Chapter 7 - Jessica's NecklaceCassidy replayed the image twelve times.
The pendant was unmistakable.
A silver oval with a tiny engraved crescent.
Her mother had worn it every day.
The necklace had disappeared after Lily's supposed death.
Cassidy had never seen it again.
Until Jessica.
Arthur was staring at the photograph.
“Maybe it's a copy.”
“No.”
“You're certain?”
“My mother had only one.”
Daniel entered.
“Ma'am, Jessica is downstairs.”
Cassidy looked at him.
“Bring her.”
Jessica entered the room.
She looked terrified.
Cassidy placed the photograph on the table.
Jessica saw it.
Her face drained of color.
“You know this woman.”
“No.”
“Your necklace.”
Jessica immediately touched her neck.
The pendant was there.
Cassidy stepped closer.
“Where did you get it?”
Jessica's lips trembled.
“Brendan gave it to me.”
“Why?”
“He said it belonged to his family.”
Cassidy stared.
“Did he tell you anything else?”
Jessica shook her head.
Cassidy looked at Daniel.
“Search the Morrison estate.”
Jessica suddenly grabbed Cassidy's sleeve.
“Please.”
Cassidy looked down.
Jessica whispered:
“You don't understand.”
“Then explain.”
“Brendan told me if I spoke, someone would kill me.”
“Who?”
Jessica looked toward the door.
“Diane.”
Cassidy went still.
Jessica continued.
“She told me the company didn't belong to you.”
“Then what did she say?”
“She said you were only carrying it temporarily.”
Arthur frowned.
“Temporarily?”
Jessica nodded.
“She said after the baby was born, everything would return to the Morrisons.”
Cassidy looked at Arthur.
“That isn't in the trust.”
“I know.”
Jessica swallowed.
“She also told me something about Lily.”
Cassidy stepped forward.
“What?”
Jessica whispered:
“She said Lily was supposed to marry Brendan.”
Silence.
Cassidy stared.
Arthur looked equally stunned.
Jessica continued.
“Diane said the families had planned it years ago.”
Cassidy's mind raced.
If Lily had survived...
If she had been raised under another identity...
If Diane wanted Brendan connected to her...
Then Jessica had never been the real threat.
She had been a placeholder.
A distraction.
A piece placed between Cassidy and the real plan.
Cassidy looked at Jessica.
“Why did Brendan choose you?”
“I don't know.”
“Try.”
Jessica began crying.
“He said you weren't giving him what he needed.”
“What?”
“The access.”
Cassidy's eyes sharpened.
“Access to what?”
Jessica looked terrified.
“The ownership system.”
Arthur swore under his breath.
Cassidy understood.
Brendan had married her because he knew she controlled the company.
Then he had tried to manipulate her into transferring authority.
Jessica had been the pressure point.
The affair.
The humiliation.
The family attacks.
Everything had been designed to make Cassidy sign away control.
The pregnancy complicated things.
Cassidy's daughter would create a new beneficiary.
So they needed Cassidy emotionally unstable.
Divorce.
Scandal.
Public humiliation.
Then a legal claim that she was mentally or financially incapable of managing the company.
Cassidy slowly smiled.
They had made one mistake.
They had believed she was trapped.
She wasn't.
She had been waiting.
“Where is Lily?” Cassidy asked.
Jessica shook her head.
“I don't know.”
“You're lying.”
“No.”
Jessica stepped closer.
“I only know where Brendan sends money.”
Cassidy stared.
“Where?”
Jessica gave her a handwritten address.
It was an apartment across town.
Daniel verified it.
No one lived there.
But the lease existed.
Under the name Lily Vale.
Cassidy's heart hammered.
She turned.
“We go now.”
Arthur said:
“Cassidy, think carefully.”
She stopped.
“What?”
“This could be a trap.”
Cassidy looked at him.
“I know.”
She placed the address in her pocket.
“That's why I want them to think it worked.”
She walked toward the elevator.
Behind her, Jessica whispered:
“Cassidy.”
Cassidy turned.
Jessica's eyes filled with fear.
“There is one thing I never told Brendan.”
“What?”
“The first time I met Lily…”
Cassidy's heart stopped.
“When was that?”
Jessica lowered her voice.
“Two weeks before your wedding.”
The elevator doors opened.
Cassidy stared at her.
“Where?”
Jessica's lips trembled.
“At the house.”
Cassidy stepped inside.
“What house?”
Jessica answered:
“The house where you and Brendan first lived.”
May you like
The doors closed.
And for the first time in three years, Cassidy realized the woman she had thought was dead might have been standing only a few rooms away from her on the day she became a Morrison.
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