Chapter 12 - The Mother Who Sold Her DaughterSubtitle: My Past Was the Final PieceMy mother had always told me my father died suddenly.
Heart attack.
No warning.
No suspects.
No secrets.
That story was a lie.
My mother met us at a secure location the next morning.
She looked older than I remembered.
"Elena."
I didn't hug her.
"Tell me everything."
She cried.
"I was afraid."
"Of Richard?"
She nodded.
"He threatened your father."
"And you?"
"He threatened you."
My hands shook.
"So you betrayed him."
She lowered her head.
"I gave him one file."
"One?"
"The wrong file."
I stared at her.
"What?"
"Your father knew I was being watched. He made me give Richard a decoy."
I froze.
"Then why did you disappear?"
"Because Richard killed the investigator who was helping us."
My mother's voice broke.
"I thought they would kill you next."
She reached into her purse.
And handed me an old key.
"This belonged to your father."
I recognized it.
It was the same key that had opened the drawer.
"What's this for?"
"The original records."
I stared at her.
"Where?"
She whispered:
"Under the courthouse."
The old county courthouse had a sealed archive beneath it.
My father had stored evidence there.
Mike arranged immediate access.
We descended underground.
The room smelled of dust and old paper.
At the far end was a steel box.
The key fit.
Inside were dozens of documents.
Original deeds.
Corporate registrations.
Bank records.
And one envelope addressed to me.
I opened it.
My father's handwriting.
Elena,
The Sterling family will try to make you believe they own your life.
They do not.
You are the legal successor to the company they stole.
But money is not your inheritance.
Truth is.
I started crying.
Then Victoria found something.
A birth certificate.
Not mine.
Karen's.
She stared at it.
"This is strange."
"What?"
"The date of birth."
Karen's mother had registered her under a different surname.
Victoria looked at me.
"Karen Sterling isn't Richard's biological daughter."
Silence.
"What?"
Mike stepped closer.
"Then who is she?"
We checked DNA records.
Karen's biological father had once worked for Sterling Holdings.
He had died under suspicious circumstances.
And there was another revelation.
Karen wasn't infertile.
Her medical file had been falsified.
She could have children.
She had been told otherwise by a private clinic owned by Sterling Holdings.
I felt sick.
"They lied to her."
"Yes," Victoria said.
"Why?"
Then it became obvious.
Karen was manipulated.
If she believed she could never have children, she would accept Leo.
If she accepted Leo, Richard could control the trust.
Karen wasn't the mastermind.
She was another victim.
Then her phone rang.
She answered.
Her face changed.
"What?"
She listened.
Then looked at us.
"Daniel's missing."
I stood.
"He was taken?"
Karen shook her head.
"No."
She whispered:
"He escaped."
A few seconds later, another message arrived on my phone.
From Daniel.
DON'T TRUST ANYONE.
NOT EVEN KAREN.
Then another message.
I KNOW WHO ORDERED MY FATHER TO KILL YOUR FATHER.
My blood ran cold.
May you like
The final message appeared.
AND IT WASN'T RICHARD.
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