the emergency lights turned red.
Then we heard glass shatter somewhere down the hallway.
Damon immediately moved in front of me.
“Stay behind me.”
A gunshot echoed.
Then another.
My mother screamed.
Damon pulled his weapon.
Security rushed into the room.
And from the hallway came a man's voice.
“Clara Voss.”
I froze.
“Your father left something unfinished.”
Damon's eyes turned ice-cold.
May you like
“Get down.”
The door exploded inward.
