Chapter 6 - Ava forgot how to breathe.Claire stood at the bottom of the staircase.

Older.

Thinner.

A scar near her temple.

But unmistakably Claire.

Her sister.

Her ghost.

Her impossible sister.

Ava whispered:

“Claire?”

Claire's eyes filled with tears.

“Yes.”

Ava began crying.

“No.”

Claire stepped forward.

“Yes.”

Ava shook her head.

“You died.”

“I was told you needed to believe that.”

“By who?”

Claire looked at Margaret.

“Her.”

Margaret's face hardened.

“Don't.”

Claire laughed bitterly.

“You lied to her for twelve years.”

“I kept her alive.”

“You kept her ignorant.”

Daniel walked down the stairs.

Ethan stared at him.

“Dad.”

Daniel stopped.

For the first time, his face softened.

“You look like your grandfather.”

Ethan's voice trembled.

“You're dead.”

“I know.”

“That doesn't answer the question.”

Daniel looked at Ava.

“Your father knew the truth.”

“My father is the truth.”

Daniel nodded.

“And he died protecting it.”

Ava looked between them.

“What truth?”

Claire answered.

“Your family didn't build a fortune.”

She stepped closer.

“They built a network.”

“What kind?”

“People who buy identities.”

Ava frowned.

“Why?”

“Money.”

“That makes no sense.”

“It does when the dead can become alive.”

Daniel placed a folder on the table.

Inside were medical records.

Birth certificates.

Adoption papers.

DNA reports.

Names repeated across different identities.

Claire pointed.

“Your father's company wasn't an investment company.”

“It was a laboratory.”

Ava stared.

“What?”

“Not a normal laboratory.”

Claire swallowed.

“They studied memory.”

Ava's blood ran cold.

“The drugs?”

“They can suppress short-term memory.”

Ava remembered Margaret's words.

You won't remember refusing.

Claire continued.

“They experimented on people with inheritance disputes.”

Rowan stared.

“That's insane.”

Daniel shook his head.

“We have proof.”

He opened a video.

Ava watched a younger version of herself.

Age seventeen.

Sitting in a medical room.

A doctor asking questions.

“What is your name?”

“Ava Hart.”

“Do you remember the accident?”

“No.”

“What accident?”

Ava's stomach twisted.

“I was seventeen.”

Claire shook her head.

“You were seventeen when they first tested it.”

Ava looked at Ethan.

“You knew.”

He shook his head.

“No.”

Margaret laughed.

“You both still think Ethan is innocent?”

Ethan turned.

“What do you mean?”

Margaret looked at Ava.

“Ask him about the envelope.”

Ethan's face went pale.

Ava noticed.

“What envelope?”

Ethan said nothing.

Ava looked at him.

“What envelope?”

He pulled an envelope from his jacket.

It had been sealed.

“I found it in the safe.”

“Why didn't you show me?”

“Because I didn't understand it.”

“Open it.”

Inside was a photograph.

Ethan at a party.

Margaret beside him.

And behind them…

Ava.

But the photograph was dated six months before Ethan had ever met her.

Ava stared.

“That isn't possible.”

Claire whispered:

“It is.”

Ava looked at Ethan.

“You knew me before we met.”

“I didn't.”

“Then why are you in the same photograph?”

Ethan's eyes filled with confusion.

“I don't know.”

Daniel spoke.

“Because your marriage wasn't an accident.”

Ava's heart stopped.

“What?”

“You were introduced to him.”

“By whom?”

Daniel looked at Margaret.

“She arranged it.”

Margaret laughed.

“Yes.”

Ava felt betrayed all over again.

“You chose my husband.”

Margaret's expression became almost sympathetic.

“We chose someone who could control you.”

Ethan recoiled.

“I never controlled her.”

“You were supposed to.”

Ava looked at him.

“Did you ever receive money from my father?”

Ethan froze.

Ava's heart sank.

“How much?”

He couldn't answer.

“How much?”

“$2 million.”

Silence.

Ava closed her eyes.

“From the trust?”

“Yes.”

“For what?”

“I was twenty-four.”

“You were paid to marry me.”

“No.”

“You were paid to enter my life.”

Ethan stepped forward.

“I fell in love with you.”

Ava looked at him.

“I believe you.”

His eyes widened.

“But I don't know when that stopped being true.”

A siren sounded outside.

Rowan looked toward the window.

Police vehicles approached.

“Who called them?”

Daniel suddenly looked frightened.

“Not me.”

Claire grabbed Ava's wheelchair.

“We have to leave.”

“Why?”

Claire looked at the road.

“There aren't police cars.”

Rowan moved to the window.

His face changed.

“They're black vans.”

Daniel whispered:

“They found us.”

The lights outside went dark.

Then every window in the building shattered at once.

And a voice came through the speakers hidden in the ceiling.

“Bring us Ava.”

May you like

I Came Home Early and Found My Housekeeper’s 3-Year-Old Daughter Scrubbi...

I returned home hours earlier than expected and discovered my housekeeper’s three-year-old daughter standing barefoot in the laund...

My Family Inherited Millions and Left Me a Ruined House. Four Months Lat...

The lawyer’s office fell silent as my grandmother’s will was read, and I watched my family inherit millions while I received nothi...

A Desperate Mother Begged a Billionaire for a Job to Feed Her Two Childr...

I was stranded on a lonely Arizona highway with two starving children, a pair of ruined suitcases, and no way to reach our destina...

Margaret smiled.

Because someone had finally come for her daughter.