Chapter 5 - THE SISTER WHO NEVER EXISTED
Dominic Vale had two acknowledged sons.
Adrian.
Luca.
No daughter.
At least, that was the story.
Luca searched family records while Adrian opened a locked cabinet that had belonged to their father.
Inside were photographs Adrian had never seen.
Dominic with a young woman.
Dark hair.
Gray eyes.
A child in several pictures.
A girl.
On the back of one photograph:
EVELYN, AGE 8.
Luca sat down.
“Jesus.”
Mara stood quietly beside Adrian.
“Your half-sister.”
“Apparently.”
“Where is she now?”
Adrian turned over another photograph.
The surname printed on a school certificate answered the question.
Evelyn Hart.
Mara gasped.
“No.”
“You know her?”
“She was the prosecutor assigned to Jonah’s case.”
Everything stopped.
Evelyn Hart had built her career as one of Chicago’s most aggressive anti-corruption prosecutors.
She had also been the woman who convinced Mara to enter witness protection.
“She told me she believed Jonah,” Mara whispered.
Adrian felt sick.
“She controlled the evidence.”
“She controlled me.”
“And Sloane disappeared before trial.”
Mara covered her mouth.
“She gave him time.”
Luca opened Jonah’s remaining files.
The pattern emerged quickly.
Every time Jonah came close to connecting Victor Sloane to Evelyn, evidence vanished.
Witnesses recanted.
Records were sealed.
Then Jonah died.
Mara stared at the photographs.
“Why would Evelyn protect Sloane?”
Adrian knew the answer before Luca found it.
A marriage certificate.
Victor Sloane had married Evelyn’s mother thirty years earlier under another name.
He was not Evelyn’s biological father.
But he had raised her.
Dominic Vale had secretly fathered her.
Sloane had been the man she called Dad.
“That’s why Dominic protected him,” Adrian said.
“He was protecting his daughter from scandal,” Mara replied.
“And sacrificing everyone else.”
Mara’s hands shook.
Adrian reached for her.
Then stopped himself.
She noticed.
Slowly, Mara placed her hand in his.
He closed his fingers around hers.
The moment lasted only seconds.
Then every light in the house went out.
Luca drew his gun.
“Backup power should've kicked in.”
A crash sounded downstairs.
Adrian moved Mara behind him.
“Stay here.”
“No.”
“Mara.”
“I’m done hiding.”
Before he could argue, the emergency lights flickered red.
Noah’s voice came over the intercom.
“Breach. East entrance.”
Gunfire followed.
Adrian pulled Mara into a secure room.
Luca stayed outside.
“Lock it.”
“Adrian—”
“Lock it.”
The steel door closed between them.
Mara pounded once against it.
Then the room’s monitor came alive.
A video feed showed the library.
Evelyn Hart stood inside Adrian’s house.
Perfect suit.
Perfect hair.
A pistol in one hand.
And Noah on his knees beside her.
Evelyn looked directly at the camera.
“Mara.”
Her voice came through the speaker.
“You’ve been running for six years.”
May you like
She pressed the gun against Noah’s head.
“Come downstairs, or this man dies in thirty seconds.”
