Chapter 6 - A Grandmother’s Secret
Claire returned to the Ashford estate before sunset.
Sophie ran into her arms.
“Did you find Grandma?”
Claire held her tightly.
“She was at the hospital.”
“Was?”
“Someone moved her.”
Sophie pulled back.
“Is she okay?”
“I do not know yet.”
Eleanor sat near the fireplace.
The silver bird pendant rested in her hand.
Adrian stood behind her.
Victoria had disappeared from her city residence.
Her phone was off.
Malcolm Graves claimed not to know where she had gone.
Detective Pierce had remained at St. Agnes.
He said the threatening message was probably a hoax.
Nobody believed him.
Claire placed the childhood photograph of Catherine and Victoria on Eleanor’s lap.
The elderly woman stared at it.
Tears gathered slowly in her eyes.
“Where did you find this?”
“St. Agnes.”
Eleanor traced Catherine’s face.
“I thought every copy had been destroyed.”
Claire sat across from her.
“You told everyone Victoria was adopted.”
Eleanor closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because my husband ordered me to.”
“Why was my mother erased?”
Eleanor looked toward Sophie.
“Your mother was born first.”
“Seven minutes before Victoria.”
“Under the Ashford family trust, the first child inherited controlling ownership.”
Adrian’s expression hardened.
“Catherine was the legal heir.”
“Yes.”
“Then why did Victoria control everything?”
“Because Catherine fell in love with Thomas Bennett.”
Claire’s father.
A city mechanic.
The son of a factory worker.
A man the Ashfords considered beneath them.
Eleanor’s husband demanded that Catherine end the relationship.
She refused.
Victoria pretended to help her escape.
Instead, she told the family Catherine had died in a boating accident.
“How could anyone believe that?” Claire asked.
“We were shown a body.”
“Whose?”
“A girl close to Catherine’s age.”
“The face was damaged.”
Eleanor’s voice shook.
“I wanted to believe she was alive.”
“My husband threatened to take Adrian’s father away from me if I questioned it.”
Claire looked at Adrian.
His face had gone pale.
Eleanor continued.
“Victoria was declared the surviving daughter.”
“The trust passed to her.”
“She married Edward Ashford’s closest friend and kept the Ashford name.”
Adrian spoke quietly.
“My father.”
Eleanor nodded.
“Edward knew?”
“He discovered the truth years later.”
“What did he do?”
“He confronted Victoria.”
“Then he died in a car accident.”
Adrian looked away.
Claire watched the pain settle over his face.
“Was it an accident?”
Eleanor did not answer.
That was answer enough.
Sophie sat beside Claire.
“Why does Aunt Victoria want me?”
Claire flinched at the word aunt.
Eleanor reached toward Sophie.
“The crescent mark proves Catherine’s family line.”
“But it is not a real birthmark,” Claire said.
Eleanor nodded.
“My husband placed a tiny crescent mark on each daughter after birth.”
“Catherine’s was placed on the left shoulder.”
“Victoria’s was placed on the right.”
“Why?”
“He feared the nurses would confuse them.”
Claire touched Sophie’s shoulder.
“Why does Sophie have it?”
Eleanor looked confused.
“She should not.”
Sophie lowered her dress strap slightly.
The crescent mark was visible.
Elise Hart entered the room.
She had escaped the hospital fire with Luca’s team.
She examined the mark beneath a bright lamp.
“This is not natural.”
Claire’s stomach tightened.
“What is it?”
“A small surgical scar.”
“It was created when she was an infant.”
Claire stared.
“I was with her every day.”
“Was she ever taken for treatment?”
“She spent three days in the hospital after birth.”
“Breathing problems.”
Elise looked toward Eleanor.
“Which hospital?”
“Ashford Memorial.”
Everyone became silent.
Victoria controlled that hospital.
Claire gripped the arms of her chair.
“She marked my baby.”
Elise nodded slowly.
“She may have wanted to identify Catherine’s granddaughter.”
“Why wait seven years?”
Eleanor’s expression changed.
“Because the trust activates when the heir turns thirty-five.”
Claire was thirty-four.
Her next birthday was six weeks away.
Adrian went to the desk.
He searched through trust documents.
“The controlling shares transfer automatically to Catherine or her descendants at age thirty-five.”
Claire stared.
“So Victoria loses everything when I turn thirty-five.”
“Only if your identity is legally proven.”
The blood sample in Claire’s bag suddenly felt heavier.
“Then we prove it.”
Adrian shook his head.
“We need Catherine alive.”
“Why?”
“Because Victoria will challenge the DNA.”
“She will claim your sample was contaminated.”
“Catherine’s testimony and medical records make the claim stronger.”
Claire stood.
“Then we go to the estate.”
“You are already in the estate.”
“The old Ashford estate.”
Eleanor’s face tightened.
“The lake house.”
Adrian looked at Claire.
“The message was designed to lure Sophie there.”
Claire looked at her daughter.
“They believe I will bring her.”
“You will not.”
“No.”
Claire turned toward Luca.
“But they do not need to know that.”
They prepared a decoy convoy.
One vehicle carried Claire and Adrian.
Another carried a child-sized figure beneath a pink blanket.
Sophie remained inside the secure mansion with Eleanor and Elise.
Before Claire left, Sophie slipped her stuffed rabbit into her hands.
“For Grandma.”
Claire hugged her.
“I will bring it back to both of you.”
The old Ashford lake estate stood north of the city.
Its gates opened before the convoy arrived.
No guards were visible.
Claire entered the main house with Adrian and Luca.
The interior smelled of dust and lake water.
A child’s pink shoe rested in the center of the foyer.
Claire recognized it.
It belonged to Sophie.
Her heart stopped.
“That is impossible.”
Adrian picked it up.
“It is hers?”
Claire nodded.
She called the estate.
No answer.
Luca tried security.
Static filled his radio.
Claire ran toward the staircase.
A television turned on by itself.
A live camera feed appeared.
Sophie sat inside a dark room.
Her hands were tied.
Eleanor’s wheelchair stood beside her.
Both had been taken from Adrian’s supposedly secure mansion.
Victoria stepped into the camera frame.
She wore a white suit.
Her face looked calm.
“Hello, Claire.”
Claire moved toward the screen.
“Do not touch them.”
Victoria smiled.
“You finally understand what your mother refused to learn.”
“What?”
“Love makes poor people predictable.”
Sophie looked toward the camera.
“Mommy, don’t come!”
Victoria gripped the child’s shoulder.
Claire’s voice became cold.
“Take your hand off her.”
“Bring Catherine’s blood sample to the boathouse.”
“Come alone.”
“Where is my mother?”
Victoria moved aside.
A hospital bed appeared behind her.
Catherine lay unconscious beneath a white blanket.
Claire pressed one hand against the television.
“Mom.”
Victoria smiled.
May you like
“Midnight is in twenty-eight minutes.”
“If you are late, you will lose three generations at once.”
