CHAPTER 6: THE SISTER THEY ERASED
I couldn't breathe.
My sister.
The word echoed through my head.
My sister.
For twenty-two years, I had believed I was an only child.
My mother had never spoken about another daughter.
My father had never mentioned one.
My uncle had never slipped.
Not once.
But now the photograph was in my hand.
Emily.
A little girl with my mother's eyes.
A little girl I suddenly remembered holding hands with.
A little girl who had screamed while someone dragged her away.
I looked at my uncle.
“You took her.”
He didn't answer.
“You took my sister.”
His face had gone completely expressionless.
“Don't call her that.”
My blood ran cold.
“What?”
“She wasn't your sister.”
“She was.”
“No.”
His voice became sharper.
“She was the reason everything happened.”
I stepped toward him.
“What does that mean?”
He looked at the photograph.
“Your mother wasn't supposed to have her.”
I felt sick.
“Not supposed to have her?”
He closed his eyes.
“You were born first.”
“So?”
“Emily wasn't your father's child.”
The words hit me like a physical blow.
I looked at Margaret.
She was crying.
I looked at Ethan.
He looked stunned.
Then I looked back at my uncle.
“Who was her father?”
He didn't answer.
“Who?”
My uncle finally whispered:
“My brother.”
I frowned.
“Your brother?”
“Your father's brother.”
I stared at him.
“My father had a brother?”
“Yes.”
“Why have I never heard about him?”
“Because he died.”
“When?”
“Before you were born.”
“How?”
My uncle looked away.
“An accident.”
I almost laughed.
Another accident.
Another convenient death.
Another story.
“You're lying.”
He didn't deny it.
I stepped closer.
“What was his name?”
My uncle's lips tightened.
“Michael.”
The name triggered another memory.
A man's voice.
A warm laugh.
A hand lifting me onto his shoulders.
Then my mother's voice.
“Don't tell your father.”
I stumbled backward.
My head throbbed.
Sophie grabbed my hand.
“Mommy.”
I closed my eyes.
More memories came.
Emily sitting beside me.
Emily holding a red toy rabbit.
Emily whispering:
“Promise you won't leave me.”
I had promised.
Then someone came.
A door slammed.
My mother screamed.
And Emily disappeared.
I opened my eyes.
“I remember.”
My uncle looked terrified.
“What do you remember?”
“You took her.”
“No.”
“You dragged her away.”
“I was trying to save her.”
“From what?”
He didn't answer.
“From who?”
Still nothing.
I shouted:
“FROM WHO?”
My uncle finally looked at me.
“Your father.”
The room fell silent.
I shook my head.
“No.”
“Your father wanted Emily dead.”
“Why?”
“Because she wasn't his daughter.”
“That doesn't explain anything.”
“It does when you understand who her father was.”
He looked at Margaret.
Then at Ethan.
Then back at me.
“Michael wasn't just your father's brother.”
My uncle swallowed.
“He was the person who owned half the company before your father took control.”
Margaret whispered:
“My grandfather's partner.”
I turned toward her.
“You knew?”
“My grandfather told me before he died.”
“What happened to Michael?”
My uncle answered.
“Your father killed him.”
I stared.
“When?”
“Before Emily was born.”
My mind raced.
“So Emily was born after Michael died?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did my father want her dead?”
“Because she inherited Michael's shares.”
I understood.
A child.
An inheritance.
Millions of dollars.
Control of an empire.
My uncle continued.
“Michael left everything to his unborn child.”
Margaret's eyes widened.
“And your father couldn't accept that.”
I looked at my uncle.
“So my father tried to kill Emily.”
“Yes.”
“And my mother protected her.”
“Yes.”
“You helped my mother.”
He looked down.
“At first.”
“What happened?”
“I realized your father would kill all of us.”
“So you betrayed her.”
He nodded.
“You took Emily.”
“Yes.”
“Where did you take her?”
Silence.
“WHERE?”
My uncle looked toward the floor.
“I gave her to someone.”
My blood froze.
“Who?”
“A family.”
“What family?”
He didn't answer.
Margaret suddenly stepped forward.
“The Blackwoods.”
My uncle looked at her.
She whispered:
“You gave Emily to the Blackwoods.”
I stared at her.
“Who are the Blackwoods?”
Margaret's face was pale.
“My grandfather's enemies.”
She pulled a folded document from inside her wedding dress.
I stared.
“You brought that to the wedding?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I knew someone would come for it.”
She handed it to me.
The document was old.
Yellowed.
Official.
At the top was a name.
EMILY HART.
Underneath was a new name.
EMILY BLACKWOOD.
My hands trembled.
“She survived.”
Margaret nodded.
“But nobody knows where she is now.”
I looked at my uncle.
“You do.”
“No.”
“You do.”
“I haven't seen her in twenty-two years.”
“Then why are you afraid?”
He didn't answer.
Suddenly Daniel shouted from across the room.
“I found something!”
Everyone turned.
He was holding the memory card.
He had managed to retrieve it from beneath the table.
“I think it's encrypted.”
“Can you open it?”
“Maybe.”
My uncle's expression changed.
He lunged toward Daniel.
Ethan caught him.
The two men crashed into a table.
Guests screamed.
I grabbed Sophie and moved away.
Daniel ran toward the ballroom exit.
“Stay back!”
My uncle shouted:
“Give me the card!”
“No!”
Daniel disappeared through the door.
My uncle broke free from Ethan and ran after him.
I followed.
We entered the service corridor.
The lights flickered overhead.
Daniel was running ahead.
My uncle was behind him.
Then a door slammed.
I stopped.
“Daniel!”
No answer.
I opened the door.
The corridor was empty.
The memory card lay on the floor.
I picked it up.
There was blood on it.
My heart dropped.
“Daniel?”
Nothing.
Then I heard footsteps behind me.
I turned.
My uncle stood at the end of the corridor.
His suit was torn.
Blood stained his sleeve.
But he wasn't holding a weapon.
He was holding a phone.
He looked at me.
“Listen carefully.”
I tightened my grip around the memory card.
“You're going to tell me everything.”
“No.”
“Then I'll take this to the police.”
“You can't.”
“Why?”
“Because the card contains proof that you were never supposed to exist.”
I froze.
“What?”
He stepped closer.
“The records on that card don't just expose your father's crimes.”
He looked directly into my eyes.
“They prove your birth certificate is fake.”
My stomach dropped.
“What are you talking about?”
He whispered:
“Your name isn't what you think it is.”
I couldn't speak.
Then his phone rang.
He answered.
A woman's voice came through.
My mother's voice.
“Don't believe him.”
I stared at my uncle.
My mother's voice continued:
“He's lying because he's terrified you'll discover who your real father was.”
The call ended.
My uncle lowered the phone.
I stared at him.
“Who was my real father?”
He closed his eyes.
Then he whispered:
“Michael.”
The man who had supposedly died before I was born.
The man who was supposedly Emily's father.
The man whose identity had been erased.
My uncle looked at the memory card.
And then he said something that shattered everything I thought I knew.
“You weren't his first daughter.”
I felt the world disappear beneath my feet.
“You were his twin.”
And somewhere inside the darkened ballroom, a woman screamed.
“RUN!”
I turned.
May you like
The lights went out again.
Then a gunshot exploded through the corridor.
