Chapter 9 - Arthur spent the next hour uncovering a family history that had been buried for decades.His father had never had one child.
He had two.
Arthur.
And Lucy.
His younger sister had supposedly died in a boating accident when she was twelve.
There was a funeral.
A death certificate.
A grave.
But no body.
Arthur stared at the file.
“Why don't I remember seeing her body?”
Isabella answered,
“Because your father wouldn't let you.”
Arthur looked at her.
“What really happened?”
“Lucy survived.”
“Where is she?”
“I don't know.”
Arthur's voice became sharp.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I haven't seen her in twenty years.”
Emily interrupted.
“She came to the lake house.”
Everyone turned.
“When?”
“Last week.”
Arthur crouched beside her.
“What did she look like?”
“She looked like you.”
That sentence hit him harder than anything else.
The same eyes.
The same face.
The same scar above the eyebrow.
Arthur slowly stood.
“Where did she go?”
Emily pointed toward Isabella.
“She talked to Mommy.”
Isabella closed her eyes.
Arthur turned.
“You've met Lucy.”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“At the lake house.”
“When?”
“Six years ago.”
Arthur's face hardened.
“What happened?”
“She wanted Emily.”
“Why?”
“She said she was her mother.”
Silence.
Emily's voice was tiny.
“She wasn't.”
Arthur looked at her.
“You're sure?”
Emily nodded.
“She smelled like smoke.”
The room went still.
Blackwood.
The fire.
Arthur suddenly understood.
“Lucy was at Blackwood.”
The police officer checked records.
“No identification.”
But Daniel stepped forward.
“I know who she is.”
Everyone looked at him.
Daniel pulled a photograph from his pocket.
“This is Lucy Vale.”
Arthur stared.
The woman beside Daniel looked exactly like him.
Older.
Harder.
Alive.
Daniel continued.
“She survived the boating accident.”
“Why did my father hide her?”
“Because she found out about the trust.”
Arthur's blood ran cold.
“How?”
Daniel looked at Isabella.
“She was the first person who discovered your father's plan.”
Arthur turned.
“What plan?”
Daniel took a breath.
“He wanted to expose Thomas, Richard, and several executives who had been stealing from his company.”
“So Lucy helped him.”
“No.”
Daniel's voice was quiet.
“Lucy wanted the money for herself.”
Arthur's expression changed.
“What?”
“She believed your father stole her inheritance.”
“That doesn't justify this.”
“No.”
Daniel looked toward Ethan.
“But it explains why she never stopped.”
Suddenly the mansion lights went out.
The entire house fell into darkness.
A scream came from upstairs.
Everyone ran.
Arthur reached the hallway.
The window was open.
Ethan was gone.
Arthur's heart stopped.
“ETHAN!”
Chloe grabbed his arm.
“Arthur!”
A note lay on the floor.
He picked it up.
Only one sentence:
ONE CHILD WILL RETURN.
Below it was a second line.
CHOOSE WHICH ONE.
Arthur looked toward Emily.
Then toward the empty hallway.
His son was gone again.
May you like
And for the first time, he realized the person behind everything might not be Thomas.
It might be the sister he had mourned for twenty years.
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