Edward stood beside the old desk without moving.
“My sister?”
Margaret nodded through tears.
“She was born three years before you.”
“Where is she?”
“I don't know.”
“You told me she died.”
“I believed she had.”
Elise shook her head.
“You were told she had.”
Margaret looked at her.
“By Henry.”
Edward's hands tightened.
“What was her name?”
“Anna.”
The name seemed to echo through the small room.
Clara looked at the papers spread across the desk.
“Why was Anna connected to the payments?”
Elise picked up the oldest document.
“Because Henry believed Anna was his weakness.”
Edward frowned.
“He used his own daughter?”
“He used the existence of his daughter.”
Margaret wiped her eyes.
“When Anna was born, Henry discovered she had inherited a rare blood disorder from his family.”
Edward looked at her.
“Is that why?”
“He became obsessed with protecting the family name. He believed illness would damage his reputation.”
Elise's expression hardened.
“He was wrong about many things.”
Margaret continued.
“Anna needed treatment. Expensive treatment. Henry arranged for her to be taken abroad.”
“By whom?”
“A private physician.”
“Did she survive?”
Margaret hesitated.
“I don't know.”
Elise opened another document.
“This is where the story changes.”
The paper contained a hospital address.
Edward read it.
Then another document.
Then another.
The same address appeared repeatedly beside payments made through different accounts.
Clara pointed to one.
“This is the account connected to my father.”
Elise nodded.
“Your father helped pay for Anna's treatment.”
Edward looked at Clara.
“So her father knew.”
“Yes.”
Clara's voice was low.
“And he never told me.”
“He was protecting you.”
“That excuse is getting old.”
Nobody answered.
Clara turned away.
She had spent nineteen years believing her father had cut ties with the Hale family because of a bitter dispute.
Now she understood there had been something else.
He had been carrying a secret that was never his alone.
Edward examined another page.
“This payment was made seventeen years ago.”
Elise nodded.
“That was the last confirmed payment.”
“To Anna?”
“Yes.”
Margaret whispered, “Then she was alive.”
“According to the records.”
Edward looked toward the sealed windows.
“Why would Henry hide that from me?”
“Because he wanted you to believe you were his only heir.”
Edward turned.
“Anna threatened my inheritance?”
“Not intentionally.”
Elise touched the paper.
“Henry believed that if Anna ever returned, she could challenge the trust he created for you.”
Clara looked at the document.
“But the trust wasn't created for Edward alone.”
“No.”
Elise pulled another page from the envelope.
“It was divided.”
Edward read the percentages.
Half for him.
Half for Anna.
His face changed.
“My mother never knew.”
“I knew,” Margaret said.
“Then why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I thought Anna was dead.”
Elise looked toward the doorway.
“You thought she was dead because Henry wanted you to.”
A sound came from the corridor.
Thomas appeared.
His face was pale.
“I found something.”
He carried a small wooden box.
Clara recognized the lock.
“Where?”
“In the old servants' room.”
Edward opened it.
Inside was a bundle of letters.
The first was addressed to Margaret.
The second to Henry.
The third had no name.
Thomas handed it to Clara.
She opened it.
The handwriting was unfamiliar.
The letter was short.
“I know where Anna is.”
Clara looked up.
“When was this written?”
“Seven years ago.”
Edward's eyes narrowed.
“Who sent it?”
There was no signature.
Only an address.
A village in northern England.
Elise read it.
Her face changed.
“I know that place.”
“From where?”
“I sent someone there once.”
“Who?”
“A woman named Evelyn.”
Margaret shook her head.
“Who is Evelyn?”
Elise hesitated.
“The woman who raised Anna.”
Edward stared.
“She has been alive all this time?”
“I believe so.”
Clara looked at the letter again.
“Then why didn't she contact us?”
Elise answered.
“Perhaps she tried.”
Thomas pointed to the envelope.
“There is something else.”
A faint red stamp appeared on the back.
RETURNED — ADDRESS CLOSED.
Edward frowned.
“Someone intercepted it.”
Clara looked at Simon's earlier documents.
“Simon.”
Elise nodded.
“He had access to the correspondence.”
Margaret's expression hardened.
“He knew about Anna.”
“Yes.”
“And he still demanded money from me.”
“Yes.”
Margaret looked devastated.
“He told me Elise was the only secret he was protecting.”
Elise shook her head.
“He was protecting himself.”
Edward suddenly walked out.
Clara followed.
He stopped in the corridor.
“I need air.”
They reached the conservatory.
The rain had stopped completely.
Edward stood beside the glass.
“My whole life was built around a lie.”
Clara leaned against the window.
“Most families have one.”
“Not like this.”
“No.”
He looked at her.
“Were you ever told anything about Anna?”
“My father mentioned a child once.”
Edward stared.
“What did he say?”
“That she deserved a chance.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“I didn't know it was your sister.”
He nodded.
Then he looked at her hand.
“You're shaking.”
“So are you.”
He gave a tired smile.
“I suppose we're both discovering things tonight.”
Elise entered the conservatory.
She held a photograph.
“I found this in the nursery.”
She handed it to Edward.
It showed a young woman standing outside a hospital.
On the back was a name.
Anna Hale.
And beneath it, a handwritten sentence.
“Still waiting for her brother to come.”
Edward stared at the photograph.
“When was this taken?”
“Seventeen years ago.”
He turned it over.
There was an address.
Different from the one in the letter.
Clara recognized it.
“That isn't a hospital.”
Elise looked at her.
“What is it?”
“A train station.”
Thomas stepped closer.
“Why would Anna be waiting at a train station?”
Elise looked toward Margaret.
Margaret's face had gone white.
“I know.”
Everyone turned.
Margaret whispered, “Henry used to meet people there.”
Edward's voice sharpened.
“Who?”
“People he paid.”
“To do what?”
Margaret looked down.
“Make people disappear.”
Silence.
Elise closed her eyes.
“If Anna came there, she may have been taken.”
Edward looked at the photograph again.
His sister had been waiting for him.
And he had never known she was there.
A floorboard creaked behind them.
They turned.
Nobody stood in the conservatory.
But on the floor lay a folded piece of paper.
Clara picked it up.
Three words were written across it.
“She remembers everything.”
Edward stared.
“Who?”
The answer came from the doorway.
Simon.
Two officers stood behind him.
He had somehow slipped one hand free from the restraints.
His face was bruised, but he was smiling.
“Anna.”
Elise stepped forward.
“You knew where she was.”
Simon laughed.
“I knew where she had been.”
Edward moved toward him.
“Tell me.”
Simon shook his head.
“You still think this is about money.”
“What is it about?”
Simon looked directly at Clara.
“Your father.”
Clara froze.
“What did he do?”
Simon smiled.
“He wasn't protecting Anna.”
He looked toward Elise.
“He was protecting the person who took her.”
Click Here to continue read next: PART7: The Search for Anna Led Back to Clara’s Father, Where One Buried Recording Exposed the Choice That Started Everything
The Dinner Was Meant to Settle an Inheritance, Until a Glass Fell and Everyone Stopped Pretending
Part 6 of 16
