HIS NAME ON HER RUIN. EPISODE 38: The Third Daughter
1212 Words
Victoria stared at the photograph.
Three babies.
Three names.
Her hands trembled.
“Catherine.”
She looked at Adrian.
“Your mother.”
Adrian didn’t answer.
His eyes were fixed on the photograph.
“That can’t be right.”
Alexander stepped closer.
“Let me see.”
Victoria handed it to him.
The moment he saw it, his face changed.
“No.”
“What?” Victoria asked.
Alexander shook his head.
“This isn’t possible.”
Adrian took the photograph.
On the back was a date.
The same date as his birth.
Below it was a sentence.
ONE CHILD WAS TAKEN. ONE CHILD WAS REPLACED. ONE CHILD WAS HIDDEN.
Victoria’s pulse raced.
“Which one was taken?”
Alexander stared at the photograph.
“I don’t know.”
“Then find out.”
“We need Catherine.”
Victoria turned toward the doorway.
Evelyn was still lying on the floor.
Blood stained her dress.
Adrian crouched beside her and checked her pulse.
“She’s alive.”
Victoria exhaled.
“Then she’ll tell us.”
Evelyn’s eyes suddenly opened.
She smiled.
“You still think I’m the villain.”
Victoria stepped toward her.
“You’ve manipulated my entire life.”
“Yes.”
“You lied about my birth.”
“Yes.”
“You threatened my father.”
“Yes.”
Victoria’s voice broke.
“Then tell me the truth.”
Evelyn looked at her.
“I did.”
Victoria froze.
“What?”
Evelyn slowly reached into her pocket.
She pulled out a small key.
Black.
Old.
Identical to the key Adrian had found in the archive.
“Your birth records are beneath the chapel.”
Alexander’s face tightened.
“The crypt.”
Evelyn nodded.
“The original records were never destroyed.”
Adrian stood.
“Where is Catherine?”
Evelyn looked at him.
“She went willingly.”
Victoria’s heart dropped.
“Willingly where?”
“To Elias.”
Adrian’s expression became murderous.
“Why?”
Evelyn smiled faintly.
“Because Catherine is the only person who knows which daughter was supposed to inherit the Blackwell bloodline.”
Victoria stared.
“Why would she go to him?”
“Because he threatened her son.”
Adrian froze.
“Me?”
Evelyn nodded.
“He promised to kill you if she didn’t cooperate.”
Victoria’s chest tightened.
Catherine had sacrificed herself for Adrian.
Again.
“Where is Elias?” Adrian asked.
Evelyn’s smile disappeared.
“Under the old Blackwell estate.”
Victoria frowned.
“The estate?”
“The place where he was buried.”
Adrian looked at Alexander.
“You said he was alive.”
“He is.”
“Then why would he be hiding beneath his own grave?”
Alexander’s expression darkened.
“Because that’s where he kept the things he didn’t want anyone to find.”
The crypt.
The original records.
The truth.
Victoria looked at Adrian.
“Take me there.”
“No.”
Her eyes hardened.
“Adrian.”
“It could be a trap.”
“It is a trap.”
She stepped closer.
“But I’m going.”
He stared at her.
“You could die.”
“So could you.”
“That doesn’t make it acceptable.”
Victoria grabbed the front of his shirt.
“Then stop trying to protect me from everything.”
His eyes darkened.
“You think I don’t know that?”
“Then trust me.”
For several seconds, neither moved.
Then Adrian lowered his forehead against hers.
“You make it impossible to keep you safe.”
Victoria whispered:
“Maybe I don’t need to be kept safe.”
His hand settled against her waist.
“That’s the problem.”
The moment stretched.
Dark.
Intimate.
Dangerously close.
Then Alexander cleared his throat.
“We have a kidnapping to stop.”
Victoria stepped back.
Adrian’s mouth curved slightly.
“Saved by my uncle.”
Alexander glared at him.
“Don’t get comfortable.”
They left the chapel.
But before Victoria crossed the doorway, she noticed something.
Evelyn was watching her.
Not with hatred.
With fear.
Victoria stopped.
“What?”
Evelyn whispered:
“When you meet Elias, don’t let him call you by your name.”
Victoria frowned.
“Why?”
“Because he’ll know you’ve remembered.”
“Remembered what?”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
“Who you were before they made you Victoria.”
The crypt beneath the estate was colder than Victoria expected.
Adrian walked beside her, his gun drawn.
Alexander followed.
Every step echoed through the stone corridor.
At the end stood a massive iron door.
Adrian inserted the black key.
The lock clicked.
The door opened.
Inside were hundreds of files.
Photographs.
Birth certificates.
Hospital records.
Medical reports.
And one wall covered entirely in photographs of Victoria.
Her childhood.
Her school.
Her first hospital internship.
Her university graduation.
Her life.
Someone had been watching her.
For years.
Victoria felt sick.
Adrian’s expression became murderous.
“He monitored you.”
Alexander picked up a file.
“Not just monitored.”
He opened it.
“He documented her.”
Victoria moved closer.
Inside were photographs she had never seen.
Including one of herself at six years old.
Standing beside Samuel.
And behind them—
Catherine.
Victoria stared.
“She was there.”
Adrian looked at the photograph.
“She knew where you were.”
A sound came from the darkness.
Slow applause.
Victoria froze.
A man stepped forward.
Black suit.
Silver hair.
Calm smile.
Elias Blackwell.
Adrian raised his gun.
“Dad.”
Elias smiled.
“My son.”
Adrian’s finger tightened against the trigger.
“You’re supposed to be dead.”
“I’ve been dead for eighteen years.”
His eyes shifted toward Victoria.
“But some ghosts refuse to stay buried.”
Victoria’s heart pounded.
“Where is my mother?”
Elias smiled.
“Safe.”
“Where is Catherine?”
“Also safe.”
Victoria stepped forward.
“What do you want?”
Elias looked at her for a long moment.
Then he said quietly:
“I want my daughter back.”
Victoria stopped breathing.
Adrian turned toward him.
“You said Victoria wasn’t yours.”
“I said many things.”
Elias smiled.
“Most of them were lies.”
Victoria’s voice trembled.
“Who am I?”
Elias walked closer.
“You are the child everyone has been killing to possess.”
He stopped in front of her.
“The only heir who can destroy the Blackwell empire.”
Victoria stared at him.
“And the third daughter?”
Elias’s smile vanished.
“You’ve been asking the wrong question.”
He looked toward Adrian.
“The third daughter isn’t the mystery.”
He pointed at Victoria.
“She is.”
Adrian stepped between them.
“Stay away from her.”
Elias laughed softly.
“You still don’t understand.”
He leaned closer.
“The girl you call Victoria Sloane…”
His eyes locked with hers.
“…was never supposed to survive.”
A door slammed behind them.
Victoria turned.
The iron door had locked itself.
Then a voice came through the speakers.
Catherine’s voice.
“Victoria, don’t trust him.”
Elias smiled.
“Too late.”
The lights went out.
And Victoria heard a gunshot.
TO BE CONTINUED…
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