Chapter 3 - THE FIANCÉE'S FIRST LIE
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Dominic didn't shoot Cassandra.
That would have been too easy.
Instead, he ordered her confined to the guest wing under guard.
No phone.
No visitors.
No access to the estate.
I expected her to scream.
She didn't.
She simply smiled.
That terrified me more.
Dominic spent the next six hours tearing apart his father's old records.
I sat beside Marcus, watching decades of family history appear on the screens.
There were names I recognized.
Politicians.
Judges.
Businessmen.
Police officials.
Then Marcus opened a file labeled:
VANCE / STERLING PRIVATE AGREEMENT.
Inside was a contract dated twenty-nine years earlier.
My father had signed it.
So had Victor Vance.
The agreement described something called the Ivy Trust.
I read the first page.
Then the second.
My hands went cold.
The trust controlled the Sterling family's legitimate businesses, private holdings and offshore assets.
It had only one beneficiary.
Sophia Elise Sterling.
Me.
Dominic read over my shoulder.
“I never knew this existed.”
“Neither did I.”
“Then my father hid it from me.”
“Why?”
A new document appeared.
My mother's handwritten note.
Dominic must never inherit while Victor is alive.
Dominic stared.
“Why?”
I pointed at the next line.
Because Victor intends to use him as a shield.
Marcus frowned.
“A shield for what?”
The answer arrived from another file.
Victor Vance had been investigated for embezzling millions from the Sterling family.
But instead of being charged, the case disappeared.
My mother's signature was on the settlement.
She had paid him.
Not with money.
With silence.
Dominic shook his head.
“She protected us.”
“From Victor.”
“Yes.”
“Then why would Cassandra work for him?”
Dominic didn't answer.
A guard entered.
“Boss, Cassandra requested a private meeting.”
“No.”
“She says it's about Lucia.”
Dominic changed his mind immediately.
“Bring her.”
Cassandra entered.
She looked calm.
Too calm.
She placed a photograph on the desk.
My mother.
Standing beside a man.
Victor Vance.
I stared.
“When was this taken?”
“Two weeks before the fire,” Cassandra said.
Dominic frowned.
“Why were they together?”
Cassandra looked at me.
“Because Lucia came to my father for help.”
“Help with what?”
“She was pregnant again.”
My heart stopped.
Dominic went still.
“What are you saying?”
Cassandra shook her head.
“She had already given birth to Sophia.”
Then she pointed at the photograph.
“She was carrying another child.”
I stared.
“No.”
Dominic's eyes sharpened.
“That's impossible.”
“Not according to my father.”
She handed him another document.
A medical record.
Lucia Sterling had been six months pregnant when the fire occurred.
I felt dizzy.
“Where is the baby?”
Cassandra's expression changed.
“That's the problem.”
Dominic looked at her.
“My father claimed Lucia died because she tried to hide the baby.”
“From whom?”
“From him.”
Dominic's jaw tightened.
“Your father didn't want the child?”
“No.”
“He wanted the child alive.”
Silence.
“Why?”
Cassandra smiled faintly.
“Because the second child wasn't a Sterling.”
My blood turned cold.
I looked at Dominic.
He didn't speak.
Cassandra continued:
“Your mother was having an affair.”
Dominic's eyes became lethal.
“With whom?”
Cassandra looked directly at me.
Then she whispered:
“With Victor Vance.”
The room went silent.
I couldn't breathe.
Dominic's fist struck the desk.
“Get out.”
Cassandra smiled.
“You asked for the truth.”
“I asked you to leave.”
She turned.
At the door, she looked back.
“Ask yourself why your mother named you Sophia.”
Then she left.
I looked at Dominic.
Neither of us spoke.
Because there was a new question hanging between us.
May you like
If my mother had been carrying another child…
Who was my real father?
