“THERE'S A TRAITOR INSIDE MY HOUSE—AND I WANT EVERY EMPLOYEE ACCOUNTED FOR!” Alexander's command echoed through the police staging room.
Marcus immediately contacted the Vance Estate security office.
Every entrance was to be monitored. Visitor records were to be preserved. Nobody would be questioned or detained without investigators present.
Detective Bennett looked toward Alexander.
“Don't turn this into a witch hunt. Isabella gave us a warning, not a name.”
Alexander clenched his jaw.
“Someone helped Richard create a replacement for me.”
“And we'll find out who,” Bennett replied. “But we need evidence.”
Maria stood beside the window.
Her mother's face remained burned into her memory.
The gray hair.
The scar.
The fear in her eyes.
For a few precious minutes, Maria had heard Isabella's voice again.
And then someone had entered the room.
Now Maria didn't know whether her mother was safe.
Alexander approached her.
“Maria.”
She didn't turn.
“I keep thinking about the funeral.”
He remained silent.
“I was seven years old. Sofia was little. Everyone kept telling us Mom was in a better place.”
Her voice broke.
“I used to stand by the window waiting for her to come home.”
Alexander gently touched her shoulder.
“She wanted to.”
Maria turned to face him.
“You don't know that.”
He nodded.
“No. I don't.”
The honesty surprised her.
Alexander continued.
“But I know she risked contacting us tonight.”
Maria wiped her tears.
“That doesn't give us back seventeen years.”
“No.”
For a few moments, they stood quietly together.
Then Marcus returned.
“We have a possible connection.”
Alexander turned.
“What?”
“Dr. Eleanor Price worked at Hollowbrook Academy before joining Ravenwood. According to archived personnel records, she supervised Gabriel's psychological evaluations.”
Bennett frowned.
“Was she licensed?”
“Yes. But her license was suspended after allegations of falsifying medical records.”
Thomas looked toward the table.
“Eleanor was Richard's medical consultant.”
Alexander stared at him.
“You knew her?”
Thomas nodded.
“She worked with our family foundation years ago.”
Maria stepped forward.
“Did she know my mother?”
Thomas hesitated.
“Yes.”
Alexander's expression hardened.
“Dad, we're done with half-answers.”
Thomas sighed.
“Eleanor helped arrange Isabella's disappearance. I believed she was helping us protect her from Richard.”
Bennett looked up sharply.
“Who authorized that arrangement?”
“I did.”
Silence fell over the room.
Maria stared at him.
“You arranged for my mother to disappear?”
Thomas shook his head.
“I helped arrange a temporary safe location. Isabella agreed because Richard had threatened you and Sofia.”
Maria's eyes filled with tears.
“And when she didn't come home?”
“I tried to find her.”
“Through Eleanor?”
Thomas lowered his eyes.
“Yes.”
Maria laughed bitterly.
“Then maybe you kept asking the person who was hiding her.”
Thomas looked devastated.
Bennett wrote something in her notebook.
“That's a possibility worth investigating.”
Marcus opened another file.
“There's more. Eleanor Price was declared dead after a boating accident eleven years ago. But the death certificate was issued without identification of a recovered body.”
Alexander stared.
“Another staged death.”
Bennett nodded.
“Potentially.”
Marcus continued.
“Her employment photograph matches a woman who entered the Vance Estate medical wing three months ago.”
He displayed the image.
A middle-aged woman with short brown hair and glasses stood beside Evelyn's wheelchair.
She wore a nurse's uniform.
Her name badge read:
NORA ELLIS.
Alexander's expression changed.
“Nora?”
Maria stepped closer.
“You know her?”
“She helped care for my mother.”
Marcus nodded.
“She was hired through a private staffing agency after Evelyn's condition worsened.”
Thomas stared at the photograph.
“That's Eleanor.”
Alexander turned to face him.
“Are you certain?”
Thomas nodded slowly.
“She changed her hair. But that's her.”
Maria felt cold.
The woman who had helped train Gabriel to steal Alexander's identity had been working beside Evelyn.
She had access to the medical wing.
The wheelchair.
The family's routines.
And possibly the secret documents Isabella had tried to protect.
Marcus contacted the estate.
“Nora Ellis is not currently on duty,” he reported. “Her last recorded shift ended yesterday afternoon.”
Bennett stood.
“Let's locate her before she realizes we've identified her.”
Alexander nodded.
“I'm coming.”
