Chapter 5 - MY MOTHER’S SECRET
I had been told my mother died from an undiagnosed heart condition.
That explanation had followed me for eleven years.
I never questioned it.
Now Detective Brooks did.
Within hours, she discovered something strange.
My mother’s medical file had been altered.
The physician who signed her death certificate had later received a consulting position with Sterling Health.
William looked sick when he heard that.
“I didn’t hire him.”
“I know.”
But the Sterling empire existed long before William controlled it.
His father had built networks of loyalty through money.
And fear.
We returned to Sterling Manor that afternoon under police protection.
The engagement decorations were still everywhere.
Crystal glasses remained on tables.
White roses covered the ballroom.
A giant photograph of William and Isabella stood beside the staircase.
William stopped in front of it.
Then he ripped it from the easel.
We went upstairs.
The hidden room looked even smaller in daylight.
Detective Brooks searched every inch.
I examined the scratches.
Then I noticed something.
One board was newer than the others.
I pressed it.
Nothing happened.
William brought the fire poker.
Together, we pulled the board loose.
Behind it was a narrow cavity.
Inside sat an old cassette recorder.
There was also a photograph.
My mother.
Rebecca.
Clara.
All three together.
William whispered.
“This is impossible.”
The photograph had been taken twenty years after Clara supposedly disappeared.
She had survived.
On the back was an address.
A cabin near Lake Briar.
William recognized it.
“My father owned property there.”
Detective Brooks immediately sent officers.
They found the cabin abandoned.
But someone had been there recently.
Fresh coffee.
Warm ashes in the fireplace.
And Isabella’s fingerprints.
Then they discovered blood on the kitchen floor.
That evening, a search team found a woman unconscious near the lake.
She was alive.
Approximately fifty years old.
She carried no identification.
William reached the hospital before me.
When the woman opened her eyes, he stood beside her bed.
“Clara?”
Tears appeared instantly.
She lifted one trembling hand.
“Billy.”
William collapsed into his sister’s arms.
For thirty-five years, he had believed she abandoned him.
She had been alive all along.
But their reunion lasted less than a minute.
Clara suddenly grabbed his shirt.
“Where’s Ethan?”
“He’s safe.”
“Isabella?”
“Police are looking for her.”
Clara’s face filled with terror.
“You don’t understand.”
May you like
She looked toward the door.
“Isabella isn’t the one in charge.”
