Chapter 16 — Evelyn Cross
1525 Words
Damian stared at the photograph on Elena's phone without saying a word. The young woman standing outside the café looked ordinary at first glance, but the longer Elena studied her face, the more impossible the resemblance became. She had her mother's eyes, the same delicate shape of her nose, and even the small beauty mark beneath her left eye that Elena had inherited. Around her neck hung the silver pendant Elena had seen in the photograph from twenty-three years ago.
Elena slowly lowered the phone.
“Who is Evelyn Cross?”
Damian's expression remained unreadable, but she could see something had changed behind his eyes.
“Damian.”
He looked at her.
“I asked you a question.”
“I don't know who she is.”
Elena laughed bitterly. “You're doing it again.”
“Doing what?”
“Lying to me.”
“I am not lying.”
“Then why did you look like that when you saw her name?”
Damian glanced at the photograph again.
“Because I recognize the name.”
“From where?”
“My family records.”
Richard suddenly spoke from behind them.
“Damian, you need to stop.”
Damian turned sharply.
“You know her.”
Richard's face became tense.
“I know the name.”
“That isn't what I asked.”
Elena looked at her father. “Dad, please. No more secrets.”
Richard lowered himself into a chair.
“Evelyn Cross was a child registered under the Cross family name.”
Elena's heart pounded.
“My sister.”
Richard nodded slowly.
“But there is something you need to understand.”
“What?”
“She was never supposed to be called Evelyn Cross.”
Damian frowned.
“Why?”
“Because that wasn't her original name.”
Elena stepped closer.
“What was her name?”
Richard looked at her.
“Your mother named her Emily.”
Elena felt tears gather in her eyes.
“Emily Hart.”
“Yes.”
She repeated the name quietly, almost as though saying it would make her sister real.
“Emily.”
Damian picked up the document again.
“Then why was she registered as Evelyn Cross?”
Richard shook his head.
“I don't know.”
“You do,” Damian said.
Richard looked at him.
“I know what I was told.”
“By whom?”
“Your father.”
The room became silent.
Damian's jaw tightened.
“What did he tell you?”
“That the child had to disappear.”
Elena stared at him.
“Why?”
Richard looked down.
“Because your mother had discovered the truth about the Cross family.”
“What truth?”
“She discovered that your father's family had been involved in something much bigger than financial fraud.”
Damian's eyes hardened.
“What?”
“Human trafficking.”
Elena's breath caught.
Richard continued, “Your mother found records showing that people were being moved through companies owned by members of the Cross family. She wanted to expose them.”
Damian shook his head.
“My father would never—”
“Your father wasn't alone.”
Richard's voice trembled.
“Several people were involved.”
“Victoria?”
“Yes.”
Damian's expression changed.
“And Victor?”
Richard nodded.
Elena felt sick.
“Why was my sister taken?”
“Because your mother threatened to expose everything.”
“So they took her to silence Mom?”
“Not exactly.”
Richard hesitated.
“They took Emily because she was leverage.”
Elena's eyes filled with tears.
“Against my mother?”
“Yes.”
“Then what happened to her?”
“I don't know.”
“You have to know something.”
“I was told she had been taken somewhere safe.”
“By whom?”
Richard looked at Damian.
“His father.”
Damian's face became pale.
“My father took her?”
Richard didn't answer.
Elena moved toward Damian.
“Do you know where she is?”
“No.”
“But she's alive.”
Damian looked at the photograph.
“I believe she is.”
Elena's phone vibrated again.
Another message.
YOU ARE GETTING CLOSER.
Then another appeared.
BUT YOU STILL DON'T KNOW WHY SHE WAS GIVEN THE CROSS NAME.
Elena showed Damian.
He stared at the screen.
“Whoever is sending these messages knows everything.”
“Then let's ask them.”
Another message arrived.
MIDNIGHT. BLACKWOOD ESTATE. COME ALONE.
Elena's heart pounded.
Blackwood Estate.
The property from her mother's will.
Damian saw the message.
“You're not going.”
