They reached the clinic just after sunrise.
The building stood behind a high stone wall in the oldest part of the city, disguised as a private medical center for wealthy patients.
There were no signs of Victor Whitmore's name.
No company logo.
Nothing that connected it to the family.
Daniel parked two streets away.
Mara stayed in the passenger seat.
“You said come alone,” Daniel said.
“I didn't come alone.”
“That may be the point.”
Mara looked at him.
“You're the one who brought me into this.”
“I know.”
“Then stop trying to decide what I should do.”
Daniel nodded.
For once, he didn't argue.
They entered through the service corridor.
Daniel knew the security system.
That frightened Mara almost as much as the building itself.
They passed two locked doors before reaching an elevator.
Daniel entered a code.
The elevator descended.
Mara watched the numbers disappear.
“Your father built this?”
“Yes.”
“How many people know about it?”
“Too many.”
“And how many are still alive?”
Daniel looked at her.
“I don't know.”
The doors opened.
A long white corridor stretched ahead.
There were no windows.
At the far end, a woman sat behind a glass partition.
She looked older than the photograph.
Her hair was gray at the temples.
Her face was thin.
But Mara recognized her immediately.
Lena Hart.
Lena stood.
Her chair fell backward.
She stared at Daniel.
Then at Mara.
Her expression hardened.
“You shouldn't have brought her.”
Daniel frowned.
“You know Mara?”
Lena looked directly at her.
“I know exactly who she is.”
Mara stepped forward.
“Then tell me.”
Lena glanced toward the cameras.
“Not here.”
She unlocked the door.
They entered a small examination room.
Lena closed the blinds.
“Your father will know you're here within minutes.”
Daniel said, “He already knows.”
Lena looked at him.
“Then you're more foolish than I remember.”
Daniel's jaw tightened.
“What happened to you?”
“You know what happened.”
“No. I don't.”
Lena looked at Mara.
“He never told you?”
“No.”
Lena gave a tired smile.
“Of course he didn't.”
Mara placed the photograph on the table.
“Sophie.”
Lena looked at it.
For the first time, her expression softened.
“She was eight.”
“She is alive?”
Lena nodded.
“Yes.”
“Where?”
Lena's eyes moved toward Daniel.
“She was moved three times.”
“Why?”
“Because your father was protecting her.”
Daniel stared at her.
“Protecting her from whom?”
Lena didn't answer immediately.
Then she said, “From you.”
Daniel stepped back.
Mara turned toward him.
“What does that mean?”
Lena looked at Mara.
“Ask him about the night your mother died.”
Mara froze.
“My mother?”
Daniel's face went blank.
Lena continued.
“She was not killed in an accident.”
Mara looked at Daniel.
“You told me she died in a car crash.”
“She did.”
“No.”
Daniel's voice broke.
“She died in a car crash.”
“But it wasn't an accident.”
Silence filled the room.
Mara stared at him.
“You knew.”
Daniel didn't answer.
“You knew?”
“I suspected.”
“That isn't the same.”
“No.”
Mara stepped away.
Lena watched them without interrupting.
Mara's mother had died when Mara was nineteen.
For twelve years, the story had been simple.
Wet road.
Broken guardrail.
One car.
No witnesses.
Mara had accepted it because there had been nothing else to accept.
Now the past had opened beneath her feet.
“Why was my mother connected to your family?”
Lena folded her hands.
“Because she was one of the few people who knew what Victor had done.”
“What did he do?”
Lena looked at Daniel.
“Tell her.”
Daniel shook his head.
“I don't know everything.”
“Tell her what you know.”
He sat down.
“When I was twenty-one, my sister disappeared.”
Mara looked at him.
“You said she was protected.”
“She was.”
“By your father?”
“At first.”
Daniel rubbed his hands together.
“Then my father discovered that someone inside the company was moving money into accounts belonging to people who had no connection to the business.”
“Lena.”
“Yes.”
“She was trying to get evidence.”
“And my mother?”
“Your mother was helping her.”
Mara stared at Lena.
“Why?”
“Because your mother believed someone should stop him.”
The room seemed to grow colder.
“Did my mother know about Sophie?”
“Yes.”
“Did she try to help her?”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn't she tell me?”
Lena's eyes filled with something like regret.
“Because she thought keeping you ignorant would keep you alive.”
Mara's throat tightened.
Daniel looked at Lena.
“What happened to Sophie?”
“She was moved after your father discovered your mother was involved.”
