CHAPTER 10 – The Daughter Who Chose Revenge
The photograph remained on Elena's phone screen.
Two women.
Standing together.
Smiling.
Her mother.
And her sister.
Two people who were supposed to be separated by death and tragedy.
But they weren't.
They had been together.
Planning.
Waiting.
Watching.
Elena felt something inside her collapse.
Not anger.
Not yet.
Something worse.
Disappointment.
Because after everything...
After every lie.
After every secret.
She had believed there was at least one person who truly loved her.
Her mother.
But even that was uncertain now.
The door opened.
Ruiz entered.
He immediately noticed Elena's expression.
"What happened?"
She handed him the phone.
He looked at the photograph.
His face changed.
"Where did you get this?"
"Clara sent it."
Ruiz looked up.
"Your sister contacted you?"
Elena nodded.
"And she said I should ask my mother."
A heavy silence followed.
Ruiz understood.
"Then we need to find Isabella."
But before they could leave...
Another message arrived.
This time from Isabella.
Only four words.
"Come alone, Elena."
Ruiz saw it.
"No."
Elena looked at him.
"I need answers."
"It's a trap."
"Maybe."
She looked toward the window.
"But if my entire life has been a trap..."
A pause.
"Then I need to finally see who built it."
Two hours later...
An abandoned church stood outside the city.
The place had been forgotten for years.
Broken windows.
Cracked walls.
A place where memories went to die.
Elena stepped inside alone.
The sound of her footsteps echoed.
Then...
A voice.
"You look just like her."
Elena stopped.
A woman stepped from the shadows.
Isabella Carter.
Her mother.
Alive.
Real.
Standing only a few meters away.
For a moment...
Elena couldn't speak.
Twenty-eight years.
Twenty-eight years of wondering.
Twenty-eight years of imagining.
And now...
She was here.
"You knew."
Elena's first words were not "hello."
Not "I missed you."
Only two words.
"You knew."
Isabella's eyes filled with tears.
"Yes."
"You knew Clara was alive."
"Yes."
"You knew who I was."
"Yes."
Each answer cut deeper.
Elena laughed softly.
"I spent my entire life thinking I had no family."
Isabella stepped forward.
"Elena..."
"No."
She raised her hand.
"Don't."
The pain in her voice stopped Isabella.
"Everyone keeps saying they protected me."
Elena's eyes filled.
"But nobody ever asked what I wanted."
Isabella lowered her head.
"You're right."
The admission surprised Elena.
"I made choices for you."
"Bad choices."
"Necessary choices."
Elena looked away.
"I don't know anymore."
Isabella walked toward an old wooden table.
On it was a small box.
She opened it.
Inside were two bracelets.
Baby bracelets.
One had Elena's name.
The other had Clara's.
"I never stopped being your mother."
Elena stared at them.
"Then why?"
Isabella touched the bracelets.
"Because Alexander found out about the twins."
Twenty-eight years earlier...
Alexander stood outside the hospital room.
His face was expressionless.
"Two children?"
The doctor nodded.
"Twins."
Alexander looked through the glass.
Two babies.
Two futures.
Two threats.
He whispered:
"Only one can inherit."
Isabella remembered that night.
"He decided one child would be raised publicly."
"And the other?"
Isabella looked at Elena.
"Hidden."
"Why Clara?"
Pain crossed her face.
"Because Clara was born first."
Elena frowned.
"What does that mean?"
"According to Howard family tradition..."
Isabella paused.
"The first child inherits everything."
Elena understood.
Alexander didn't hide Clara because she was weak.
He hid her because she was powerful.
"Where was she?"
Elena asked.
Isabella looked toward the broken window.
"With me."
A pause.
"At first."
Elena's eyes narrowed.
"At first?"
Isabella looked devastated.
"Then she learned the truth."
"What truth?"
"That Alexander didn't just steal the Howard fortune."
She looked at Elena.
"He destroyed the people who stood against him."
Elena whispered:
"And Clara wanted revenge."
Isabella didn't answer.
That was enough.
Meanwhile...
At Howard Manor...
Alexander sat in his office.
Adrian stood in front of him.
"You knew Clara was alive."
Alexander didn't deny it.
"Yes."
Adrian's hands clenched.
"Then why let everyone search for her?"
"Because I wanted her to come out."
Adrian frowned.
"Why?"
Alexander looked at him.
"Because revenge makes people predictable."
A pause.
"Your sister has spent twenty-eight years preparing."
He smiled.
"And that makes her dangerous."
Adrian stepped closer.
"You used Vanessa."
"Yes."
"You used me."
"Yes."
"You used Elena."
Alexander looked out the window.
"No."
His voice became quieter.
"I protected Elena."
Adrian laughed bitterly.
"You destroyed her life."
Alexander turned.
"You don't understand."
His eyes became cold.
"Elena is the only person who can stop Clara."
Back at the church...
Isabella grabbed Elena's hands.
"Listen to me."
"What?"
"Clara is not the enemy you think she is."
Elena frowned.
"She burned the basement."
"Because she wanted to destroy evidence."
"What evidence?"
Isabella looked terrified.
"The evidence proving what happened to her."
Suddenly...
The church doors opened.
Both women turned.
A figure stood there.
Clara.
She slowly walked inside.
Elena stared.
Seeing herself.
Her own face.
Her own eyes.
A living mirror.
Clara looked at her.
For a moment...
Neither sister spoke.
Then Clara smiled sadly.
"Hello, Elena."
Elena whispered:
"Why?"
Clara looked at Isabella.
Then back at her.
"Because you deserve to know why I became this."
Clara walked closer.
"I wasn't hidden because Alexander hated me."
A pause.
"He hid me because I saw what he did."
Elena frowned.
"What did you see?"
Clara's expression changed.
"I saw him kill someone."
Silence.
"Who?"
Clara looked directly at Elena.
"Our father."
Elena froze.
"Our father?"
Clara nodded.
"Thomas didn't disappear."
A pause.
"He was murdered."
The world seemed to stop.
"But everyone believed he ran away."
Clara stepped closer.
"Because Alexander made sure the truth died with him."
Then Clara handed Elena a small object.
A recording device.
"Listen."
Elena pressed the button.
Static.
Then a voice.
Thomas.
Alive.
Terrified.
"If anything happens to me..."
A pause.
"Tell my daughters..."
His voice broke.
"Tell them I loved them."
Then another voice.
Alexander.
Cold.
"I warned you."
The recording ended.
Elena looked at Clara.
Her sister's eyes were filled with tears.
"I didn't come back for money."
A pause.
"I came back because I wanted him to admit what he did."
She looked toward Howard Manor in the distance.
"And now..."
Her expression hardened.
"He will."
Suddenly, Elena's phone rang.
Ruiz.
She answered.
His voice was urgent.
"Elena."
"What happened?"
A pause.
"We found something."
"What?"
Ruiz took a breath.
"Alexander Howard's death certificate."
Elena frowned.
"What about it?"
Ruiz's voice lowered.
"It's fake."
Silence.
"What?"
"He never existed under his real name."
A pause.
"The man you've been calling Alexander Howard..."
"He is not a Howard."
Elena looked at Clara.
Her sister's face changed.
Because she knew.
And she whispered:
"Now you understand."
"The Howard family secret..."
May you like
"Was never about the money."
End of Chapter 10
