Chapter 3 - SERENA'S BLOOD-STAINED SECRET
I wanted to open the door.
Caleb stopped me.
“Don't.”
“But it's Serena.”
“That doesn't mean she's safe.”
We listened.
“Maren,” Serena whispered again. “I know you're in there.”
Caleb looked at me.
“What do you want?”
Silence.
Then Serena answered.
“I want to tell you the truth before Nathan finds you.”
Caleb's jaw tightened.
“You helped him.”
“I know.”
The words hit me harder than expected.
Serena began crying.
“I thought I was helping my child.”
“What child?” I demanded.
“My baby.”
I stared at the door.
Serena's voice trembled.
“Nathan promised me he would protect my daughter.”
“Your daughter?”
“She was born six years ago.”
Caleb looked at me.
“Where is she?”
“With my mother.”
I felt confused.
“Why?”
“Because Nathan told me the baby wasn't safe.”
Serena swallowed.
“Then I discovered why.”
She pushed an envelope beneath the door.
Caleb picked it up.
Inside was a photograph of a little girl.
On the back was a hospital identification number.
And beneath it was a name.
Emily Hale.
My stomach dropped.
“Hale?”
Serena whispered.
“She's Nathan's daughter.”
Caleb's expression hardened.
“That doesn't explain anything.”
“It does when you know who her mother is.”
I looked at Serena through the narrow gap.
“You?”
She shook her head.
“No.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Your mother.”
The world seemed to stop.
“My mother?”
Serena nodded.
“She had another child before you.”
I stepped backward.
“That’s impossible.”
“Nathan's father knew about her.”
“Why would he care?”
“Because your mother discovered the theft.”
Serena explained that our mother had secretly given birth to a daughter years before marrying our father.
That child was taken away after a medical emergency.
The records were sealed.
Her identity disappeared.
And years later, Nathan's family discovered the truth.
They realized something terrifying.
The lost child was connected to the inheritance.
The shipyard.
And the controlling shares.
My hands began shaking.
“Where is she?”
Serena looked at me.
“She's alive.”
Caleb stared at her.
“Who?”
Serena's voice broke.
“Emily.”
I looked at the photograph again.
The little girl's eyes were familiar.
Too familiar.
Then Serena whispered the part that made my blood freeze.
“She's not my daughter.”
“Then whose is she?”
Serena looked directly at me.
“She is your sister.”
A vehicle stopped outside.
Nathan.
Serena backed away from the door.
“You have to leave.”
Caleb grabbed my arm.
May you like
But before we moved, Serena whispered one final sentence.
“Nathan doesn't know I changed the DNA report.”
