Chapter 11 - THE WITNESS WHO VANISHEDThe theater erupted.
People ran.
Security teams shouted.
Police stormed through the entrances.
Victor disappeared through a hidden passage before anyone could reach him.
Jasper was taken into custody.
But I didn't move.
I stared at Mother.
"The original heir."
She looked at me.
"Caleb..."
"Tell me."
"I was going to."
"Now."
She started crying.
Isabella stood between us.
"Mom."
Mother whispered:
"Your father had another child."
I felt nothing.
Not shock.
Not anger.
Nothing.
"Who?"
Mother looked toward the stage.
"Elena."
I froze.
"My father had another son?"
"No."
She shook her head.
"A daughter."
A girl born before Marcus married Mother.
A girl everyone believed had died.
Her name was Rebecca Montgomery.
My half-sister.
The true heir to the family trust.
And the only person who knew where Marcus had hidden the original ledger.
"Where is she?"
Mother looked away.
"She's dead."
I didn't believe her.
"How?"
"Car accident."
"When?"
"Twenty years ago."
I pulled out my phone.
"Then why is her name still active in the trust?"
Mother stared.
She didn't know.
The answer came from Isabella.
"Because someone is pretending to be her."
We searched the records.
Rebecca's identity had been used recently.
Not by Victor.
Not by Jasper.
By someone else.
Someone transferring money through accounts tied to the Blackwood network.
I found a location.
An old rehabilitation center.
We arrived before sunrise.
The building looked abandoned.
Inside, the halls smelled of disinfectant.
Room 214 was unlocked.
A woman sat beside the window.
She turned when we entered.
She was older than me by perhaps ten years.
Dark hair.
Green eyes.
The same small scar above her eyebrow as our father.
She looked at me.
"You're Caleb."
My heart stopped.
"Rebecca?"
She smiled sadly.
"I wondered when you'd find me."
Isabella stepped forward.
"But Mom said you died."
Rebecca laughed.
"She was protecting me."
"From Victor?"
"From everyone."
Rebecca explained that she had survived the crash but was badly injured.
Marcus had hidden her identity because Victor was searching for her.
She had lived under another name for years.
Then she saw what Jasper was doing to Isabella.
She came back.
"Why didn't you contact us?"
"Because Victor was watching you."
She handed me a small metal cylinder.
"The original ledger."
I stared.
"The one everyone is killing for?"
She nodded.
"Your father hid it in a place Victor would never search."
"Where?"
"Inside the Blackwood estate."
I frowned.
"We searched the house."
"Not the chapel."
There was an old family chapel beneath the estate.
Rebecca gave me another warning.
"Don't go there alone."
"Why?"
She looked at Isabella.
"Because Jasper knew about it."
Isabella's face changed.
"Then why didn't he tell Victor?"
Rebecca whispered:
"Because the chapel contains proof that Jasper planned to betray Victor years ago."
A crash sounded outside.
Glass shattered.
Rebecca stood.
"We need to leave."
Gunfire echoed through the hallway.
Victor's men.
I grabbed Isabella.
Rebecca grabbed the cylinder.
We ran.
Halfway down the corridor, Rebecca stopped.
Her face went pale.
Someone stood at the end of the hall.
Jasper.
He had escaped custody.
He was holding a gun.
But he wasn't aiming at us.
He was aiming behind us.
Victor's men.
Jasper looked at me.
"For once, Caleb..."
May you like
He raised the weapon.
"I'm on your side."