“No,” Bennett replied. “You and Maria remain somewhere secure until we know what's happening.”
Alexander looked ready to argue.
Maria touched his arm.
“She's right.”
He looked straight at her.
“My mother is at the estate.”
“And if you rush there without a plan, you could put her in more danger.”
Alexander exhaled.
He hated being unable to control the situation.
But Maria was right.
For years, his wealth had allowed him to solve problems by issuing instructions.
This was different.
People he loved were being used against him.
And money couldn't tell him whom to trust.
At the Sterling Estate, Gabriel sat alone in a bedroom overlooking the river.
Richard had ordered him to remain there.
Victoria had disappeared into another wing of the mansion.
Gabriel stared at the DNA report lying on the desk.
He had read it six times.
Every time, the conclusion seemed more impossible.
Isabella wasn't his biological mother.
Or perhaps the report was false.
He didn't know.
What he did know was that Richard had spent his childhood controlling every answer.
Gabriel opened the old photograph of Isabella holding him.
On the back, she had written:
My beautiful Gabriel.
He traced the words with his fingertip.
Then a soft knock sounded.
“Gabriel?”
He looked up.
Victoria entered carrying a small envelope.
“What do you want?”
She closed the door.
“To give you something.”
He stared.
“Another lie?”
Victoria flinched.
“Maybe I deserve that.”
Gabriel said nothing.
She placed the envelope on the desk.
“I found this in my father's private office.”
Gabriel hesitated.
“What is it?”
“An old school report.”
He opened it.
Inside was a photograph of an eight-year-old boy practicing signatures.
Gabriel recognized himself immediately.
He remembered that classroom.
The endless lessons.
The instructor who corrected the angle of every letter.
He had been told he was learning an important family tradition.
But now he understood.
He had been learning to become Alexander Vance.
Gabriel looked at Victoria.
“Why are you showing me this?”
“Because I finally understand what my father did to you.”
Gabriel's expression hardened.
“You helped him.”
Victoria lowered her eyes.
“Yes.”
He stared.
“Then why should I believe anything you say?”
Victoria took a shaky breath.
“Because I'm giving you the one thing Richard never wanted you to see.”
She reached into her handbag.
A second envelope.
Inside was a photograph of a young woman standing outside a hospital.
She was holding a newborn baby.
Gabriel stared.
“Isabella?”
Victoria shook her head.
“No.”
He looked closer.
The woman had dark hair, delicate features, and frightened eyes.
On her wrist was a hospital identification band.
Gabriel's heart pounded.
“Who is she?”
Victoria whispered, “The woman whose name was erased from your birth certificate.”
Gabriel stood.
“My mother?”
Victoria nodded.
“I believe so.”
Gabriel began crying.
“Where is she?”
Victoria looked toward the door.
“That's what I'm trying to find out.”
Gabriel stared at the photograph.
Then noticed something.
A second person stood behind the woman.
Only part of the face was visible.
But Gabriel recognized the person immediately.
He had seen that face in dozens of photographs.
He looked up at Victoria.
“Why was Alexander's mother there?”
Victoria froze.
Gabriel turned the photograph toward her.
Behind the young woman stood Evelyn Vance.
Not in a wheelchair.
Not weakened by a stroke.
But standing beside the hospital bed.
Smiling.
Gabriel's voice trembled.
“EVELYN VANCE WAS THERE WHEN I WAS BORN?”
Victoria nodded slowly.
“And according to the records, she signed the discharge authorization.”
Gabriel stared.
“Then she knows who my mother is.”
Victoria's expression changed.
“Yes.”
Gabriel stepped toward the door.
“Then I'm going to ask her.”
Victoria grabbed his arm.
“You can't.”
“Let go.”
“Gabriel, please—”
“LET GO OF ME!”
He pulled away.
Then the bedroom door opened.
Richard Sterling stood in the doorway.
His face was cold.
“Going somewhere?”
Gabriel froze.
Richard looked at the photograph in his hand.
Then at Victoria.
“You found the wrong envelope.”
Victoria went pale.
Gabriel stepped backward.
Richard continued.
“YOU SHOULD HAVE SHOWN HIM THE PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN TEN MINUTES LATER.”
Gabriel stared.
“What photograph?”
Richard smiled without warmth.
“THE ONE THAT SHOWS WHAT HAPPENED TO HIS MOTHER AFTER SHE GAVE BIRTH.”
TO BE CONTINUED…
