Chapter 7 - THE SISTER IN THE PHOTOGRAPH
We found her in Vermont.
Her name was Amelia Carter.
Thirty years old.
A kindergarten teacher.
No criminal record.
No connection to the Lane family.
Except her DNA.
It matched mine.
My sister was alive.
When I knocked on her door, she opened it.
She looked at me.
Then at the photograph I carried.
“Who are you?”
“My name is Justin Lane.”
Her face changed.
She closed the door.
I stopped it gently.
“Please.”
“You need to leave.”
“I'm your brother.”
She stared at me.
“No.”
“I have proof.”
She stepped back.
“Who told you about me?”
“Our father.”
She laughed bitterly.
“My father?”
“Yes.”
“He told me nothing.”
“He died trying to find you.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
Then she let me inside.
She told us she had grown up believing her parents were strangers.
She had been adopted as an infant.
Her adoptive mother had given her one warning:
Never look for the Lane family.
“Why?”
“Because they destroy everyone who gets close.”
I looked down.
“She's right.”
Amelia looked at me.
“Why did you find me?”
“Because someone is trying to take my son.”
Her expression changed.
“Prince?”
“Yes.”
“Who's Victor Hale?”
I froze.
“You know him?”
“I've seen him.”
“Where?”
“At my school.”
My blood ran cold.
“Why?”
“He came twice.”
“What did he want?”
“To ask about a boy.”
“Prince?”
She nodded.
“He showed me a photograph.”
I felt sick.
“What photograph?”
“Prince.”
Silence.
Then Amelia said:
“He called him the final heir.”
I looked at her.
“Final heir to what?”
She shook her head.
“I don't know.”
We returned to Manhattan.
The family board was waiting.
Victor Hale appeared on the conference screen.
An elderly man with silver hair and calm eyes.
“Justin.”
“Victor.”
“You've found Amelia.”
“Yes.”
He smiled.
“Good.”
“You're responsible for all of this.”
“No.”
He looked at Zara.
“Your mother is.”
I froze.
“What?”
Victor continued.
“Eleanor didn't forge the paternity test alone.”
I looked at my mother.
She was standing at the end of the conference table.
She looked exhausted.
“Tell him,” Victor said.
My mother began crying.
“I was trying to protect you.”
“You destroyed my life.”
“I was afraid.”
“Of Victor?”
“No.”
She looked at Zara.
“Of your father.”
Silence.
“My father?”
“He wasn't the man you thought he was.”
I felt cold.
“What did he do?”
My mother whispered:
“He ordered your sister's disappearance.”
I stared at her.
“And he ordered Prince's kidnapping.”
I couldn't speak.
Then my mother said the words that changed everything.
“But he didn't do it to control the company.”
“Why?”
She looked directly at me.
May you like
“Because Prince is the legal heir to something far more valuable than Lane Hospitality.”
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