CHAPTER 14 – The Last Heir
The church doors slowly closed behind Lydia.
Three sisters.
Three lives.
Three stories that had been torn apart by the same family.
Elena stared at the woman standing before her.
Her face carried no anger.
No hatred.
Only exhaustion.
The kind of exhaustion that comes from carrying a secret for too long.
Clara immediately stepped forward.
"Lydia."
Her voice was cold.
"Stay away from her."
Lydia smiled sadly.
"Still protecting Elena."
Clara's eyes narrowed.
"No."
A pause.
"Still trying to protect myself."
The words surprised everyone.
Even Elena.
"You hate me."
Lydia looked at Clara.
"Do I?"
Clara didn't answer.
Lydia continued:
"You spent twenty-eight years believing you were the forgotten daughter."
She looked at Elena.
"And she spent twenty-eight years believing she was the only child."
A pause.
"But neither of you knew the truth."
Elena stepped forward.
"Then tell me."
Everyone looked at her.
Her voice was calm.
But beneath it was everything.
The pain.
The anger.
The confusion.
"Tell me the truth."
Lydia looked at her.
"You really want that?"
"Yes."
"Even if it destroys everything?"
Elena nodded.
"I've already lost everything."
Lydia walked toward the table.
She placed a small black box on it.
Inside were documents.
Photos.
Records.
The missing pieces.
"The third child wasn't hidden because Alexander feared her."
Elena frowned.
"Then why?"
Lydia looked at Clara.
"Because Clara found out what Alexander did."
Clara's expression changed.
Years earlier...
Clara was fifteen.
She had spent her entire childhood moving from place to place with Isabella.
No identity.
No permanent home.
No explanation.
Then one night...
She discovered a locked room.
Inside were documents.
Photos.
Names.
And one file.
Her own.
She learned the truth.
Alexander didn't simply hide her.
He erased her.
But there was something worse.
He had done the same thing before.
"He didn't just erase children."
Lydia said quietly.
"He erased anyone who threatened his empire."
Ruiz looked at the documents.
"How many?"
Lydia answered:
"Too many."
Elena looked at Clara.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
Clara looked away.
"Because I was afraid."
"Of me?"
"No."
A pause.
"Of what you would become after knowing."
Elena frowned.
"What does that mean?"
Clara's voice became softer.
"Because you were always different."
Lydia interrupted.
"That's the part nobody understands."
She looked at Elena.
"Alexander wasn't afraid of Clara."
A pause.
"He was afraid of you."
Everyone froze.
Elena shook her head.
"Why?"
Lydia opened the black box.
She removed an old document.
"The Howard inheritance was never based on money."
She placed it on the table.
"It was based on blood."
She pointed at the signature.
"Only one person could legally restore the original family name."
Elena looked down.
Her name.
Not Clara's.
Not Lydia's.
Hers.
"Why me?"
Lydia smiled sadly.
"Because you were born last."
Elena looked confused.
"That makes no sense."
"It does in the old Howard rules."
Lydia explained.
"The youngest child was considered the final decision of the bloodline."
A pause.
"The child born after all conflicts ended."
Clara stepped backward.
"So Alexander spent twenty-eight years..."
"Trying to control the one person who could take everything from him."
Lydia finished.
At Howard Manor...
Alexander watched the live feed from the hidden cameras.
He watched Elena.
Clara.
Lydia.
Together.
For the first time in decades...
The man who controlled everyone looked uncertain.
Richard entered the room.
"You lost."
Alexander looked at him.
"No."
Richard laughed.
"Three daughters. Three witnesses. The truth is exposed."
Alexander smiled.
"You still don't understand."
Richard frowned.
"What?"
Alexander looked at the screen.
"I never needed the truth hidden."
A pause.
"I needed them to fight each other."
Richard's expression changed.
"What did you do?"
Alexander pressed a button.
A file appeared on the screen.
DNA results.
Three reports.
Elena.
Clara.
Lydia.
Richard looked confused.
"Why are you showing me this?"
Alexander smiled.
"Because one of them isn't Isabella's daughter."
Silence.
Back at the church...
Lydia suddenly received a message.
Her face changed.
Elena noticed.
"What happened?"
Lydia didn't answer.
She stared at the phone.
Then handed it to Elena.
A DNA report.
Three names.
Three results.
Elena read it.
Her expression slowly changed.
"No..."
Clara stepped closer.
"What?"
Elena looked up.
Her voice barely existed.
"One of us..."
A pause.
"Is not related to Isabella."
Nobody moved.
Because the final secret had arrived.
One of the three sisters...
Was an impostor.
Lydia looked at Clara.
Clara looked at Elena.
Elena looked at both of them.
Then...
The church lights went out.
A familiar voice echoed through the darkness.
Alexander.
"You spent your whole life searching for the truth."
A pause.
"But you never asked the most important question."
The lights flickered back on.
Alexander appeared on the screen.
Smiling.
"Who was the real daughter of Isabella Carter?"
The screen changed.
A hospital record appeared.
A birth certificate.
Then another.
Then another.
Three babies.
Three names.
But one name was crossed out.
Alexander's voice continued:
"The Howard family secret was never about inheritance."
"It was about identity."
The final image appeared.
A baby bracelet.
One word engraved on it.
Not Elena.
Not Clara.
Not Lydia.
A fourth name.
SOPHIA.
Elena stared.
"Who is Sophia?"
Nobody answered.
Then Ruiz's phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed.
"What?"
A pause.
"You're sure?"
Everyone looked at him.
Ruiz slowly lowered the phone.
His face was pale.
"We found another body."
Elena's heart stopped.
"Whose?"
Ruiz looked at the three women.
"The woman whose name is on the original birth record."
A pause.
"Isabella Carter."
The room froze.
Because Isabella was standing right there.
Alive.
But the police had just found her body.
Dead.
May you like
Buried twenty-eight years ago.
End of Chapter 14
