Chapter 14
1402 Words
THE OTHER GIRL
The lights went out.
Complete darkness swallowed the mansion.
For one horrible second, nobody moved.
Then my mother screamed.
“ELENA!”
“I’m here!”
Adrian grabbed my hand.
“Stay with me.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
A crash came from the kitchen.
Then another.
Someone was inside the house.
Adrian pulled me behind him and raised his gun.
“Show yourself!”
Nothing.
“Come out!”
A woman’s voice floated through the darkness.
“Still protecting her?”
I froze.
I knew that voice.
Isabella.
Adrian’s grip tightened around my hand.
“Where are you?”
A soft laugh answered him.
“You really don’t recognize me?”
The emergency lights flickered on.
The hallway appeared in dim red light.
Isabella stood at the top of the staircase.
But she wasn’t alone.
The other woman stood beside her.
My face.
My eyes.
My scar.
Everything.
I couldn’t breathe.
“Oh, f**k…”
Adrian stared at her.
“What the hell?”
The woman smiled.
Isabella looked at me.
“Meet your sister.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
The woman slowly walked down the stairs.
“Yes.”
She stopped several feet away.
“I’ve been waiting a very long time to meet you.”
I stared at her.
“Who are you?”
She smiled.
“My name is Evelyn.”
“Evelyn what?”
“Vale.”
The name hit me like a punch.
Adrian looked at Isabella.
“Another Vale?”
Isabella nodded.
“She’s the third child.”
My entire body went numb.
“You’re my sister?”
Evelyn nodded.
“Yes.”
I looked at Isabella.
“Then what are you?”
Isabella smiled.
“That is the funny part.”
She walked down another step.
“I’m not your sister.”
My stomach dropped.
“What?”
Isabella looked directly at Evelyn.
“She is.”
I stared at Evelyn.
Then at Isabella.
“You lied to me.”
“Yes.”
“You pretended to be my sister.”
“Yes.”
“You let me believe you were part of this family.”
“I needed you to trust me.”
“You pulled a gun on me!”
“I needed you to fear me.”
“Why?”
Isabella’s smile disappeared.
“Because if you trusted me too much, you would’ve asked the wrong questions.”
I laughed bitterly.
“You’re a f*****g psychopath.”
“Maybe.”
Evelyn interrupted.
“She’s not the one you should be angry with.”
I looked at her.
“Then who?”
She pointed toward my mother.
Her finger trembled.
“Her.”
My mother began crying.
“No.”
Evelyn’s expression hardened.
“You knew.”
Sophia shook her head.
“I didn’t know you survived.”
Evelyn laughed.
“Survived?”
She stepped closer.
“You didn’t even look for me.”
My mother covered her mouth.
“I was told you were dead.”
“Who told you?”
Sophia didn’t answer.
Evelyn looked at Marcus.
“You?”
Marcus lowered his head.
I stared at him.
“You told my mother Evelyn was dead?”
“I was following orders.”
“Whose orders?”
Marcus looked at me.
“Your father’s.”
My stomach twisted.
“My father?”
“Yes.”
Evelyn laughed.
“There’s the lie.”
She reached into her coat and pulled out a small envelope.
She threw it toward me.
I caught it.
“What’s this?”
“My birth records.”
I opened the envelope.
Inside was a hospital certificate.
My eyes moved across the page.
Three names.
Three babies.
Three mothers.
I read the first.
ELENA CROSS.
Then the second.
EVELYN VALE.
Then the third.
I stopped.
My hands started shaking.
The third name was:
ISABELLA MARLOWE.
I looked up.
“What the f**k?”
Isabella smiled.
“Now you understand.”
I stared at the certificate.
“You were the third baby?”
“Yes.”
“But you said Evelyn was the third child.”
“I said Evelyn was the third child.”
She stepped closer.
“She wasn’t the third baby born that night.”
My mind struggled to keep up.
“Then what was she?”
Evelyn’s eyes filled with tears.
“The fourth.”
Silence.
Nobody moved.
Adrian whispered:
“Four children?”
Evelyn nodded.
“Yes.”
My mother started sobbing.
I looked at her.
“You had four babies?”
She shook her head.
“No.”
“Then explain this!”
“I can’t.”
“Of course you f*****g can’t.”
I threw the certificate onto the table.
“This entire family is insane.”
Adrian picked it up.
His expression changed as he read it.
“This certificate has a different hospital seal.”
Marcus stepped closer.
“Let me see.”
Adrian pulled it away.
“No.”
Marcus glared at him.
“Give it to me.”
“Why?”
“Because I know that seal.”
Adrian stared at him.
“Whose seal is it?”
Marcus didn’t answer.
I stepped toward him.
“Tell me.”
He looked at me.
“Gabriel Vale’s private clinic.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
“Gabriel operated a private medical facility outside Blackwood Falls.”
“Why didn’t anyone know about it?”
“Because it was closed.”
“When?”
Marcus swallowed.
“Twenty-four years ago.”
I looked at Evelyn.
“Were you born there?”
She nodded.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
She looked at my mother.
“Because they couldn’t risk taking me to the hospital.”
“Who?”
Evelyn’s eyes filled with anger.
“Daniel Cross.”
My heart sank.
“Why was he afraid of you?”
She smiled bitterly.
“Because I wasn’t supposed to be born.”
Adrian looked confused.
“What does that mean?”
Evelyn looked at him.
“It means Gabriel wasn’t my father.”
Everyone froze.
“What?”
Evelyn looked at me.
“He wasn’t yours either.”
I felt the ground disappear beneath me.
“Then who is?”
Evelyn slowly pointed at Marcus.
My mouth fell open.
“No.”
Marcus closed his eyes.
“Evelyn…”
“Tell her.”
Marcus remained silent.
Evelyn’s voice became colder.
“Tell her who our father really was.”
Marcus looked at me.
His face was filled with guilt.
I stepped backward.
“Who?”
He whispered:
“Daniel Cross.”
My entire body went numb.
“No.”
Adrian looked at Marcus in disbelief.
“You’re saying Elena is Daniel’s daughter?”
Marcus nodded.
“Yes.”
“And Evelyn?”
“Yes.”
Adrian’s face hardened.
“Then why did Gabriel claim Elena was his daughter?”
Marcus looked at him.
“Because Gabriel adopted her.”
I couldn’t speak.
Everything was collapsing.
My mother.
Daniel.
Gabriel.
Evelyn.
Isabella.
Four children.
Different fathers.
Different records.
Different lies.
Then Evelyn whispered:
“But there’s one more thing.”
I looked at her.
“What?”
She stared directly into my eyes.
“Daniel wasn’t our father.”
I frowned.
“You just said he was.”
“I said that’s what the records say.”
My heart pounded.
“What are you talking about?”
Evelyn stepped closer.
“Those records were created to hide the real father.”
“Who?”
She looked toward the doorway.
Someone stood there.
My blood turned cold.
A man slowly stepped into the red emergency light.
He was older.
Gray hair.
Expensive black coat.
A familiar face from the photographs.
I had seen him before.
But never alive.
Adrian whispered:
“No…”
The man smiled.
“Hello, Adrian.”
Adrian raised his gun.
“You’re dead.”
The man laughed.
“Apparently, everyone in this family has a problem with dead men.”
My heart pounded.
I looked at Adrian.
“Who is he?”
Adrian’s face was white.
“That…”
He swallowed.
“…is Daniel Cross.”
The man smiled at me.
Then said:
“Hello, Elena.”
And suddenly I realized the most terrifying truth of all.
My father’s murder had never been about finding the killer.
Because the man we thought was dead…
had been alive the entire f*****g time.
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