CHAPTER 4 — THE MAN WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD
The darkness lasted only three seconds.
But when the emergency lights flickered back on, the man was gone.
Emily stood frozen in the hallway.
Her heart hammered against her ribs.
She looked toward the place where he had been standing.
Empty.
No footsteps.
No open door.
Nothing.
Only the jade pendant remained on the floor.
The cracked pendant.
Emily slowly bent down and picked it up.
It was cold.
Unnaturally cold.
She turned it over.
There was an engraving on the back.
Not Eleanor's Little Rose.
This time, there were only four words.
YOU WERE NEVER LOST.
Emily's breathing stopped.
"Rose!"
Daniel's voice came from behind her.
She turned.
He was running toward her.
"What happened?"
Emily held up the pendant.
"I saw someone."
"Who?"
She couldn't speak.
Daniel reached her.
"Emily."
She finally whispered:
"My father."
Daniel froze.
"What?"
"My father."
She pointed toward the hallway.
"He was standing right there."
Daniel stared at her.
"Your father died."
"I know."
"Emily..."
"I know what I saw."
Daniel looked toward the empty corridor.
"Did he say anything?"
"He told me to run."
Daniel's expression darkened.
"From who?"
"I don't know."
A scream suddenly echoed from the ballroom.
They both turned.
"Mother!"
Daniel sprinted back.
Emily followed.
The ballroom had descended into chaos.
Guests were shouting.
Security guards were running between tables.
A woman was crying near the stage.
And Eleanor stood in the center of the room.
She was holding something in her hand.
A blue ring.
Emily stopped.
Her mother's final warning returned to her.
Never trust the woman with the blue ring.
"Where did you get that?" Emily asked.
Eleanor looked at her.
"It was Victoria's."
"Where is she?"
"She's gone."
Arthur rushed toward them.
"We need to leave."
Daniel shook his head.
"Not until we find Victoria."
Arthur grabbed his arm.
"You don't understand."
"What don't I understand?"
Arthur lowered his voice.
"That woman isn't running away."
Daniel stared at him.
"Then what is she doing?"
"Following a plan."
Arthur glanced around the ballroom.
"She wanted us all here tonight."
Emily felt a chill.
"Why?"
Arthur looked at the wedding altar.
"Because this was the only place where everyone who mattered would be gathered."
Eleanor's eyes narrowed.
"Everyone who mattered?"
Arthur nodded.
"The Whitmore family."
He looked at Emily.
"The Carter family."
Then he looked toward Daniel.
"And the people who helped bury the truth."
A gunshot exploded outside.
BANG!
The ballroom erupted.
People screamed.
Security guards shouted for everyone to get down.
Daniel immediately pulled Emily behind a marble pillar.
Eleanor dropped to the floor.
Arthur crawled toward the wall.
Another gunshot.
BANG!
Glass shattered.
A window exploded across the ballroom.
Emily covered her head.
"Daniel!"
"I'm here!"
"What's happening?"
"I don't know!"
Arthur shouted:
"Everyone stay down!"
The security guards rushed toward the windows.
Then the shooting stopped.
Silence.
Daniel looked over the pillar.
No attacker.
Only a black car speeding away outside.
A security guard ran toward the entrance.
"Sir!"
Daniel stood.
"What?"
"You need to see this."
The guard pointed toward the floor.
A small envelope lay beside the broken window.
Daniel picked it up.
His name was written on it.
DANIEL WHITMORE.
He looked at Emily.
"This is for me."
"Open it."
He tore it open.
Inside was a single photograph.
Daniel stared.
His face changed.
Emily looked over his shoulder.
It showed two babies.
A boy.
And a girl.
They were lying beside each other in a hospital nursery.
The girl wore the jade pendant.
The boy wore a small silver bracelet.
Emily recognized the girl.
Herself.
But the boy...
Daniel stared at the bracelet.
His hand began shaking.
"What?"
Emily looked at him.
"What is it?"
He turned the photograph over.
On the back was a date.
March 14.
Thirty years ago.
Then beneath it:
TWINS.
Emily's breath caught.
"Twins?"
Daniel looked at her.
"We were born on the same day."
Arthur slowly approached.
He saw the photograph.
His expression collapsed.
"No."
Eleanor looked at him.
"What?"
Arthur took the photograph.
He stared at it for several seconds.
"That's impossible."
"Why?" Daniel demanded.
Arthur looked at him.
"Because Eleanor was never told she had twins."
Eleanor stood.
"What are you talking about?"
Arthur looked at her.
"Richard told the hospital there was only one child."
Eleanor's eyes widened.
"But I gave birth to one baby."
Arthur shook his head.
"No."
He pointed at the photograph.
"You gave birth to two."
The room seemed to tilt.
Eleanor grabbed the edge of a table.
"I would have known."
"Richard hid it."
"Why?"
Arthur didn't answer.
Daniel stepped closer.
"Who is the boy?"
Arthur looked at him.
"You."
Daniel shook his head.
"No."
"Yes."
"Then why was I adopted?"
Arthur's expression was grim.
"Because you weren't adopted after Rose disappeared."
Daniel's face went pale.
"You were adopted the same night."
Eleanor stared at Arthur.
"You knew?"
