Chapter 7 - We returned to the Moretti estate before dawn.Dominic's wound was superficial, but nobody slept.
Not me.
Not my brothers.
Not my mother.
The black card sat in the center of the dining table.
Evelyn Voss.
No company.
No address.
Nothing.
Nico had already searched every public database.
Nothing.
Gabriel traced financial records.
Nothing.
Luca checked legal filings.
Nothing.
She did not exist.
Or someone had made sure she didn't.
I stared at the name.
“Samuel has a daughter?”
My mother went pale.
“Not that I know of.”
Dominic looked at her.
“Mom.”
She lowered her eyes.
“I heard the name once.”
“When?”
“Before your father died.”
I leaned forward.
“What did he say?”
She took a breath.
“He said Evelyn was the only person Victor was afraid of.”
Silence.
Nico looked up.
“That's useful.”
“Why?”
“Because I found a connection.”
He turned his laptop toward me.
A photograph appeared.
A younger woman.
Late twenties.
Standing beside Victor Cole.
And a second photograph.
The same woman beside Samuel Voss.
Another photograph.
Beside my father.
Three men.
One woman.
Always in the background.
Always close.
Always hidden.
“Who is she?”
Nico answered,
“Her legal name appears to be Evelyn Mercer.”
I stared.
“Mercer?”
Luca nodded slowly.
“The Mercer family owned a private banking group.”
Gabriel's eyes widened.
“And they disappeared fifteen years ago.”
“Bankruptcy?”
“Murder.”
The room fell silent.
Nico continued.
“Every senior member of the Mercer family died in separate incidents over an eight-month period.”
I felt cold.
“Evelyn survived.”
“Yes.”
“Then she changed her name.”
“Apparently.”
“Why Voss?”
Nico looked at Samuel's records.
“She may have married him.”
My mother suddenly stood.
“I need to tell you something.”
Everyone turned.
She walked to the fireplace.
“There was someone else in your father's life.”
My chest tightened.
“Who?”
“Evelyn.”
Dominic froze.
“What?”
My mother nodded.
“Your father trusted her.”
“So she was his partner.”
“Business partner.”
“And Victor?”
“Yes.”
“Samuel?”
“Yes.”
I stared at the three names.
“It sounds like she was connected to all of them.”
My mother whispered,
“She was.”
Gabriel closed his laptop.
“Then perhaps she's the real architect.”
Nico frowned.
“There's another problem.”
“What?”
“She accessed the Moretti family trust yesterday.”
My heart stopped.
“How?”
“Through Elena's biometric authorization.”
I stared at him.
“That’s impossible.”
Nico shook his head.
“Unless somebody has your fingerprints.”
Adrian.
Vanessa.
Someone close.
I looked toward my mother.
Then Dominic.
Then my brothers.
No one moved.
Suddenly, I heard footsteps in the hallway.
A housekeeper appeared.
“Miss Moretti.”
“What?”
“There is a package for you.”
She handed me a small black box.
No sender.
No address.
I opened it.
Inside was a silver key.
And a note.
YOU HAVE SEARCHED THE FAMILY WRONG.
I turned it over.
On the back was written:
LOOK UNDER THE PERSON WHO RAISED YOU.
My hands went numb.
I looked at my mother.
She stared at the key.
Then her face collapsed.
“No.”
“What is it?”
She took one step backward.
“That key shouldn't exist.”
“Why?”
“It opens your father's study.”
I frowned.
“The study was destroyed.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“I lied.”
Dominic's expression darkened.
“Where is it?”
My mother looked at me.
“Under this house.”
We followed her into the west corridor.
At the end was a wall covered in family portraits.
She stopped in front of my father's photograph.
Her fingers pressed into the frame.
A hidden mechanism clicked.
The portrait swung open.
Behind it was a staircase.
My heart pounded.
“You kept a secret room under the house?”
“My husband did.”
We descended.
The air smelled old.
Dust covered the floor.
At the bottom stood a steel door.
I inserted the silver key.
The lock opened.
Inside were shelves filled with boxes.
Documents.
Photographs.
Hard drives.
And one large wooden chest.
Nico opened it.
Inside was a stack of letters.
Gabriel picked up the first.
“It’s addressed to Evelyn.”
I took it.
My father's handwriting.
Evelyn,
If Victor discovers that Elena is the beneficiary, he'll kill her.
I looked at my mother.
She said nothing.
I read the next line.
Samuel cannot know either.
Then the final sentence.
I have one person left whom I trust. Margaret Cole.
I stopped.
Margaret?
Adrian's mother?
The woman who had laughed while I was beaten?
The woman who ordered Vanessa to manipulate me?
That made no sense.
Unless...
Unless Margaret had been pretending too.
Luca pulled another letter from the box.
This one was dated twenty years later.
His face changed.
“Elena.”
“What?”
He handed it to me.
The letter began:
My dear Elena,
It was signed by Margaret Cole.
I looked up.
“When was this written?”
Luca answered,
“Three months ago.”
I read the first paragraph.
Then the blood drained from my face.
Margaret claimed she had spent years protecting me from the Cole family.
She claimed Adrian's marriage to me had not been her idea.
She claimed Victor was alive when she wrote the letter.
And she warned me about one person.
Evelyn Voss.
The final line was underlined.
Never trust the woman who claims she knows what your father wanted.
A sound came from behind us.
We turned.
My mother stood near the doorway.
She was crying.
Then she whispered,
“It's too late.”
“Why?”
She looked at the letters.
“Because Margaret isn't the person who wrote them.”
My stomach dropped.
“Who did?”
May you like
My mother stared at me.
“Your father.”
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