Chapter 6 - THE NAME ON THE DEATH CERTIFICATE
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The vault contained no gold.
No cash.
No diamonds.
It contained photographs.
Hundreds of them.
Politicians.
Judges.
Business executives.
Doctors.
Celebrities.
And one photograph that made me stop breathing.
Me.
At age nine.
Standing beside a man I had never seen before.
On the back was a handwritten note:
SUBJECT A — ORIGINAL HEIR.
Marcus turned pale.
“Clara…”
I looked at him.
“What?”
He held another document.
It was my father's death certificate.
But the date was wrong.
My father had supposedly died when I was twenty-four.
The certificate said he died when I was nine.
I shook my head.
“That can't be.”
Marcus looked at my mother.
She closed her eyes.
“He didn't die when you were twenty-four.”
“Then who was buried?”
Silence.
My mother finally answered.
“A body Victor wanted you to believe was your father.”
The room seemed to disappear.
My entire childhood had been manufactured.
My father's supposed financial collapse.
His funeral.
My mother's disappearance.
Even my marriage.
Every major event in my life had been manipulated.
Then Marcus found something else.
A passport.
Issued to Damian Thorne.
But the photograph was wrong.
The man in it had Damian's face.
Yet the fingerprints belonged to someone else.
Marcus whispered:
“There's a reason he called himself Damian.”
I looked at the hospital door.
“Who is he?”
Before Marcus could answer, the door opened.
Noah walked inside.
Bianca followed.
She had no gun.
She was shaking.
Noah looked at me.
“I'm sorry.”
My voice broke.
“Are you really my brother?”
He nodded.
Then he pulled out a small metal key.
“This belonged to Dad.”
My mother began crying.
Noah looked at Damian.
“You're not Victor's son.”
Damian's face hardened.
“I know.”
Everyone froze.
He stepped forward.
“My real name is Daniel Blackwood.”
My heart stopped.
“Blackwood?”
He nodded.
“Victor stole my identity when I was a child.”
Noah stared at him.
“Why?”
“Because he needed a Blackwood heir inside the company.”
Damian—or Daniel—looked at me.
“I was sent to marry you.”
My stomach turned.
“But I fell in love with you.”
I couldn't speak.
“Then why did you betray me?”
He lowered his eyes.
“Because Victor found out you had discovered the trust.”
I whispered:
“So Bianca wasn't the woman you wanted.”
“No.”
“Then why the wedding?”
Daniel looked at Bianca.
“Because Victor ordered me to make the Blackwood heir disappear.”
A terrible silence followed.
“Did you try to kill me?”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
Daniel's eyes filled with terror.
“The woman who signed your birth certificate.”
My mother suddenly staggered.
Everyone turned toward her.
She whispered:
“I didn't know.”
Daniel shook his head.
“Yes, you did.”
Then the vault alarm began screaming.
Someone had entered the building.
May you like
And the security system identified the intruder as:
CLARA BLACKWOOD.
