Chapter 4 - THE DAUGHTER NOBODY KNEW ABOUT
The young woman stood across the street from the warehouse.
She wasn't moving.
She wasn't smiling.
She simply watched me.
She looked about thirty.
Dark brown hair.
Pale skin.
The same gray eyes my father had.
I couldn't look away.
“Mom,” I whispered.
My mother lowered her head.
“You're going to have to meet her eventually.”
Arthur stared at the woman.
“Her name?”
“Charlotte.”
I looked at him.
“You knew?”
Arthur didn't answer.
That was answer enough.
“You knew about her?”
“Yes.”
My voice cracked.
“How long?”
“Since before your father died.”
I felt betrayed all over again.
“Everyone knew except me.”
My mother stepped toward me.
“We were trying to protect you.”
I shook my head.
“That's what everyone says.”
Charlotte slowly crossed the street.
She stopped a few feet away.
“Aria?”
I nodded.
She looked at me with tears in her eyes.
“I've wanted to meet you for years.”
I didn't know what to say.
“You're my sister?”
She nodded.
“Half-sister.”
“How?”
“Our father.”
She showed me a photograph.
My father was standing beside a woman I had never seen.
The woman was pregnant.
Charlotte.
My father had apparently known about her.
He had supported her mother secretly.
But he never told me because he feared my grandfather would use Charlotte against me.
Then Charlotte explained why she had appeared now.
“I found out about Victor.”
“From who?”
“My mother.”
I frowned.
“She's alive?”
Charlotte nodded.
“She died last year.”
My heart sank.
“She left me everything.”
“What?”
“Letters.”
Charlotte opened her bag.
Hundreds of pages.
My father's handwriting.
My mother's.
And Victor's.
The letters revealed something horrifying.
Victor had known about Charlotte.
He had used her existence as leverage.
He had threatened my father.
He had threatened my mother.
And he had tried to make both of them surrender the Carter trust.
But there was one letter that changed everything.
It was written by my father.
If Aria ever meets Charlotte, tell them both the truth.
Neither daughter is the heir.
I stared.
“What?”
Charlotte looked equally confused.
My mother began crying.
“The trust was never meant to belong to either of you.”
“Then who?”
She looked at me.
“The children.”
I didn't understand.
“What children?”
“The children the foundation was created to protect.”
The trust wasn't a personal fortune.
It was designed to become a permanent charitable trust.
My father had deliberately hidden that fact.
The money could never belong to one person.
It existed to fund medical care.
Victor had spent decades trying to gain control of something that legally could never be his.
I looked at Charlotte.
“So why did everyone think I owned it?”
“Because that was the cover story.”
My mother touched my arm.
“Your father knew people would come after you if they knew the truth.”
I looked at Arthur.
“And tonight?”
He nodded.
“Tonight, Victor finally believed you had the power he wanted.”
I looked toward the police cars.
Victor had been arrested.
Selena too.
But something bothered me.
“Where is Selena?”
Arthur frowned.
“She was taken into custody.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
“What?”
“She isn't there.”
We turned.
The police vehicle carrying Selena had already left.
But another vehicle was parked near the warehouse.
Empty.
My phone rang.
A detective spoke urgently.
“Ms. Monroe, we have a problem.”
“What?”
“Selena escaped during transport.”
My blood went cold.
“How?”
“She had help.”
I looked at Charlotte.
May you like
She whispered:
“Victor always has someone left.”
