Chapter 9 - MARGARET'S LAST SECRET
We spent the next morning searching for Margaret.
The police traced the photograph.
The warehouse was empty.
The address led to a building that had been abandoned for years.
Victor refused to speak.
Richard refused to speak.
Both were taken into custody.
Claire sat beside me in the back of the police car.
She hadn't slept.
“My mother is alive.”
I nodded.
“We'll find her.”
“What if she doesn't want to be found?”
“Then we'll give her the choice.”
Claire looked out the window.
“She knew everything.”
“Probably.”
“She knew you were my mother.”
“Yes.”
“She knew Thomas was my father.”
“Yes.”
“She knew Daniel was my brother.”
“Yes.”
Claire's voice cracked.
“Why didn't she tell me?”
I didn't know.
But I suspected.
Fear.
The same fear that had controlled all of us for decades.
The police eventually found Margaret's car near an old train station.
Inside was a notebook.
Claire opened it.
The first pages were ordinary.
Shopping lists.
Appointments.
Medical notes.
Then the entries became darker.
Victor knows about Claire.
Richard knows about Daniel.
Eleanor still believes Thomas is dead.
I have made terrible choices.
Claire's eyes filled with tears.
She turned the page.
But there is something none of them know.
The next page had been torn out.
Then another.
Then another.
At the end of the notebook was an address.
A small farmhouse outside the city.
We drove there.
The house was empty.
But there was food on the table.
Fresh food.
Someone had been there recently.
Claire called:
“Mom?”
Nothing.
Then she heard a noise.
A floorboard.
She turned.
A woman stood in the doorway.
Older.
Thin.
Gray-haired.
Her face was full of fear.
“Claire.”
Claire froze.
“Mom?”
Margaret began crying.
Claire ran toward her.
They embraced.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Then Claire stepped back.
“Why?”
Margaret cried.
“I was afraid.”
“You let me believe you were dead.”
“I had to.”
“You let everyone think I was dead.”
“I was protecting you.”
“From Victor?”
“Yes.”
Claire shook her head.
“You should have told me.”
“I wanted to.”
“When?”
“Every day.”
“Then why didn't you?”
Margaret looked at me.
“Because I was ashamed.”
I understood.
She had lived with guilt for decades.
She had taken my daughter.
She had participated in the lie.
But she had also tried to protect Claire.
Margaret looked at Daniel.
“My son.”
Daniel stared.
“You knew me.”
“Yes.”
“You watched me grow up.”
“Yes.”
“And never told me who I was.”
Margaret cried.
“I was a coward.”
Daniel's expression softened slightly.
“I don't forgive you yet.”
“I understand.”
Claire looked at her.
“Why did Victor need us separated?”
Margaret sat down.
“Because of the third child.”
I felt my heart stop.
“Again.”
Margaret nodded.
“There was another baby.”
Daniel stared.
“We already know.”
“No.”
Margaret shook her head.
“You know about three babies.”
She looked at me.
“There were four.”
Silence.
I couldn't breathe.
“Four?”
Margaret nodded.
“You gave birth to four children.”
Thomas stepped backward.
“That's impossible.”
“I saw them.”
“Where?”
Margaret's voice became quiet.
“One died.”
My stomach twisted.
“And the fourth?”
Margaret looked toward Claire.
“She was taken.”
“By whom?”
“Victor.”
Claire stood.
“Who is she?”
Margaret looked at me.
“Her name was Anna.”
I stared.
Anna.
The name sounded familiar.
I had heard it once.
Years ago.
A little girl in an old photograph.
A child standing beside Richard.
I suddenly remembered.
Richard had once told me she was the daughter of a family friend.
A distant relative.
Someone I never questioned.
My hands began to shake.
“Where is Anna?”
Margaret closed her eyes.
“She is alive.”
“Where?”
“She has been living under another name.”
Daniel asked:
“Which name?”
Margaret looked at him.
“Victoria.”
Claire gasped.
“Victoria?”
Margaret nodded.
“The woman who has been managing the Carter Foundation.”
I froze.
Victoria.
The woman who had worked beside Richard for twenty years.
The woman who had always been polite to me.
The woman who knew every detail about the family estate.
She was my daughter.
We returned to the city immediately.
Victoria was nowhere to be found.
Her office had been cleared.
Her apartment was empty.
Her phone was disconnected.
But she had left one thing behind.
A letter.
It was addressed to me.
I opened it.
Mother,
I stopped.
I could barely continue.
You don't know me.
But I have known you my entire life.
I grew up watching you from a distance.
I was told you abandoned me.
Then I was told you never wanted me.
Victor taught me to hate you.
My hands trembled.
The letter continued.
But I eventually discovered the truth.
You didn't abandon me.
They stole me.
Then the final line:
I didn't come for the fortune. I came for revenge.
A second page fell from the envelope.
A photograph.
Victoria stood beside Victor.
On the back:
Tonight. Blackwood Estate.
Thomas looked at me.
“She's going to the vault.”
I nodded.
“She has the fourth key.”
Daniel looked at Claire.
“And if she's one of us…”
“She can open the final chamber.”
We drove back toward Blackwood Lake.
May you like
This time, we were not searching for the past.
We were going to stop it.
