Chapter 17 - THE VISITOR IN THE SHADOWS
Elena’s hands shook uncontrollably as she ejected the tape from the machine.
The dark secret of the Vance family was far deeper and sicker than anyone had ever imagined.
Victoria hadn't just bought a baby.
She had stolen one twin to inherit an empire and thrown the other twin into the gutter to protect her lie.
Elena packed the tape and the journal into her bag and hurried out of the bank.
As she stepped out onto the busy city sidewalk, the afternoon sky grew dark with grey rain clouds.
She walked toward her parked car in the underground parking garage.
The footsteps echoed behind her on the concrete floor.
Click. Clack. Click. Clack.
Elena stopped and turned around.
"Who's there?" she called out, her voice echoing against the cold pillars.
A figure stepped out from behind a concrete support pillar.
It was not Jax.
It was not a police officer.
It was a tall man wearing a tailor-made dark blue suit.
He had short, light brown hair, sharp features, and dark eyes.
He looked identical to Julian Vance.
Except he had a long, jagged scar running across his left jawline.
Elena backed away until her spine hit her car door.
"Julian?" Elena gasped, her blood running ice-cold.
"Julian is in federal prison, Elena," the man said in a smooth, icy voice that sounded horrifyingly familiar.
The man smiled, stepping into the dim light of the garage overhead lamps.
"My name is Ethan Vance."
"The twin brother Victoria sent to an asylum in Europe when I was ten years old."
Elena’s breath hitched in her chest.
"You... you were alive?"
"Victoria thought she wiped my name from every document in existence," Ethan said, stepping closer.
"She kept Julian as her weak little puppet."
"She locked Jax in the streets."
"And she locked me in the dark."
He reached into his jacket pocket, pulling out a sleek silver knife.
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"Now that my dear mother is in prison and Julian is behind bars, the Vance fortune belongs to me."
"And you, Elena... have the forty million dollars that rightfully belongs to my bloodline."
