Mara stared at Daniel as though she had stopped understanding the language around her.
“Alive?”
The word barely escaped her.
Daniel nodded.
“Where?”
He looked at Elena.
“I can't tell you.”
Elena's expression hardened.
“You have lost the right to keep secrets.”
“I know.”
“Then tell us.”
“It isn't safe.”
Mara grabbed his arm.
“You knew my brother was alive for all these years?”
Daniel looked at her hand.
“Yes.”
She released him as though his skin had burned her.
“You let me believe I had no brother.”
“I was protecting him.”
“From whom?”
Daniel looked toward the photograph of Evelyn.
“Everyone.”
Elena felt anger rise.
“My mother?”
“Especially her.”
The answer made no sense.
Elena picked up the notebook.
“You just told us my mother hired you to find him.”
“She did.”
“She tried to protect him.”
“She did.”
“Then why were you protecting him from her?”
Daniel rubbed his forehead.
“Because Evelyn changed her mind.”
Thomas watched him carefully.
“When?”
“After she found Lucas.”
Elena turned toward him.
“You found him where?”
“An orphanage.”
Mara's face collapsed.
“He was in an orphanage?”
“For three years.”
“And you knew?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you bring him home?”
“Because Anthony Bell had people looking for him.”
Mara shook her head.
“My father was dead.”
“His business partners weren't.”
Elena understood that part.
Money had been involved from the beginning.
But there was still something missing.
“Why did my mother keep Lucas hidden?”
Daniel looked at her.
“She believed Anthony's enemies would use him to control the Vale family.”
“And did they?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
Daniel walked to the desk.
He opened the bottom drawer.
Inside was a cassette tape.
Old.
Dusty.
Labeled in Evelyn's handwriting.
Anthony — 1999.
Mara stared.
“What is that?”
“The reason your mother never told you about Lucas.”
Thomas found an old player in the cabinet.
Daniel inserted the cassette.
For several seconds there was only static.
Then a man's voice filled the room.
Anthony Bell.
Mara closed her eyes.
His voice was older than she remembered, but unmistakable.
“If anything happens to me, Evelyn gets the papers.”
A second voice answered.
Evelyn.
“What papers?”
“The ones proving where the money came from.”
The recording crackled.
Anthony continued.
“Daniel knows.”
Elena looked at Daniel.
On the tape, Evelyn said, “You involved him?”
“I had no choice.”
A chair scraped.
Then Anthony's voice became lower.
“Lucas is the leverage.”
Mara opened her eyes.
“What does that mean?”
The recording continued.
“If they learn about the boy, they will come after him.”
Evelyn's voice trembled.
“He is my son.”
“I know.”
“You promised he would be safe.”
“I promised nothing.”
The tape ended.
Nobody moved.
Mara began crying silently.
Elena stared at the machine.
Her mother had loved Lucas.
That much was clear.
But the story was still incomplete.
“Who are they?”
Daniel answered.
“The people who controlled Anthony's shipping company.”
“And what did they want?”
“The money.”
Thomas looked at the documents on the desk.
“The foundation.”
Daniel nodded.
“Anthony had moved part of the money through shell companies. Evelyn discovered it. She tried to expose him.”
“And Lucas?”
“Anthony used him as insurance.”
Elena frowned.
“How?”
“If Evelyn went to the police, Lucas would disappear.”
The room became quiet.
Mara sat down.
“My mother knew?”
Daniel looked at her.
“Your mother knew enough to be afraid.”
Elena thought of Evelyn's final months.
Her mother had been frightened.
Not confused.
Not paranoid.
Frightened.
There was a difference.
Elena opened the notebook again.
The final pages had been torn out.
She looked at Thomas.
“Who removed these?”
Thomas examined the binding.
“They were removed recently.”
Daniel went still.
Elena noticed.
“You know.”
“No.”
“You do.”
Daniel shook his head.
“I swear.”
Mara looked at him.
“Then who?”
A sound came from downstairs.
The front door opened.
Everyone froze.
Thomas moved toward the hidden doorway.
Elena heard footsteps crossing the marble foyer.
Slow.
Unhurried.
Someone called from below.
“Mrs. Vale?”
Elena recognized the voice.
She had heard it once before.
At the hospital.
A man had stood outside her mother's room and asked whether Evelyn had changed her will.
She had assumed he was an attorney.
He was not.
Daniel whispered, “We have to leave.”
Elena shook her head.
“No.”
“He found us.”
“Who?”
Daniel looked at her.
“Richard Sloan.”
Thomas's face changed.
“You're certain?”
“Yes.”
Mara stood.
“Who is Richard Sloan?”
Daniel answered.
“The man who handled Anthony Bell's accounts.”
Elena's eyes moved to the old photograph.
Richard Sloan had been standing in the background.
She had not noticed him before.
The footsteps stopped outside the study.
A shadow appeared beneath the door.
Then came three quiet knocks.
Elena looked at Daniel.
He whispered, “Don't open it.”
The door handle moved.
Elena reached for the brass key from the urn.
The lock clicked.
The hidden door opened.
Richard Sloan stood on the other side.
He was an older man in a pale linen suit, carrying a black leather case.
His eyes moved from Elena to Mara.
Then to Daniel.
Finally, he smiled.
“You found the room.”
Elena held the notebook tightly.
“You knew it existed.”
“I helped your mother build it.”
Thomas stepped forward.
“Richard, you need to leave.”
Sloan ignored him.
He looked directly at Elena.
“Your mother lied to you.”
Elena's voice was steady.
“About what?”
Sloan placed the leather case on the desk.
“About who betrayed whom.”
He opened it.
Inside was a stack of photographs.
The first showed Evelyn.
The second showed Anthony.
The third showed Daniel.
The fourth showed Lucas.
And the fifth made Elena's breath catch.
It showed her mother standing beside a young man who looked exactly like Lucas.
The photograph was dated six months after Lucas had supposedly drowned.
Elena stared.
Sloan spoke softly.
“Your mother didn't spend twenty-three years hiding Lucas from his enemies.”
He slid another photograph across the desk.
“She spent twenty-three years hiding what Lucas knew.”
Mara stepped forward.
“What did he know?”
Sloan looked at her.
“That your mother was the one who ordered your father's disappearance.”
The room went silent.
Elena looked at the photograph again.
Her mother's face was calm.
Almost peaceful.
And for the first time, Elena wondered whether the woman she had spent her life defending had ever been the woman she believed she knew.
Click Here to continue read next: PART5: The Photograph Challenged Everything Elena Believed About Her Mother, but One Missing Page Suggested Richard Sloan Had Prepared This Moment Years Ago
The Funeral Was Supposed to End Quietly, Until the Man Behind Her Begged Her Not to Open the Silver Urn
Part 4 of 16
