Chapter 12 - The Twin Nobody MentionedHer name was Evelyn Hart.
Beatrice's younger sister.
She had disappeared at twenty-six.
Officially, she was presumed dead.
Unofficially, she had changed identities.
Several times.
Daniel found photographs.
Evelyn at twenty-four.
Evelyn at thirty.
Evelyn at forty-five.
Different names.
Same eyes.
Same scar beneath her left ear.
The woman in the footage had the scar.
I stared at the photographs.
“Why was she involved with the trust?”
Daniel explained that Evelyn had once worked for Terrence's grandmother.
She understood the financial structure.
She knew where the money was.
And she stole from it.
But she didn't steal alone.
She had an accomplice.
Julian Cross.
I felt dizzy.
“So this started decades ago.”
“Yes.”
“And Terrence spent his life cleaning it up.”
“Yes.”
“And now I'm standing in the middle of it.”
Daniel looked at me.
“Exactly.”
I asked the question I had been avoiding.
“Where is Evelyn?”
He placed a map on the table.
A coastal property.
Abandoned.
Purchased under a false identity.
We went there that night.
The house was empty.
Almost.
A tape recorder sat on the kitchen table.
It turned on automatically.
A woman's voice filled the room.
“Elise.”
I froze.
“By the time you hear this, you will know the money was never the real prize.”
The voice belonged to Evelyn.
“The trust was created to protect a network of companies from hostile acquisition.”
She paused.
“Julian Cross spent thirty years trying to control it.”
Another pause.
“Terrence stopped him.”
The recording crackled.
“Then Beatrice made a deal.”
“With Julian.”
I closed my eyes.
“Your husband's death was the price.”
My fists tightened.
“But there is something you still don't know.”
The tape clicked.
Silence.
Then Evelyn spoke again.
“Terrence asked me to protect you.”
My breath caught.
“That's why I returned.”
I stared at Daniel.
“Returned?”
The voice continued.
“Unfortunately, Beatrice discovered I was alive.”
A floorboard creaked upstairs.
We all froze.
Daniel drew his weapon.
Footsteps.
Slow.
Measured.
Then a woman's voice drifted down the staircase.
“Elise.”
I looked up.
A woman stepped into view.
Older.
Elegant.
Silver hair.
Scar beneath her ear.
Evelyn.
“You look like your mother,” she said.
I couldn't speak.
She came down the stairs.
“I have one question.”
“What?”
“Did Terrence tell you why he chose you?”
“Chose me?”
Evelyn's expression softened.
“He didn't marry you by accident.”
My stomach dropped.
“What does that mean?”
Before she could answer, the windows shattered.
Gunmen opened fire.
Daniel dragged me behind the kitchen island.
Evelyn vanished through the back door.
May you like
And on the floor beside me was a bullet casing engraved with one word.
CROSS.
