Chapter 13 - My SisterThe word didn't make sense.
My sister.
I had spent my entire life believing I was an only child.
“What?”
Sophia started crying.
“Your father had a daughter before you were born.”
My mother looked shattered.
“You knew?”
“Yes,” Sophia said.
“You knew about me?”
“I did.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because Grandma made me promise.”
I looked at Daniel.
“Is this true?”
He nodded.
“Why did everyone lie?”
“Because your father wasn't always Daniel Miller.”
I frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Daniel sat down.
“Before your mother met me, I had another name.”
“Which was?”
He didn't answer.
Sophia did.
“Daniel Cross.”
Christopher stood immediately.
“That's impossible.”
Daniel looked at him.
“You remember the case.”
Christopher's face went white.
“The Cross investigation.”
“Yes.”
I looked between them.
“What investigation?”
Christopher spoke slowly.
“Twenty-five years ago, Daniel Cross disappeared after a financial fraud scandal.”
Daniel nodded.
“He wasn't the mastermind.”
“Then who was?”
Daniel looked at my grandmother's portrait on the wall.
“Evelyn.”
My mother gasped.
“No.”
Daniel continued.
“She built the financial structure.”
“You helped her?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To protect family money from people who wanted it.”
“Then why did she make you disappear?”
“Because I betrayed her.”
I stared.
“How?”
Daniel looked at Sophia.
“I told the wrong person where the money was.”
“Who?”
He said one name.
“Your uncle.”
My mother's brother.
Dead for fifteen years.
I frowned.
“He’s dead.”
“Yes.”
“Then why does this matter?”
“Because he had a son.”
Ben.
The room went silent.
Ben was the heir to the person who had originally tried to steal the money.
Everything suddenly connected.
Ben's greed wasn't random.
It had been inherited.
Daniel stood.
“Evelyn knew Ben would eventually come for the house.”
“Then why leave him the deed?”
“Because she wanted him to activate the liability.”
“And the second beneficiary?”
“Sophia.”
I looked at Sophia.
“What do you inherit?”
She shook her head.
“Not money.”
“Then what?”
“Authority.”
“Over what?”
“The trust.”
Christopher nodded.
“She has voting control.”
I stared.
“Then why do I need her?”
“Because you own the assets.”
“And she controls them?”
“Yes.”
“What does that mean?”
Sophia answered.
“It means neither of us can touch the money without the other.”
I laughed.
“Grandma built a family lock.”
“Exactly.”
Then my phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
One message.
BEN ISN'T THE THREAT ANYMORE.
A second message came immediately.
LOOK AT YOUR MOTHER.
May you like
I looked up.
She was gone.
