Chapter 7 - Jonathan could barely process the words.“Elena's mother?”
Lydia nodded.
“Yes.”
Mara stepped forward.
“Then why did you take my daughter?”
Lydia looked at her.
“Because your daughter was the key.”
“To what?”
“The trust.”
Jonathan held up the photograph.
“Then explain the two girls.”
Lydia sighed.
“When the babies were born, one was healthy. One was weak.”
Mara's voice trembled.
“My baby.”
“Yes.”
“Which one?”
Lydia ignored the question.
“The Vale family had a fortune locked behind a legal condition. Elena had to be declared missing.”
Jonathan frowned.
“Why?”
“Because someone was trying to kill her.”
Celeste spoke.
“That was the truth.”
Jonathan looked at her.
“Then why hide her?”
Celeste answered,
“Because hiding her was the only way to keep her alive.”
Mara stared at Celeste.
“You replaced my child.”
Celeste's eyes filled.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because the killers were watching you.”
Mara stepped back.
“And you thought stealing my baby was protection?”
“I thought both babies would live.”
Jonathan's voice was cold.
“You thought.”
Celeste lowered her head.
“I was wrong.”
Lydia laughed.
“You were all wrong.”
She pulled out another file.
“The killings weren't about Elena.”
She handed it to Jonathan.
“Read.”
Jonathan opened it.
The first pages contained financial records.
The trust wasn't forty million.
It was almost one hundred and twenty million dollars.
Jonathan's eyes widened.
But that wasn't the worst part.
A second account existed.
Hidden offshore.
Every year, money had been transferred into it.
Recipient:
J. HALE.
Jonathan froze.
His own name.
He looked up.
“I never received this.”
Lydia smiled.
“Exactly.”
He flipped through the pages.
There were transfers totaling millions.
Six years.
Twenty-four million dollars.
All apparently in his name.
Jonathan felt sick.
“Someone used my identity.”
Lydia nodded.
“Someone wanted you blamed when the money disappeared.”
Mara looked at him.
“Who?”
Jonathan knew before the answer came.
Richard.
He turned.
Richard was gone.
The warehouse door slammed.
Lydia smiled.
“He's running.”
Jonathan moved toward the exit.
Celeste grabbed his arm.
“Don't.”
Jonathan pulled free.
“He has Emma.”
Celeste shook her head.
“He doesn't.”
Jonathan stopped.
“What?”
Celeste pointed toward the chair.
Empty.
Emma was gone.
Again.
Jonathan ran through the warehouse.
Nothing.
No footsteps.
No movement.
Only a small silver bracelet lay on the concrete.
Mara picked it up.
It belonged to Emma.
Jonathan's phone buzzed.
A video.
He opened it.
Emma was walking beside someone.
A woman's hand held hers.
The camera moved closer.
The woman turned.
Jonathan stared.
She looked exactly like Mara.
But older.
Mara gasped.
“That isn't me.”
Jonathan shook his head.
The woman smiled into the camera.
“Hello, Jonathan.”
Then she turned Emma toward the camera.
“Tell him.”
Emma looked terrified.
“I'm sorry, Daddy.”
The woman whispered into her ear.
Emma looked up.
“I lied to you.”
Jonathan's blood went cold.
“About what?”
Emma began to cry.
“I'm not Emma.”
The video ended.
Mara dropped the bracelet.
“No.”
Jonathan stared at the black screen.
Then Lydia said quietly,
“You've been asking the wrong question.”
Jonathan looked at her.
“What question?”
Lydia smiled.
“You keep asking which girl is Emma.”
She stepped closer.
“The real question is.”
She paused.
“Who created the two identities?”
Jonathan frowned.
“Celeste?”
Lydia shook her head.
“Not even close.”
“Then who?”
Lydia opened another file.
A photograph slid out.
A man standing in a hospital hallway.
Jonathan knew him.
It was his father.
Dead for fifteen years.
Jonathan stared.
“No.”
Lydia said,
“Your father arranged the switch.”
Jonathan couldn't breathe.
“My father died before Emma was born.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“He didn't need to be alive.”
Lydia pointed to a document.
OPERATION LANTERN.
Jonathan read the names.
His father's.
Richard's.
Celeste's.
And one final name.
JONATHAN HALE.
His own.
Jonathan's hands began shaking.
“That can't be my signature.”
Lydia smiled.
“It isn't.”
He looked closer.
The signature was nearly perfect.
But the final letter was wrong.
Someone had forged it.
Then he noticed the date.
The document had been signed eight months before his father died.
Jonathan whispered,
“Why would my father do this?”
Lydia's answer was immediate.
“Because he knew you would have a child.”
Jonathan stared at her.
“And he needed that child.”
“Why?”
Lydia looked toward the darkness where Emma had disappeared.
“Because your family bloodline carries something worth more than one hundred million dollars.”
Jonathan's face hardened.
“What?”
May you like
Lydia leaned close.
“The real inheritance.”
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