Chapter 13 - The Child Claire ForgotThe Memory Buried in Her Mind
Claire couldn't move.
“My child?”
Her grandmother nodded.
“You were twelve.”
Claire shook her head.
“That isn't possible.”
“You were unconscious for three days after the carriage accident.”
“No.”
“You lost part of your memory.”
Claire stepped backward.
“No.”
Her grandmother's voice trembled.
“You had a younger sister.”
Claire stared.
A flash struck her mind.
A baby blanket.
A tiny hand.
Her mother crying.
A red ribbon.
Then darkness.
Claire grabbed the edge of the table.
“I remember.”
Elias caught her.
Her grandmother continued.
“The child was born prematurely.”
“Where is she?”
“Victor took her.”
Claire's eyes filled with tears.
“Why?”
“Because the Bennett Trust recognized direct descendants.”
“A daughter wouldn't be enough?”
“She would.”
Claire understood.
Victor had been eliminating heirs.
Noah had died.
The second boy was Michael, not Bennett.
Claire was the only legal heir.
But then there was another.
A baby girl.
Another Bennett.
A threat.
“Where is she?”
Her grandmother hesitated.
Then reached beneath the mattress.
She pulled out a photograph.
A woman in her twenties.
Dark hair.
Green eyes.
Standing outside a diner.
Claire looked at the face.
She knew it.
She had seen it before.
At one of Daniel's charity events.
A waitress.
A woman Daniel had told her was “nobody important.”
Claire's voice became a whisper.
“That's Rebecca.”
Elias looked up.
“Daniel's assistant.”
Her grandmother nodded.
“Rebecca isn't Rebecca.”
Claire stared.
“She's your sister.”
Everything stopped.
The woman who had helped Daniel push her off the mountain was her own sister.
The sister she had spent twenty-seven years believing never existed.
Claire looked at the photograph.
“Does she know?”
“She was raised by Victor.”
“Does she know who I am?”
“No.”
“She tried to kill me.”
“Because Victor told her you killed her.”
Claire's breathing shook.
Then the phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered.
Rebecca's voice came through.
“Hello, Claire.”
Claire closed her eyes.
“Where is Alexander?”
Silence.
Then Rebecca said:
“Which Alexander?”
“Victor's hostage.”
A quiet laugh.
“You finally found the truth.”
“Are you my sister?”
Silence.
Claire waited.
Finally:
“Yes.”
The word broke something inside her.
“You tried to kill me.”
“I was told you were the reason I was abandoned.”
“That was a lie.”
“I know.”
“Then help me.”
Rebecca's voice changed.
“I can't.”
“Why?”
“Because Victor has Mother.”
Claire froze.
“Evelyn?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
Rebecca whispered:
“Under the old Bennett mine.”
Claire remembered the mine.
The hidden tunnels.
The carriage.
The chapel.
The entire mountain was a maze built around one family secret.
Rebecca continued:
“Victor is moving her tonight.”
“Where?”
“Across the mountain.”
“Why?”
“Because he knows the police are coming.”
Claire grabbed her coat.
“Rebecca, listen to me.”
A pause.
“You're my sister.”
Nothing.
Then a broken whisper:
“I know.”
The call ended.
Claire turned to Elias.
“We go.”
But Elias was staring at the doorway.
A man stood there.
Bloody.
Weak.
Daniel.
He held a key.
“The mine entrance,” he said.
Claire stared.
“Why help us?”
Daniel looked at her.
May you like
“Because my father is going to kill Rebecca next.”
Then he collapsed.
