Chapter 8 - THE AUNT WHO WASN'T MY AUNT
Aunt Margaret wasn't my aunt.
She was the woman who mailed me birthday cards when my parents were alive.
The woman who visited every Thanksgiving.
The woman who gave me a small gold bracelet when I graduated high school.
After my parents died, she moved away.
We lost touch.
I'd believed she was my mother's closest childhood friend.
Now my mother's letter identified her as Evelyn Ross, a former attorney connected to Antonio Mancini.
I stared at the paper.
"This doesn't make sense."
Lucia sat beside me.
"Do you have any old photographs of Margaret?"
I nodded.
"In my phone."
I found one from my twenty-first birthday.
Margaret stood beside me holding a cake.
She wore a purple sweater and had a small scar near her left temple.
Adrien examined the picture.
His expression changed.
"That's Evelyn."
I looked up.
"You're sure?"
"I remember her from childhood."
My stomach tightened.
"Then why did she pretend to be my aunt?"
Adrien shook his head.
"I don't know."
By evening, the investigator located Margaret's last known address.
A small house in Helena.
The property was empty.
But neighbors confirmed an elderly woman had lived there until two weeks earlier.
Then she'd left suddenly.
A forwarding address led to a nursing residence outside Bozeman.
Margaret was there.
Alive.
And according to the staff, she'd been waiting for someone named Madison Bennett.
We met the following day.
I arrived with Lucia and an independent attorney.
Margaret sat beside a window overlooking a snow-covered garden.
The moment she saw me, she began crying.
"Oh, sweetheart."
I stopped in the doorway.
"Aunt Margaret?"
She opened her arms.
I crossed the room.
She hugged me tightly.
For a moment, I was nineteen again.
Grieving my parents.
Desperate for someone familiar.
Then I pulled back.
"Who are you really?"
Her smile disappeared.
She looked toward Lucia.
"Evelyn Ross," Lucia said.
Margaret closed her eyes.
"Yes."
I sat opposite her.
"Why did my mother lie about my father?"
Margaret shook her head.
"She didn't lie about Robert."
My pulse quickened.
"What?"
"Robert Bennett was your biological father."
For a moment, I couldn't breathe.
"And Antonio?"
"He agreed to have his name placed on a falsified supporting document so certain people would believe you were protected by the Mancinis."
I stared.
"Then why did he do it?"
Margaret's eyes filled.
"Because your parents discovered a financial scheme involving the identities of children."
I looked toward Lucia.
She had gone pale.
Margaret continued.
"Antonio initially believed the paperwork would protect Madison. Later, he realized someone was using those same records to hide stolen trust funds."
My stomach tightened.
"Who?"
Margaret hesitated.
Then whispered, "Carlo Versani."
Adrien's enemy.
The man whose associates had been searching for my envelope.
But the next revelation was worse.
"Carlo wasn't working alone."
I leaned forward.
"Who helped him?"
Margaret looked directly into my eyes.
"Your boyfriend's mother."
I froze.
"Connor's mother?"
Margaret nodded.
"Jessica Walsh."
May you like
Then she added something that made the room fall silent.
"She's the woman he calls Jess."
