Chapter 8 - THE SECRET OF THE TWINSClaire sat in my living room wrapped in a blanket.
Detective Cross had arrived.
Thomas was nowhere to be found.
Rachel sat opposite her sister.
Nobody spoke for several minutes.
Finally Claire said:
“Our father didn't kidnap me.”
She looked at me.
“He rescued me.”
Rachel's eyes filled with tears.
“From Mom?”
Claire nodded.
“Evelyn has been controlling everything.”
Cross frowned.
“Financially?”
“Financially, legally, medically.”
“What does that mean?”
Claire looked at me.
“She has been replacing people.”
“Replacing?”
“Not literally.”
Claire hesitated.
“She has been manipulating identities.”
She explained that her mother had built a network of shell companies and forged documents.
Whenever someone threatened to expose her, she used money, blackmail, and sometimes twins to create confusion.
Rachel had been recruited three days before my wedding because Evelyn believed Rachel could impersonate Claire convincingly.
“But why me?” Rachel asked.
Claire looked at her.
“Because you were afraid of Mom.”
Rachel's eyes dropped.
Claire continued:
“And because she had something over you.”
“What?”
Rachel didn't answer.
I stared at her.
“What did Evelyn threaten you with?”
Rachel whispered:
“Lily.”
My blood went cold.
Evelyn had threatened to take my daughter.
But why?
Claire reached into her bag.
“She needed Lily because of an inheritance clause.”
She put a document on the table.
The trust belonged to Lily.
Not me.
Not Claire.
Lily.
The trust had been established at birth by Claire's father.
And the value?
Forty-eight million dollars.
Cross leaned forward.
“Who controls it?”
Evelyn.
Until Lily turned eighteen.
“She has been using your marriage to gain permanent control,” Claire said.
“And if I refused?”
Claire looked at me.
“Then she planned to make you disappear.”
I remembered the fraudulent signatures.
The hidden room.
The photographs.
The man in black.
Everything suddenly connected.
Then the lights went out.
Lily screamed.
I grabbed her.
Something crashed in the kitchen.
Cross pulled his weapon.
“Stay down.”
A shadow crossed the doorway.
Then another.
Two men entered.
One grabbed Rachel.
The other reached for Lily.
I tackled him.
We crashed into the table.
Cross fired once into the ceiling.
The men fled.
But Rachel was gone.
I ran outside.
A black SUV was speeding away.
Claire stood beside me.
“She took Rachel.”
I looked at the road.
Then my phone vibrated.
A live video.
Rachel was tied to a chair.
Evelyn stood behind her.
She smiled.
“Bring Lily to me.”
I stared at the screen.
“If you don't…”
Evelyn lifted a knife toward Rachel's throat.
“…your fake bride dies.”
The video ended.
Lily began crying.
May you like
And Claire whispered:
“She wants both of us.”
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