Chapter 10 - The Sister Neither Knew
For several seconds, Claire couldn't speak.
She had spent years believing she was an only child. Her father had been distant after Evelyn died, but she had never imagined he had another family. Lena stood across the table, her face drained of color.
“Is this real?” Claire asked.
Ruiz enlarged the document. “We'll verify it. But the date and hospital seal look legitimate.”
Lena shook her head. “My mother never told me.”
“Maybe she was protecting you,” Claire said.
“From him?”
“From all of it.”
Lena let out a shaky breath. “I spent three years thinking you knew. I thought you chose them over me.”
Claire remembered the last fight they had, the one that ended their friendship. Lena had accused her of stealing a design. Claire had called her jealous. Neither had known they were fighting over a legacy their parents had hidden.
“I was wrong,” Claire said.
“So was I.”
They stood facing each other, unsure whether they were allowed to close the distance.
Then Lena reached out. Claire took her hand.
It wasn't forgiveness. Not yet. But it was a beginning.
Daniel watched them quietly. “I should have told you.”
Claire looked at him. “Yes.”
“I didn't know you were sisters. I swear.”
“But you knew the fire wasn't an accident.”
“Yes.”
“You knew your mother was involved.”
“Yes.”
“And you still asked me to marry you.”
He nodded, tears gathering in his eyes. “I thought I could become someone better than my family.”
“Then you should have started by telling the truth.”
Ruiz received a call. The officers had found Margaret's driver, but the car had been abandoned near the marina. A second vehicle had taken her away.
The detective looked at the sisters. “We need to move you somewhere secure.”
Claire glanced at the hard drive. “What about the original report?”
Ruiz opened another folder. Inside was a scanned page with a signature at the bottom.
Robert Whitmore.
Below it was a handwritten instruction: Remove Rosa Vale from the premises. No witnesses.
Lena's fingers tightened around Claire's.
Their father had not simply hidden the truth.
He had ordered someone to make sure Rosa never told it.
May you like
The yacht rocked gently against its ropes. Claire had always thought of Margaret as untouchable: a woman who could silence a room with one look. In the cabin, with the rain on the windows and the evidence on the table, Margaret looked smaller. Not harmless. Never harmless. Just human, and therefore responsible for every choice she had made.
THE DRESS FULL OF SECRETS |
