Chapter 6 - THE WOMAN WHO PROFITED FROM MY DISAPPEARANCE
Vanessa Rainer had received eight million dollars the week I disappeared.
I couldn't stop staring at the transfer record.
Eight million.
For seven years, I'd believed leaving Adrian was the only way to protect my mother.
Now someone had apparently made a fortune from my fear.
"Why would Vanessa be involved?" I asked.
Rebecca looked troubled.
"Her company was used to receive the money. We need to establish who controlled the account and why."
Adrian nodded.
For once, he didn't demand immediate punishment.
He wanted evidence.
I appreciated that.
Then Julian Cross arrived.
Adrian's younger brother.
He was thirty-six, tall, dark-haired, and carrying the same exhausted expression I'd seen on Adrian's face.
I'd known Julian years earlier.
Back then, he was the one person in Adrian's circle who laughed easily.
Now he looked as though laughter had become difficult.
"Claire."
I stared.
"Julian."
His expression softened.
"We thought you were dead."
My stomach tightened.
"What?"
He looked toward Adrian.
Then back at me.
"Conrad told us you died in a car accident six months after you left."
I stopped breathing.
Adrian's face changed.
"I never believed him."
Julian looked down.
"I did."
For a moment, nobody spoke.
Then I whispered:
"You held a funeral for me?"
Julian nodded.
"A private memorial."
My knees nearly gave way.
For seven years, I'd believed Adrian moved on.
That he'd forgotten me.
That the love we shared had become another dangerous memory.
Now I was learning he'd been told I died.
And he'd spent years refusing to believe it.
Adrian stepped closer.
"I looked for you."
Tears filled my eyes.
"Why didn't you find me?"
His expression broke.
"Because someone kept sending false leads."
I looked away.
I had changed my name.
Moved cities.
Avoided people from my past.
And every time I thought I might be safe enough to call, Conrad's threats echoed in my memory.
Then Julian placed an envelope on the table.
"I found this in Father's old records."
Adrian frowned.
"What is it?"
Julian opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
Evelyn Cross stood beside Rose Bennett.
Both were holding newborn babies.
One baby wore a blue blanket.
The other wore pink.
My heart stopped.
"That's my mother."
Adrian leaned closer.
"And mine."
Julian turned the photograph over.
A handwritten note covered the back.
TWO FAMILIES. ONE PROMISE.
I stared.
Then Julian revealed the final document.
A birth record.
A name.
A date.
And a sealed adoption file.
My stomach tightened.
"Whose adoption?"
Julian looked toward me.
"Vanessa Rainer."
I frowned.
"What does that have to do with us?"
He swallowed.
"Vanessa wasn't born Vanessa Sloan."
I stared.
"Then who was she?"
Julian's voice became quiet.
"Her birth name was Victoria Bennett."
The room went silent.
May you like
Because Bennett was my mother's surname.
And according to the adoption record, Vanessa Rainer was my older half-sister.