"I discovered it recently."
"You knew my son was my biological child?"
Arthur shook his head.
"I knew he was one of your children."
Eleanor's breathing became uneven.
"One of my children?"
Arthur nodded.
"The hospital records were altered."
Daniel clenched his fists.
"So who changed them?"
Arthur looked toward the broken window.
"I don't know."
A voice came from behind them.
"I do."
Everyone turned.
A man stood near the ballroom entrance.
He was old.
His face was pale.
His suit was soaked from the rain.
Eleanor stared.
She knew him.
"Dr. Samuel Reed."
The old doctor lowered his eyes.
"Mrs. Whitmore."
Arthur stepped forward.
"You were the doctor?"
Samuel nodded.
"I delivered the babies."
Eleanor's voice shook.
"Both of them?"
"Yes."
"Why did you tell me I had one child?"
Samuel looked devastated.
"Because I was ordered to."
"By whom?"
He didn't answer.
Eleanor grabbed his arm.
"By whom?"
Samuel closed his eyes.
"Your husband."
Eleanor released him.
"Richard."
Samuel nodded.
"He told me the second child had to disappear."
Daniel's face turned white.
"Why?"
Samuel looked at him.
"Because your birth threatened everything."
"What does that mean?"
Samuel swallowed.
"Your father had a secret."
"What secret?"
"He wasn't your biological father."
The ballroom went silent.
Eleanor stared.
"What?"
Samuel continued.
"Richard was not the father of either child."
Eleanor's face drained of color.
"Then who was?"
Samuel looked at Emily.
Then at Daniel.
"Your father was another man."
Daniel's voice cracked.
"Who?"
Samuel hesitated.
Then he whispered:
"Thomas Carter."
Emily stopped breathing.
"That's impossible."
Thomas Carter was her mother's brother.
Her uncle.
The man who had died before Emily was born.
Samuel shook his head.
"Thomas wasn't your uncle."
Emily's eyes widened.
"He was your biological father."
She staggered backward.
"No."
Daniel looked at Eleanor.
"So Richard wasn't our father."
"No."
"And Margaret wasn't our mother?"
Samuel shook his head.
"Margaret was your mother."
Emily's mind raced.
"Then Thomas..."
"Your biological father."
Daniel suddenly laughed.
It was a broken, disbelieving sound.
"So Richard stole us?"
Samuel looked at Eleanor.
"Not exactly."
Eleanor whispered:
"Then what did he do?"
Samuel's expression became haunted.
"He separated the twins."
"Why?"
"Because one child was supposed to inherit."
Daniel frowned.
"What?"
Samuel looked at him.
"Your father had discovered that the Whitmore fortune was not originally Richard's."
Eleanor froze.
"What are you saying?"
Samuel took a breath.
"Thomas Carter was the rightful heir."
Emily stared.
Her entire family history seemed to be collapsing.
Samuel continued.
"Richard married you because of the inheritance."
Eleanor shook her head.
"No."
"He needed Thomas gone."
"No."
"He arranged the accident."
Eleanor's eyes widened.
"What accident?"
Samuel looked at Emily.
"The accident that killed Thomas."
Emily's hand flew to her mouth.
Her father.
The man she had spent her childhood believing was only her uncle.
The man whose grave she had visited every year.
He had not died in an accident.
He had been murdered.
And Richard had done it.
But then Samuel said something that made the room go completely silent.
"Except Thomas survived."
Emily's heart stopped.
"What?"
Samuel looked toward the doors.
"He survived."
Eleanor whispered:
"Where is he?"
Samuel's eyes filled with fear.
"He was alive for eleven years after the accident."
Daniel stepped forward.
"Where?"
Samuel's voice dropped.
"He was the man who raised you."
Emily stared.
"What?"
Samuel looked at Daniel.
"Your father was never dead."
Daniel's face went white.
"The man you believed was your foster father..."
Samuel swallowed.
"...was Thomas Carter."
Silence.
Then a woman's scream came from the hallway.
Everyone turned.
Victoria stood there.
Blood covered her blue dress.
She was holding a gun.
But she wasn't pointing it at them.
She was pointing it at herself.
Eleanor whispered:
"Victoria..."
Victoria looked directly at Emily.
"I'm sorry."
Then she said something that made Emily's blood freeze.
"Your father is alive."
A gunshot echoed.
BANG!
Victoria collapsed.
Emily screamed.
Daniel rushed toward her.
But before he reached Victoria, the woman grabbed his wrist.
Her eyes were fading.
"Don't trust..."
She struggled to breathe.
"Don't trust..."
Daniel bent closer.
"Who?"
Victoria whispered her final words.
"Your mother."
Her hand went limp.
Eleanor stared in horror.
Emily slowly turned toward her.
The woman who had just claimed to be her mother.
The woman who had spent thirty years mourning her.
The woman who had tried to destroy her wedding.
And now Victoria's final warning echoed through the ballroom.
Don't trust your mother.
Then somewhere upstairs, a door slammed.
And a man's voice shouted:
"RUN!"
Emily looked up.
She knew that voice.
The same voice she had heard in the hallway.
The voice of the man who was supposed to be dead.
Her father.
May you like
Thomas Carter.
And he was coming for them.
