Chapter 6 - The Eighty-Million-Dollar Secret
Everyone looked at Elena.
Nathan’s face hardened again.
“Elena?”
She stared at Vanessa.
Vanessa smiled wider.
“Go ahead.”
“Tell him.”
Elena drew a slow breath.
“I knew about the policy.”
Nathan’s eyes darkened.
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
“Did you buy it?”
“No.”
Ruiz stepped forward.
“The original policy predates Elena’s marriage to Mr. Howard.”
Nathan turned.
“What?”
Ruiz opened another file.
“The policy was purchased seven years ago.”
Nathan frowned.
“I was twenty-nine.”
“You were also engaged to someone else.”
The room became silent.
Nathan looked toward his mother.
Mrs. Howard’s face had gone pale.
Elena noticed immediately.
“Mrs. Howard?”
Nathan followed her gaze.
“Mom?”
Margaret Howard sat perfectly still.
Finally she whispered.
“Her name was Rebecca.”
Nathan’s expression changed.
“I remember Rebecca.”
“No.”
His mother looked at him.
“You remember what we allowed you to remember.”
Nathan took a step back.
“What does that mean?”
Margaret closed her eyes.
“Seven years ago, you were in a car accident.”
Nathan nodded slowly.
“You lost several weeks of memory.”
“I know.”
Margaret’s voice trembled.
“You and Rebecca had been fighting before the accident.”
“She disappeared afterward.”
Nathan stared at her.
“You told me she left.”
“That was what we believed.”
Ruiz looked toward Vanessa.
“She didn’t leave.”
Nathan’s attention snapped toward him.
Ruiz placed a photograph on the table.
Rebecca Mercer.
Twenty-six years old.
Dark hair.
Green eyes.
Nathan looked at the photograph.
Then he looked at Vanessa.
The resemblance was unmistakable.
Vanessa whispered.
“She was my sister.”
Elena felt the entire story shift beneath her feet.
Nathan looked stunned.
“Rebecca was your sister?”
Vanessa laughed bitterly.
“And none of you recognized me.”
“I changed my last name.”
“I changed my hair.”
“I changed everything that reminded me of her.”
Margaret stood.
“What happened to Rebecca?”
Vanessa’s expression turned vicious.
“You happened.”
Margaret recoiled.
“You drove her away.”
“You threatened her.”
“You told her she wasn’t good enough for the Howard family.”
Margaret whispered.
“I never harmed her.”
“No?”
Vanessa stepped forward despite the officer holding her arm.
“Then why did my sister disappear the night Nathan crashed?”
Ruiz watched Vanessa carefully.
“You believe Rebecca is dead.”
Vanessa’s eyes filled with genuine tears for the first time.
“I know she is.”
Nathan looked shaken.
“How?”
Vanessa stared at him.
“Because three days before you married Elena, I received Rebecca’s necklace in the mail.”
Elena felt Nathan stiffen beside her.
“There was no return address.”
Vanessa continued.
“Just one note.”
Ruiz asked.
“What did it say?”
Vanessa’s voice dropped.
“She never left you.”
Nobody moved.
Vanessa looked at Margaret.
“Someone inside this family made her disappear.”
Then she looked toward Elena.
“And I came here to find out who.”
For the first time, Elena realized something terrifying.
May you like
Vanessa might be guilty of everything they had recorded.
But she might not be the person who started the war.
