“WHAT DO YOU MEAN GABRIEL WAS SUPPOSED TO REPLACE ME?” Alexander Vance stared at the woman on his phone screen.
Isabella Santos sat in a dimly lit room, her dark hair streaked with gray, her face thinner than the photographs Maria remembered. The small scar beside her eyebrow was unmistakable.
For seventeen years, Maria had mourned this woman.
Now Isabella was alive, speaking about a conspiracy that had begun before Gabriel was born.
“Alexander,” Isabella whispered, “you need to understand something. Richard Sterling didn't want Gabriel to become your brother. He wanted the world to believe Gabriel was you.”
Alexander shook his head.
“That doesn't make sense. I was already thirteen when he was born.”
“I know.”
“Then how could a newborn replace me?”
Isabella glanced toward a door outside the camera's view.
“Not immediately. Richard was preparing for a future in which you disappeared.”
The room went silent.
Maria felt a terrible chill.
Thomas Vance stepped toward the screen.
“Isabella, stop. We don't know who's listening.”
She looked at him.
“YOU'VE BEEN TELLING ME TO STAY SILENT FOR SEVENTEEN YEARS, THOMAS. I'M DONE.”
Alexander turned to face his father.
“What is she talking about?”
Thomas lowered his eyes.
Isabella continued.
“Richard created two sets of identity records. One belonged to the real Alexander Vance. The other was a fabricated history designed to establish Gabriel as a replacement heir if anything happened to you.”
Detective Rachel Bennett leaned forward.
“Are you saying Richard intended to falsify the boy's age?”
“Yes. He planned to create a paper trail that could be activated years later. Birth certificates, medical records, educational documents, financial authorizations. Gabriel wasn't being prepared to look like Alexander. He was being prepared to inherit Alexander's legal identity after a staged disappearance.”
Alexander stared.
“And the hospital bracelet?”
“It was the beginning of the false record.”
Marcus, the Vance family's security chief, looked toward Bennett.
“That would explain why Gabriel's medical expenses were paid through accounts bearing Alexander's name.”
Bennett nodded.
“It would explain the records we've found, but we'd still need evidence of an actual attempt to assume his identity.”
Isabella looked directly at Alexander.
“Then examine the transfer scheduled for the morning after your engagement gala.”
Alexander froze.
“The transfer Peter Lawson wrote about?”
“Yes.”
Marcus immediately opened his tablet.
The words appeared again.
TRANSFER COMPLETE.
For days, they had assumed the message referred to money or documents.
Now Alexander understood another possibility.
“Richard intended to transfer control of my assets.”
Isabella nodded.
“And he expected you to be unable to challenge it.”
Maria's breathing changed.
“What was supposed to happen to Alexander?”
Isabella's expression became haunted.
“That's what I spent seventeen years trying to prevent.”
Thomas suddenly gripped the back of a chair.
Alexander turned.
“Dad?”
Thomas looked older than he had an hour earlier.
“When I discovered the original plan, I thought Richard had abandoned it.”
Isabella laughed bitterly.
“Richard never abandons a plan. He only changes the people he uses.”
Alexander approached his father.
“You knew someone was preparing to steal my identity?”
Thomas's eyes filled with tears.
“I knew there were forged records. I didn't know how far Richard had taken them.”
Alexander stepped backward.
“You've had twenty-two years to tell me the truth.”
“Son—”
“DON'T CALL ME THAT UNTIL YOU STOP LYING TO ME!”
Silence fell over the room.
Maria had never seen Alexander so close to losing control.
He had survived hostile takeovers, public scandals, and betrayals by people he trusted.
But none of those battles had prepared him to discover that his own father had concealed a threat against his identity.
On the screen, Isabella began crying.
“Alexander, your father made mistakes. Terrible mistakes. But Richard is the one who turned Gabriel into a weapon.”
Maria stepped closer.
“Mom, who gave birth to Gabriel?”
Isabella's expression changed.
She looked away.
Maria's voice trembled.
“Please. No more secrets.”
Isabella closed her eyes.
“The woman who gave birth to him was young. Frightened. She was promised her baby would be safe.”
“Who was she?”
Before Isabella could answer, a metallic sound came from behind her.
She turned sharply.
Someone had opened a door.
Maria's heart pounded.
“Mom?”
Isabella looked back at the camera.
“I don't have much time.”
“Where are you?”
“I can't tell you yet.”
“Why?”
“Because the people watching Gabriel are also watching me.”
Alexander leaned closer.
“Give us something we can use.”
Isabella hesitated.
“Look at the original Hollowbrook Academy enrollment photographs. Not the copies Richard provided. The originals.”
Marcus immediately began searching the evidence archive.
“What are we looking for?”
Isabella swallowed.
“A photograph taken when Gabriel was eight.”
Maria frowned.
“What happened when he was eight?”
Isabella's voice broke.
“That was the year Richard began teaching him how to become Alexander Vance.”
Alexander went perfectly still.
“What?”
“He learned your handwriting. Your childhood history. The names of your family members. The layout of the estate. Even the way you signed financial documents.”
Thomas whispered, “God help us.”
Isabella looked at him.
“You knew he was being trained.”
Thomas said nothing.
Maria stared at her mother.
“Why didn't Gabriel tell us?”
“Because he was told it was a game. Later, he was told his life depended on it.”
Alexander felt sick.
A frightened child had spent years memorizing the life of a man he had never met.
Every lesson had been part of someone else's plan.
Every achievement had brought him closer to becoming a replacement.
And somewhere along the way, Gabriel had begun believing he was dangerous simply because he existed.
Marcus suddenly spoke.
“I found the photograph.”
He turned the tablet around.
An eight-year-old boy stood inside a classroom at Hollowbrook Academy.
Behind him was a chalkboard.
Written across it were three words.
ALEXANDER VANCE — SIGNATURE PRACTICE.
Maria covered her mouth.
Alexander stared.
On the desk beside Gabriel lay dozens of sheets of paper.
Each carried Alexander's signature.
Some were clumsy.
Others were nearly perfect.
Then Marcus enlarged the photograph.
A second figure stood near the classroom door.
A woman in a white coat.
Her face was partially obscured.
But the badge on her chest was visible.
DR. ELEANOR PRICE.
Detective Bennett frowned.
“I recognize that name.”
Alexander turned.
“Who is she?”
Bennett looked grim.
“A former physician connected to Ravenwood Recovery Center.”
Thomas's face went pale.
Isabella noticed.
“Thomas?”
He said softly, “Eleanor was supposed to be dead.”
Maria stared.
“Another person who was supposed to be dead?”
Before anyone could answer, Isabella suddenly looked toward the doorway again.
Her eyes widened.
“Someone's here.”
Maria grabbed the phone.
“Mom, don't hang up!”
Isabella leaned close to the camera.
“Maria, listen carefully. Gabriel isn't the only child Richard used.”
Maria froze.
“What?”
Isabella began crying.
“There's another person whose identity was changed.”
Alexander's voice became sharp.
“Who?”
Isabella looked directly into the camera.
“THE PERSON WHO HELPED RICHARD CREATE GABRIEL'S FALSE RECORDS IS LIVING INSIDE YOUR HOUSE.”
A shadow moved behind her.
The screen shook.
Isabella gasped.
Then the call ended.
Alexander stared at the black screen.
Maria whispered, “Inside the Vance Estate?”
Marcus slowly lowered his tablet.
And for the first time, nobody in the room knew whom they could trust.
TO BE CONTINUED…
