Chapter 12 - THE WOMAN CALLED ASHLEYElena couldn't speak.
She stared at the passport.
“Sophia died when she was nineteen.”
Charles shook his head.
“No. Sophia disappeared.”
“Why?”
“To protect her.”
“From whom?”
Charles looked at me.
“Your mother.”
The entire room felt colder.
“My mother?”
“She believed Sophia knew too much.”
Elena looked furious.
“She knew about David.”
“Yes.”
“And she knew Mom was involved.”
“Yes.”
“So she ran.”
“No.”
Charles corrected her.
“She was taken.”
I felt a chill.
“Taken by whom?”
Charles hesitated.
“Your father.”
I stared at him.
Dad had taken Sophia?
“Why?”
“To hide her.”
“From Mom?”
“Yes.”
“Then how did Ashley become Sophia?”
“She was given a new identity.”
I shook my head.
“So she grew up under a fake name?”
“Exactly.”
“Why marry Josh?”
Charles gave me a strange look.
“Because Josh knew who she was.”
I thought back to the cruise.
The urgency.
The cabin.
The legal threats.
The sudden spending.
It wasn't just Ashley stealing my cabin.
It was Sophia positioning herself inside the family.
But why?
I looked at Elena.
“She wanted the trust.”
Elena nodded slowly.
“And Josh wanted the same thing.”
“Were they working together?”
“Not entirely.”
Charles opened another file.
Inside were emails between Josh and Sophia.
I read them.
One message from Josh:
We need Luke to sign before Mom changes the plan.
Another from Sophia:
He won't sign.
Josh:
Then break him emotionally.
Sophia:
The cruise will do it.
I felt something inside me go numb.
Another email:
Take his cabin. Make him feel excluded. Then make him feel guilty for ruining Mom's birthday.
I closed my eyes.
It had all been planned.
Every word.
Every insult.
Every charge.
Every little humiliation.
Then I saw another message.
From Sophia to an unknown person:
Once Luke signs, we transfer Northstar.
The reply:
And Josh?
Sophia:
He gets the house and enough cash to disappear.
I stared at the screen.
They planned to erase Josh.
He was never supposed to inherit the full amount.
I looked at Charles.
“Who is the unknown person?”
He pointed at the email header.
The address was unfamiliar.
But the name attached to it wasn't.
Margaret Bennett.
Aunt Maggie.
Bella whispered:
“No.”
I scrolled further.
There were dozens of messages.
Mom.
Josh.
Sophia.
Aunt Maggie.
All coordinating.
But one person was missing.
My mother had lied.
Josh had lied.
Sophia had lied.
Aunt Maggie had lied.
But someone else had been pulling their strings.
I looked at Charles.
“Who?”
He slid one final photograph across the table.
A man standing beside my father twenty years earlier.
I recognized him.
He had visited our house when I was a child.
Dad's closest friend.
The family lawyer.
Charles Vane.
Except Charles was not the man in the photograph.
The man was younger.
Dark hair.
Sharp jaw.
And beneath the photograph was a name:
Richard Bennett.
My father.
I stared.
Then flipped the photo.
On the back:
NOT RICHARD.
I looked at Charles.
“What does that mean?”
May you like
He said:
“Your father had a twin.”
