Chapter 8 - MY MOTHER'S CONFESSIONI stared at her.
“No.”
She lowered the gun.
“I had no choice.”
“You kidnapped my daughter?”
“I moved her.”
“Where?”
“She is safe.”
“Where?”
She looked at Rebecca.
“You know.”
Rebecca's face went pale.
“Yes.”
I turned.
“You both knew?”
My mother nodded.
“I thought your father would kill her.”
I couldn't breathe.
“You should have told me.”
“He would have killed you too.”
“Maybe.”
She wiped her tears.
“But at least I wouldn't be standing here wondering which people in my own family are monsters.”
My mother flinched.
“I am not the monster.”
“Then tell me where Emily is.”
She hesitated.
“Sarah has her.”
My heart stopped.
“She found her.”
“When?”
“Today.”
“Why did you let her take her?”
“Because Sarah is her mother.”
“That woman is a stranger to Emily.”
My mother looked at me.
“No.”
I shook my head.
“What are you saying?”
“Emily has known Sarah for years.”
I felt dizzy.
“What?”
My mother lowered her voice.
“Sarah never left completely.”
She explained.
After her supposed death, Sarah had secretly watched Emily from a distance.
She attended school events.
She sent birthday gifts through intermediaries.
She spoke to Emily on the phone using another identity.
She had been waiting.
Waiting until Emily was safe enough.
Until she could expose my father.
Until the trust was secure.
I wanted to believe it.
But another thought hit me.
“Then why did Emily say Rebecca was sending her away?”
My mother looked at Rebecca.
“Because Rebecca was afraid.”
Rebecca nodded.
“She didn't want Emily taken without a legal protection in place.”
I looked at her.
“So the note…”
“Was meant to scare you into stopping the wedding.”
“But why end the wedding?”
“Because your father needed the marriage.”
“What?”
Rebecca stepped forward.
“Your father had arranged a legal provision.”
She took the trust document from my hands.
“If you married today, Rebecca would become Emily's legal stepmother.”
I frowned.
“And?”
“And if you were later declared unfit, she would become the default guardian.”
“But she was working against him.”
“Yes.”
“Then why did he want me to marry her?”
Rebecca looked devastated.
“Because he knew he could control me through my father.”
I looked at Richard's face in my mind.
The wedding.
The guests.
The carefully arranged ceremony.
The locked doors.
It had all been designed.
My mother spoke softly.
“Andrew, there's something you still don't know.”
“What?”
She pointed to the last page of the trust.
“Your grandfather anticipated all of this.”
I read the final clause.
If the Bennett family attempted to interfere with Emily's inheritance, ownership would immediately transfer to an independent foundation.
But there was a condition.
The transfer would be triggered only if Emily personally identified the person who had endangered her.
I stared at the page.
“Emily has to identify them?”
“Yes.”
“That means she has evidence.”
“Exactly.”
“Where is she?”
My mother looked toward the window.
“Sarah took her to the place where it all began.”
“The hospital?”
“No.”
“The old estate?”
“No.”
I was losing patience.
“Where?”
My mother whispered:
“The cemetery.”
I froze.
“Our family cemetery?”
She shook her head.
“Sarah's.”
I looked at Rebecca.
She suddenly remembered something.
“Wait.”
“What?”
“When Sarah disappeared, she left something behind.”
“What?”
Rebecca grabbed my hand.
“A letter.”
“Where?”
“In the chapel.”
“The wedding chapel?”
“Yes.”
I stared at the clock.
The chapel had been evacuated.
The guests were gone.
But suddenly I knew where we had to go.
We rushed back.
At the entrance, someone had drawn a large red circle around my wedding portrait.
Inside the circle was one word:
LIAR.
Then I noticed blood on the floor.
A trail leading toward the altar.
We followed it.
Under the altar was a small envelope.
My name was written on it.
I opened it.
Inside was a photograph of Emily.
She was standing beside Sarah.
Both were smiling.
On the back, Sarah had written:
Andrew, I am sorry. But by the time you read this, I will already know whether you can save our daughter.
Below that was another sentence.
Trust no one wearing white.
I looked at Rebecca's wedding gown.
Then at my mother.
Then at the blood on the altar.
And realized the message was not about Rebecca.
May you like
It was about someone else.
Someone who had been standing beside me all day.
