Chapter 11 - The Wrong Daughter
Alexander lowered his gun.
“Let her go.”
Peter pulled Lena toward the cabinet. “Your mother cost me fourteen years. I won’t lose the ledger because you’ve developed a conscience.”
Margaret stepped into the open. “Take me instead.”
Peter’s eyes narrowed. “You’re not the one I need.”
Lena felt the gun pressing into her side. She kept her breathing steady and watched Peter’s feet. He stood with his weight on his left leg. His right knee barely bent.
Her mother had taught her how to read balance before she taught her how to turn.
Lena shifted suddenly, letting her body fall as if she had fainted. Peter loosened his grip to catch her. She stamped on his injured foot, twisted beneath his arm, and drove her elbow into his chest.
Alexander caught her as she stumbled free.
Marcus and the guards overwhelmed Peter’s men. One escaped up the stairs. The other dropped his weapon.
Peter hit the floor, laughing through a split lip.
“You think you’ve won? You don’t even know what the final page says.”
Alexander knelt beside him. “Tell me.”
Peter looked at Lena. “Your mother didn’t disappear because she stole a ledger. She disappeared because she had a daughter with a claim to the Blake estate.”
Lena frowned. “I’m a Carter.”
“Your biological father was Evelyn’s brother. Your mother raised you under her own name to keep you out of the family.”
Margaret shook her head. “That’s a lie.”
Peter smiled. “Ask Richard.”
Lena turned toward her father. Richard had followed them into the hidden room. His face had gone gray.
“Dad?”
He looked down.
“Tell me he’s lying.”
Richard’s silence answered first.
Margaret’s eyes filled with tears. “Richard, you promised.”
“I loved you,” he whispered. “I loved her as my own.”
Lena stepped away from everyone.
May you like
Alexander reached for her, but she backed out of his grasp.
“Not another secret,” she said. “Not one more.”
