Chapter 8 - For the next seventy-two hours, the world believed my father had been kidnapped.That was the story leaked to the press.
ALVIN STERLING MISSING.
The stock market crashed.
The board panicked.
Competitors circled Sterling Maritime like wolves outside a wounded animal.
Diego's attorneys requested an emergency hearing.
Brenna filed for temporary guardianship of my unborn child.
Everything moved at once.
Too quickly.
Like a machine someone had designed long before I ever noticed the gears.
Then my father's lawyer found me.
“He left instructions.”
“What instructions?”
He gave me a key.
Small.
Metal.
Old.
“What is this?”
“Your father said you'd know.”
I didn't.
But there was a symbol engraved on it.
A black circle divided by three silver lines.
I had seen it before.
In my father's study.
Behind a painting.
I told the security team.
They moved me to his private estate.
The painting was still there.
The key opened a hidden compartment.
Inside was a handwritten note.
Just five words.
Trust the daughter, not the company.
I frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Then a second compartment opened.
Inside was a birth certificate.
Mine.
And another.
My mother's.
Except the mother's name wasn't the one I knew.
It was a different name.
Isabella Vale.
I stared.
“Vale…”
Vanessa Vale.
My mother's maiden identity.
The same family.
The same bloodline.
I suddenly understood.
Vanessa wasn't random.
She was connected to my mother.
And perhaps to me.
Detective Harris arrived twenty minutes later.
“We found Vanessa's real identity.”
“What?”
“She wasn't Vanessa Vale.”
“Then who was she?”
“Victoria Vale.”
My blood ran cold.
“That isn't…”
She handed me the file.
Victoria Vale was my mother's younger sister.
My aunt.
I stared at the photograph.
She looked exactly like my mother.
“Then why did everyone think she was Vanessa?”
“Because she created the identity eleven years ago.”
“Why?”
“To work inside your father's companies.”
I felt dizzy.
My mother had placed her sister inside Sterling.
My aunt had worked for Diego.
And Diego had unknowingly been working for my family.
Nothing made sense.
Then Detective Harris revealed the final piece.
“Victoria wasn't killed in the crash.”
I stared.
“What?”
“The body in the vehicle belonged to the security chief.”
“And Vanessa?”
“Gone.”
My heart pounded.
“So she faked her death.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To disappear.”
I thought of Holloway's warning.
Someone else may not be as patient.
Maybe Vanessa had tried to escape.
Maybe she knew something.
Then my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
A distorted voice said,
“Your mother wants to see you.”
“Where?”
“Come alone.”
“No.”
“You don't understand.”
“Then explain.”
A pause.
“We have your father.”
My breath stopped.
A photograph arrived.
My father.
Bound to a chair.
Alive.
A cut above his eyebrow.
I stared.
“When?”
“Tonight.”
“Where?”
“Sterling Shipyard Twelve.”
I looked at Detective Harris.
She understood immediately.
“Don't go.”
The voice continued.
“Bring the trust key.”
I looked at the key in my hand.
They knew about it.
That meant someone inside my father's estate was informing them.
I whispered,
“I'll come.”
My father tried to lift his head in the photograph.
Then his lips moved.
I zoomed in.
He was saying something.
Three words.
DO NOT COME.
I stared at the screen.
The voice returned.
“One more thing.”
“What?”
“Congratulations.”
I froze.
“Your baby has a new legal guardian.”
The call ended.
I looked at Detective Harris.
“What does that mean?”
She checked her phone.
Her face turned pale.
“Brenna's petition was approved.”
“No.”
“Effective immediately.”
I stared at the screen.
May you like
My unborn daughter had a legal guardian.
And it wasn't me.
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