“Where?”
Lena hesitated.
Then she said, “Your mother hid her.”
Daniel looked stunned.
“My mother?”
“Yes.”
Mara's hands trembled.
“So Sophie was alive because of my mother.”
“Yes.”
“And Victor wanted her found.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Lena leaned forward.
“Because Sophie had something he needed.”
“What?”
“Her mother's journal.”
Mara looked at Daniel.
“What was in it?”
“Names,” Lena said. “Payments. Meetings. Everything your father had tried to erase.”
Daniel stood.
“Where is the journal?”
Lena looked at Mara.
“She has it.”
Mara's heart stopped.
“What?”
“You.”
“I've never seen it.”
“You have.”
Lena reached into a drawer and removed a small envelope.
She placed it on the table.
Mara recognized the handwriting immediately.
Her mother's handwriting.
She picked up the envelope.
Her fingers shook so badly that she nearly dropped it.
Inside was a single page.
Mara read the first sentence.
If anything happens to me, the journal must remain with Mara.
She covered her mouth.
Daniel stood beside her.
“There's more.”
Mara read.
Do not trust Victor.
Do not trust Daniel.
Mara stopped.
Daniel stepped backward.
Lena looked at him.
“You were young.”
Daniel's voice was quiet.
“I didn't know.”
Mara looked at him.
“But my mother did.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Lena's answer came slowly.
“Because the night your mother died, Daniel was there.”
Mara stared at her husband.
He looked devastated.
“I was seventeen.”
“You were in the car?”
“No.”
“Then where?”
Daniel swallowed.
“At the house.”
“What house?”
“Your mother's.”
Mara stepped away.
“Why?”
“I went there because my father told me to.”
“Why?”
“To get the journal.”
Mara's face hardened.
“You went there to steal it.”
“I didn't know what it was.”
“But you went.”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
Daniel looked at Lena.
She nodded.
He closed his eyes.
“Your mother caught me.”
Mara whispered, “And?”
“She told me to leave.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because my father was outside.”
Mara stopped.
“What?”
Daniel's voice became almost inaudible.
“My father came after me.”
Lena's expression changed.
“He saw your mother.”
Mara felt sick.
“What did he do?”
Daniel looked at her.
“I don't know.”
“You were there.”
“I heard them arguing.”
“What did you hear?”
“My mother called Victor a murderer.”
Mara's eyes filled with tears.
“And then?”
“A crash.”
“What crash?”
“The car.”
Mara stared at him.
Daniel looked down.
“I ran.”
“You left her?”
“I was seventeen.”
“You left my mother.”
“Yes.”
The word landed between them.
Lena looked away.
Mara picked up the envelope.
She wanted to hate Daniel.
Part of her did.
Another part remembered every morning he had made coffee for her, every time he waited outside her office, every night he had reached for her hand in his sleep.
Love did not disappear when truth arrived.
Sometimes it simply became unbearable to carry.
A noise sounded outside.
Lena stiffened.
“They're here.”
Daniel looked toward the door.
“Who?”
“Your father.”
Mara folded the letter and placed it inside her jacket.
Lena moved to a cabinet.
“There is another exit.”
Daniel said, “You're coming with us.”
“No.”
“Lena.”
“If I leave, he'll know I helped you.”
Mara looked at her.
“He already knows.”
Lena smiled sadly.
“He always knew.”
A loud metallic sound came from the corridor.
The door handle moved.
Daniel grabbed Mara's hand.
“Go.”
Lena opened a hidden panel.
Behind it was a narrow stairway.
Mara started down.
Then she heard Lena say something.
“Mara.”
She turned.
Lena's face had changed.
“What?”
“There is one more thing.”
“What?”
Lena looked at Daniel.
Then back at Mara.
“The woman who gave you the photograph at the wedding wasn't Clara.”
Mara stared.
“What?”
“The photograph came from someone inside the Whitmore family.”
Daniel looked confused.
“Who?”
Lena whispered the name.
Mara's entire body went cold.
Because it was the name of the person who had been standing beside Clara at the wedding all evening.
Evelyn Whitmore.
Daniel's mother.
Click Here to continue read next: PART4: Mara Returned to the Ballroom With One Question, and the Answer Exposed a Betrayal Far More Personal Than Victor’s Secrets
She Left the Wedding With Blood on Her Lip, but the Stain on Her Dress Was the Least Dangerous Thing Behind Her
Part 3 of 16
