Chapter 2 - THE SISTER HE BURIED TWENTY YEARS AGO
For several seconds, neither of us spoke.
I stared at Elias.
He stared at the paper.
Then at me.
"You said your mother was Margaret Miller."
"She was."
"When did she die?"
"Eleven years ago."
His face drained of color.
"My sister died twenty years ago."
I shook my head.
"Then this has to be somebody else."
Elias turned the note over.
A photograph had been folded inside.
A young woman stood beside a black car.
Dark hair.
Soft brown eyes.
A familiar smile.
My mother.
Beside her stood a younger Elias.
Maybe twenty-five.
Still dangerous-looking.
But smiling.
Actually smiling.
My breath stopped.
"That's her."
Elias closed his eyes.
"Margaret."
I looked from him to the photograph.
"Why did you think she was dead?"
His voice hardened.
"Because my father showed me her death certificate."
My stomach tightened.
Another knock came from the door.
Victor.
Elias looked toward the monitor.
Then back at me.
"What does Victor know about this?"
"I don't know."
He didn't believe me immediately.
But when he looked at my face, something changed.
"You really don't."
"No."
He nodded once.
Then spoke into the intercom.
"Victor."
My husband smiled.
"Ready to talk?"
"What do you know about Margaret Vance?"
Victor's face changed.
Only for a fraction of a second.
But it was enough.
I saw it.
Elias saw it.
Victor recovered.
"Nothing."
Elias stepped closer to the screen.
"Wrong answer."
Victor's expression hardened.
"Open the door."
"No."
"Then I'll tell your men exactly who Ava is."
My chest tightened.
Elias didn't move.
Victor continued.
"She's not just my wife."
He looked directly into the camera.
"She's the only surviving heir to the Vance trust."
Silence.
I stared at Elias.
"What?"
His eyes remained on Victor.
"Explain."
Victor smiled.
"Margaret had a daughter."
My heart stopped.
Elias slowly turned toward me.
Victor continued.
"And your father made sure nobody knew."
I felt dizzy.
Elias's voice became dangerously calm.
"How did you learn this?"
Victor laughed softly.
"My family handled the paperwork."
My body went cold.
Victor Miller's family had never been powerful.
Not publicly.
But his father, Charles Miller, had worked as an attorney for old New York families.
Including, apparently, the Vances.
Elias looked toward me.
Then toward the babies' room.
The realization hit both of us at the same time.
If I was Margaret Vance's daughter...
Then my newborn girls were Vance descendants too.
Victor didn't want them as daughters.
But he wanted whatever their bloodline gave him access to.
I covered my mouth.
"That's why he married me."
Elias looked at me.
My voice broke.
"He didn't marry me because he loved me."
Victor knocked again.
Then shouted through the door:
"Ava, don't be stupid. Come home."
I started crying.
Elias stepped in front of the monitor.
"She is home."
Victor's smile vanished.
Then Elias added:
"And if you're right about who she is, you just threw two heirs to my family's fortune under an overpass."
Victor's face went pale.
For the first time since I had known him, my husband looked afraid.
Then Marco received a call.
His expression changed.
"Boss."
Elias turned.
"What?"
"Victor's father just emptied three accounts linked to the Vance family trust."
Elias looked back at the monitor.
Victor had disappeared from the hallway.
May you like
Then Marco said:
"And one of those accounts was opened in Ava's name when she was six years old."
