Chapter 10 - My Mother's GraveWe drove through the night.
The graveyard was forty miles away.
My mother's grave was exactly where the photograph said it was.
But something was wrong.
The stone was old.
The flowers were fresh.
Someone had visited recently.
Mara knelt beside it.
"This isn't a grave."
I looked at her.
"What?"
"The ground."
She pressed her hand against the soil.
"Too loose."
We dug.
Three feet down, we found a metal box.
Inside was a passport.
A photograph.
And several letters.
The passport belonged to my mother.
The photograph showed her standing outside a hospital.
The date was six months after her supposed death.
I couldn't speak.
My mother had survived.
Then the letters changed everything.
She had been investigating Daniel's father.
She had discovered Adrian was alive.
And she'd learned that Daniel wasn't simply fighting his family.
He was using his marriage as bait.
One letter was addressed to me.
I opened it.
My dearest Claire,
If you are reading this, then I failed to protect you.
I cried before I could continue.
Daniel will tell you he loves you. He may even believe it. But there is something you don't know.
I looked at Daniel.
He stood several feet away.
Your father discovered that Adrian was not the dangerous son. Daniel was.
I felt the world stop.
I looked up.
Daniel's face was completely white.
He didn't deny it.
I kept reading.
Daniel was the son who learned to manipulate, lie, and destroy. Adrian was the one they blamed because he was easier to control.
My hands shook.
"Daniel..."
He whispered:
"I can explain."
I stepped away.
"Did you kill my father?"
"No."
"Did you help cover it up?"
He hesitated.
That hesitation was enough.
I slapped him again.
This time he caught my wrist.
"Claire, listen."
I pulled free.
"Did you?"
"I was seventeen."
"That's not an answer."
"I helped my father hide evidence."
I stared at him.
"Why?"
"Because I thought he had killed someone else."
"Who?"
"My brother."
Everything suddenly clicked.
Daniel had spent years believing Adrian was dead.
Then he'd learned his father had lied.
And since then, he had been searching.
But there was one problem.
The person manipulating everyone might not be Adrian.
It might be Daniel.
A car engine started behind us.
We turned.
Headlights flooded the cemetery.
A man stepped out.
He looked exactly like Daniel.
Same face.
Same height.
Same eyes.
But there was something different about him.
A scar ran down his cheek.
He smiled.
"Hello, Claire."
Daniel whispered:
"Adrian."
Adrian looked at his twin.
Then at me.
"You finally married him."
May you like
He laughed.
"Now you can help me expose what he did."
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