Chapter 5 - I arrived at Bayfront Pavilion twenty minutes later.The wedding guests had already started arriving.
Luxury cars rolled beneath the entrance canopy.
Women in designer dresses stepped onto polished stone.
Men adjusted cufflinks.
Champagne flowed.
Music drifted through the ballroom.
It looked like the perfect wedding.
Which made everything feel wrong.
Sabrina was waiting for me near the private staircase.
She looked terrified.
Not sad.
Not angry.
Terrified.
“What happened?”
She grabbed my hand.
“I need you to listen.”
“I am.”
“My mom and Raymond have been fighting.”
“About what?”
“The money.”
I stared at her.
“What money?”
“The money from you.”
I already knew.
“How much?”
She swallowed.
“I don't know.”
“Try.”
“More than one hundred thousand.”
I closed my eyes.
She whispered:
“I thought it was for the wedding.”
“It wasn't.”
“I know.”
“How?”
She pulled a flash drive from her purse.
“Raymond left this in my room.”
“What's on it?”
“I haven't opened it.”
“Why?”
“Because it has a password.”
“What is the password?”
She looked at me.
“I think it's your wedding anniversary.”
My chest tightened.
We went into a private office.
I inserted the drive.
A folder appeared.
MERCER FAMILY.
Inside were dozens of files.
Bank statements.
Property records.
Emails.
Photos.
One video.
I clicked it.
The screen showed Victoria sitting across from Raymond.
“Once Daniel signs, the trust becomes yours.”
Raymond shook his head.
“Not yours.”
“What do you mean?”
“Sabrina's.”
Victoria frowned.
“Why?”
“Because if Daniel dies, his assets will trigger the succession clause.”
“To Sabrina?”
“To the person registered as his legal dependent.”
Victoria looked confused.
“So?”
Raymond leaned forward.
“Who's registered?”
She smiled.
“Sabrina.”
Raymond shook his head.
“No.”
Silence.
Then:
“Who?”
Raymond smiled.
“Another person.”
The video ended.
I stared at the screen.
Sabrina whispered:
“Who is that person?”
“I don't know.”
Then another file opened by itself.
A scanned legal document.
DEPENDENT BENEFICIARY: EMILY HART.
Neither of us spoke.
“Who is Emily Hart?” Sabrina asked.
I felt a strange sensation.
A memory.
A woman.
Twenty years ago.
A young woman who had once worked at my father’s accounting firm.
Her name had been Emily.
But she had disappeared.
I opened another file.
There was a birth certificate.
Emily Hart.
Age forty-two.
Same birth month as Sabrina.
Same city.
Then a photograph.
The woman in the photo looked familiar.
Not because I knew her.
Because Sabrina knew her.
Sabrina covered her mouth.
“That’s my mother.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
She pointed at the photograph.
“I've seen that woman.”
“Where?”
“At Raymond's house.”
I stared at her.
“When?”
“Last month.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because Raymond told me she was a lawyer.”
I opened another file.
This time it was a medical report.
The name on the report was Emily Hart.
The diagnosis line was blacked out.
But one sentence remained visible.
Patient remembers events surrounding child's birth.
My heart began pounding.
“Your mother has another identity.”
Sabrina stared at me.
“Then who is Victoria?”
“I don't know.”
Footsteps sounded outside.
Sabrina froze.
“Someone's coming.”
The office door opened.
Victoria stood there.
Her face was pale.
She looked at Sabrina.
Then at me.
Then at the screen.
She understood immediately.
“You opened it.”
Sabrina stepped back.
“Mom…”
Victoria stared at the computer.
“How much did you see?”
Sabrina raised her voice.
“Who is Emily Hart?”
Victoria said nothing.
“Mom!”
Still nothing.
Then Raymond appeared behind her.
He looked at the screen.
And for the first time, genuine fear crossed his face.
“Daniel.”
I stood.
“You have ten seconds.”
Raymond looked at Victoria.
She whispered:
“Tell him.”
He shook his head.
“Tell me what?”
Raymond sighed.
Then he said the sentence that changed everything.
“Victoria isn't Sabrina's mother.”
The room went silent.
Sabrina stared at him.
“What?”
Raymond continued.
“The woman you call Mom has been lying to you for twenty years.”
Victoria's face collapsed.
Sabrina looked at her.
“Is that true?”
Victoria opened her mouth.
Nothing came out.
Then someone knocked on the office door.
Three slow knocks.
Everyone turned.
The door opened.
An elderly woman stood there.
She looked at Sabrina.
Then at me.
May you like
And whispered:
“I've been waiting twenty years to meet my daughter.”
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