“Yes, I am.”
“No.”
“My sister could be there.”
“It could be a trap.”
“Everything is a trap!”
Elena's voice broke.
“My mother, my father, the contract, the money—everything is connected. I'm tired of being afraid.”
Damian stepped closer.
“You're not going alone.”
“The message specifically says alone.”
“I don't care.”
Elena looked into his eyes.
“You'll come with me?”
“Yes.”
“Even though they might be expecting you?”
“Yes.”
She nodded.
“Then we go together.”
---
Three hours later, Damian's car stopped outside Blackwood Estate.
The property was surrounded by tall iron gates and thick trees. The mansion itself was enormous, but unlike the Cross mansion, it had been abandoned for years. Ivy covered the walls, and several windows were boarded up.
Elena stared at it.
“My mother left this to me.”
Damian looked at the house.
“Then there's probably something inside she wanted you to find.”
They entered through the front door.
The inside was covered in dust, but everything else remained strangely untouched.
Elena walked slowly through the hallway.
“It's almost like someone left in a hurry.”
Damian noticed something on the wall.
A family portrait.
He wiped away the dust.
Elena stood beside him.
It showed her mother.
Richard.
And two babies.
Elena's heart stopped.
“There are two.”
Damian looked closely.
The first baby was Elena.
The second was Emily.
But someone had scratched a black line across Emily's face.
“Why would someone do that?”
Damian studied the photograph.
“Because they didn't want anyone to recognize her.”
Elena touched the damaged photograph.
“Someone wanted my sister erased.”
They continued through the mansion until they reached a locked study.
Elena noticed a small symbol carved into the door.
The same symbol appeared on her mother's pendant.
Damian removed the silver pendant he carried.
“It may open this.”
He pressed it against the symbol.
The lock clicked.
The door opened.
Inside was a small room filled with old files.
Elena rushed toward the desk.
There were dozens of documents.
Birth records.
Medical records.
Bank statements.
Photographs.
Then she found a file with one name.
EMILY HART.
Her hands trembled as she opened it.
The first page contained a photograph of her sister as a baby.
The second page contained a medical record.
The third page made Elena stop breathing.
It was a recent document.
Dated only three months earlier.
PATIENT: EVELYN CROSS.
Elena looked at Damian.
“She was here.”
Damian took the document.
“Three months ago.”
“She came here.”
“Or someone brought her.”
Elena searched through the remaining papers.
Then she found a recent photograph.
It showed Evelyn standing beside a man.
Elena recognized him immediately.
She had seen him at the Cross mansion.
He was Damian's uncle.
Alexander Cross.
Damian's face hardened.
“My uncle.”
Elena looked at him.
“Then he knows where my sister is.”
Before Damian could answer, the lights suddenly came on.
A voice echoed through the room.
“You finally found it.”
Elena turned.
Alexander Cross stood in the doorway.
He was holding a gun.
Damian immediately stepped in front of Elena.
“Uncle.”
Alexander smiled.
“You shouldn't have come here, Damian.”
Elena's heart pounded.
“Where is my sister?”
Alexander looked at her.
“Your sister?”
“Yes. Evelyn.”
His smile faded.
“You don't understand what you've uncovered.”
“Then explain it.”
Alexander raised the gun slightly.
“Your mother should have left the past buried.”
Damian's voice became cold.
“Where is Evelyn?”
Alexander looked at him.
“She's alive.”
Elena's eyes filled with tears.
“Where?”
Alexander smiled again.
“She's closer than you think.”
A loud crash came from somewhere upstairs.
Everyone turned toward the sound.
Alexander's expression changed.
“She's here.”
Elena's heart stopped.
Then a woman's voice echoed through the mansion.
“Please…”
Elena froze.
The voice sounded strangely familiar.
“Please help me.”
Damian looked toward the staircase.
Alexander lowered his gun.
And Elena realized with horror that the woman calling for help wasn't a stranger.
It was the voice she had heard before.
The voice belonged to the woman in the photograph.
Evelyn.
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