Elena did not invite him inside.
For several seconds, she simply looked at his face.
There were no dramatic similarities.
He did not have her eyes.
He did not have her mother's mouth.
But there was something in the way he held his shoulders that disturbed her.
A familiar posture.
A habit of standing slightly angled toward a doorway.
Her mother had done the same.
“Who are you?”
The man looked at Thomas.
Thomas had followed her into the foyer.
“I think we should talk.”
Elena kept one hand on the door.
“You didn't answer me.”
“My name is Jonathan Vale.”
Her fingers tightened.
Thomas said nothing.
Jonathan looked tired rather than triumphant.
“I didn't come for money.”
Elena almost laughed.
“That is exactly what someone asking for money would say.”
He nodded.
“Fair.”
“Where have you been?”
“Away.”
“For how long?”
“Twenty-eight years.”
“You're supposed to be dead.”
“I know.”
“My mother told me you were dead.”
“She needed you to believe that.”
“Why?”
Jonathan looked toward the garden.
“Because the people who were after me were also looking for you.”
Elena felt anger rise.
“My entire life was built around lies.”
“Yes.”
“And you expect me to listen calmly?”
“No.”
He handed her the photograph.
It showed a younger Evelyn holding a baby.
Beside her stood Jonathan.
Elena stared.
She recognized the room.
Her mother's bedroom.
The same curtains.
The same wooden crib.
The baby was Lucas.
She looked at Jonathan.
“You knew Lucas.”
“He was my son.”
Elena's breath caught.
Thomas stepped forward.
“That contradicts the documents.”
Jonathan nodded.
“Some of them.”
“Then which ones are true?”
Jonathan looked at Elena.
“Enough of them.”
She hated the answer.
“Come in.”
They sat in the library.
Jonathan remained near the door.
Elena sat opposite him.
Thomas took the chair beside her.
“Start at the beginning.”
Jonathan nodded.
“Your mother and I were married before you were born.”
Elena already knew that.
“You had an affair.”
“No.”
She frowned.
“Then why did she tell everyone you abandoned her?”
“Because I disappeared.”
“Why?”
“Because I was being watched.”
“By whom?”
“Anthony's employers.”
Elena leaned back.
“You knew Anthony.”
“I knew what he was doing.”
“And Lucas?”
“Lucas was not my son by Evelyn.”
Elena stared.
“Then what did you mean?”
Jonathan looked down.
“I raised him for a short time.”
Thomas asked, “Where was Lucas's biological father?”
“Dead.”
“His mother?”
Jonathan looked toward Elena.
“Your mother's sister.”
Elena closed her eyes.
The family story had become a maze of half-truths.
“So my father isn't Lucas's father.”
“No.”
“And Evelyn wasn't his mother.”
“Not biologically.”
“Then why did everyone keep saying she was?”
“Because Evelyn became his mother.”
That answer was strangely simple.
Elena looked at him.
“She loved him.”
“Yes.”
“Enough to destroy her own reputation?”
“Yes.”
“Enough to let me hate you?”
Jonathan nodded.
“Yes.”
Elena looked down at the photograph.
“Why didn't you come back?”
“Because I believed coming back would expose you.”
“For twenty-eight years?”
“I made mistakes.”
“That's not an answer.”
“No.”
Jonathan looked directly at her.
“I was afraid.”
Elena had expected a grander explanation.
Not fear.
Not from the man her mother had described as a traitor.
“What happened to your sister?”
Jonathan looked toward Thomas.
“Your mother’s sister?”
“Yes.”
“Her name was Claire.”
Elena had heard the name only once.
A photograph hidden in a drawer.
A woman who supposedly died young.
“She didn't die.”
Elena stared.
“Where is she?”
Jonathan hesitated.
“She disappeared.”
“When?”
“After Lucas was born.”
“Who took her?”
“No one knows.”
Thomas leaned forward.
“Does Evelyn's second box contain anything about Claire?”
Elena looked toward the hallway.
“The box mentioned her.”
Jonathan's expression changed.
“What did it say?”
“I haven't finished reading it.”
He stood.
“You should.”
Elena looked at him.
“You don't get to tell me what to do.”
“I know.”
He sat again.
“I only came because Evelyn asked me to.”
Elena's anger faltered.
“She contacted you?”
“Two weeks before she died.”
“How?”
“Through Samuel.”
Thomas frowned.
“Samuel never told me.”
“He was protecting her.”
Elena opened her mother's notebook.
She found the page.
There was a date.
A meeting.
Jonathan.
She looked up.
“You were here.”
“Yes.”
“During her final weeks?”
“Yes.”
“Did you see her?”
“Once.”
“What did she say?”
Jonathan's eyes filled.
“She asked me to forgive her.”
Elena looked away.
“What did you say?”
“I told her there was nothing to forgive.”
That answer hurt unexpectedly.
She turned the page.
Another note.
Jonathan must never meet Elena until the foundation investigation is complete.
Elena looked at him.
“The investigation ended months ago.”
“I know.”
“Then why wait?”
“Because Evelyn gave me one condition.”
“What?”
“Do not tell Elena about Claire unless Elena finds the letter herself.”
Elena frowned.
“What letter?”
Jonathan looked toward the second box.
“The one under the false bottom.”
They returned to the dining room.
Thomas lifted the cardboard insert.
Nothing.
He pressed along the bottom.
A panel moved.
Underneath was a sealed envelope.
Elena recognized the handwriting immediately.
Claire.
She opened it.
The first sentence was enough to silence the room.
Evelyn, if you are reading this, then I have failed to disappear.
Elena continued.
Claire had discovered the network before Evelyn.
She had discovered that Anthony's company was only one part of it.
She had also discovered someone inside the Vale family was providing information.
Someone close.
Someone trusted.
The letter ended with a name.
Elena read it.
Then she read it again.
Thomas looked at her.
“Who?”
Elena slowly lifted her eyes.
“Your father.”
Jonathan nodded.
“Yes.”
Elena felt cold.
“My father was alive when this letter was written.”
“Yes.”
“And he was working with them.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't my mother tell me?”
Jonathan answered quietly.
“Because she believed you would go looking for him.”
Elena looked at the photograph.
For the first time, she understood the real reason Evelyn had buried the past.
She had not been protecting herself.
She had been protecting Elena from a living man.
Then her phone rang.
The caller ID showed an unknown number.
Elena answered.
Nobody spoke.
Then a man's voice said:
“You found Jonathan.”
Elena stood.
“Who is this?”
A pause.
Then:
“Ask your father why he left you.”
The call ended.
Elena lowered the phone.
Jonathan had gone pale.
Thomas looked at him.
“You know that voice.”
Jonathan nodded.
“I hoped I'd never hear it again.”
“Who?”
Jonathan looked at Elena.
“The man your mother spent twenty-eight years trying to keep away from you.”
Click Here to continue read next: PART11: Elena Followed the Trail Her Mother Had Buried for Decades, Only to Discover That the Man Hunting Her Was Closer Than Anyone Had Warned
The Funeral Was Supposed to End Quietly, Until the Man Behind Her Begged Her Not to Open the Silver Urn
Part 10 of 16
