CHAPTER 5 — SYDNEY'S SECRET
CHAPTER 5 — SYDNEY'S SECRET
The headlights grew brighter.
Two black vehicles came up the narrow road toward Elizabeth's house, moving far too quickly for the darkness.
Elizabeth's fingers tightened around my wrist.
"Inside."
Jason drew his weapon.
"How many?"
"Enough."
Elena moved toward the window.
"Three in the first vehicle. I can't see the second."
I looked at Elizabeth.
"You said they killed Victoria."
Her expression hardened.
"They killed anyone who came close to the truth."
"And now they're here for me?"
"They're here for the trust."
Jason stepped toward the door.
"Then they won't get it."
Elizabeth grabbed his arm.
"Don't be foolish."
He looked at her.
"You raised me to fight."
"I raised you to survive."
A gunshot cracked through the night.
The front window shattered.
I ducked.
Glass exploded across the floor.
Elena pulled me behind the wall.
"Stay down!"
Another shot.
Then another.
Jason returned fire through the broken window.
The vehicles stopped.
For several seconds, there was only the sound of the ocean.
Then footsteps.
Running.
Elizabeth looked at me.
"There is a room beneath the kitchen."
"What?"
"Go."
"You're coming."
She shook her head.
"I've been running for twenty-seven years."
She pushed a small key into my hand.
"Tonight, you stop running."
We escaped through a concealed passage beneath the kitchen.
The tunnel was narrow and damp.
Elizabeth walked quickly despite her age.
Jason stayed behind us.
Elena followed with her weapon drawn.
Halfway through the tunnel, I heard shouting above us.
Someone had entered the house.
"They're inside," Jason whispered.
Elizabeth didn't slow down.
"They won't find the exit."
"How do you know?"
"Because I built it."
We emerged behind the cliffs.
A black SUV waited there.
I looked at Elizabeth.
"Whose car?"
"Yours."
I stared at her.
"Mine?"
She smiled.
"Your father bought it six months ago."
"My father?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because he knew this night would come."
I didn't know what frightened me more:
that my father had planned for this,
or that he had apparently known far more about my life than I did.
We drove.
Nobody spoke for several minutes.
Then Elizabeth said:
"You need to call your sister."
I looked at her.
"Sydney?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because she knows something."
I frowned.
"She doesn't know anything about the trust."
Elizabeth shook her head.
"Not the trust."
"Then what?"
"The night Victoria died."
Jason turned around.
"How would Sydney know?"
Elizabeth looked at him.
"Because your father told her."
My stomach dropped.
"Sydney was four years old."
"Exactly."
I called Sydney at 3:14 a.m.
She answered after one ring.
"Meline?"
"Where are you?"
A pause.
"At home."
"Are you alone?"
"Yes."
"Is Terrence with you?"
"No."
"Good."
She became nervous.
"Why?"
"Because I need you to tell me the truth."
Silence.
"What truth?"
"About Victoria."
Sydney stopped breathing.
I heard it.
That tiny hesitation.
The one people made when they realized a secret had finally caught up with them.
"How do you know that name?"
"Just answer me."
"Meline..."
"Did Dad ever tell you about her?"
Sydney started crying.
"Yes."
My heart tightened.
"What did he tell you?"
"He said she was dangerous."
"That's all?"
"No."
"What else?"
"He said she knew something about Mom."
"What?"
"I don't know."
"You're lying."
"I'm not."
"Then why are you crying?"
She whispered:
"Because I was there."
I froze.
"What?"
"I saw her."
"Where?"
"At Dad's office."
"When?"
"Six years ago."
I stared through the windshield.
Six years.
The same year Jason disappeared under his original identity.
The same year Victoria allegedly died.
The same year Jason became "Jason Carter."
"What did you see?"
Sydney's voice broke.
"Mom was screaming."
My blood ran cold.
"What was she screaming?"
"I don't remember."
"Try."
"I heard her say, 'You promised she would never come back.'"
"Who?"
"I don't know."
"Who was she talking to?"
Sydney began sobbing.
"Dad."
I ended the call.
Nobody spoke.
Finally, Jason asked:
"What did she say?"
I told him.
His face became unreadable.
Elizabeth closed her eyes.
"Then your father was involved."
I looked at her.
"You knew?"
"I suspected."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because suspicion isn't proof."
I stared at the road.
"There's more."
Elizabeth looked at me.
"What?"
"She said Mom promised someone Victoria would never come back."
Jason's hands tightened.
"Victoria was already dead."
"Exactly."
The car went silent.
Then Jason said:
"Unless she wasn't."
At dawn, we reached a safe house outside Albany.
The property belonged to Elena's firm.
No records.
No neighbors.
No cameras.
At least none that weren't ours.
Sydney arrived forty minutes later.
She came alone.
Her face was swollen from crying.
She looked at me and immediately began apologizing.
"I'm sorry."
I didn't move.
"Tell me everything."
She nodded.
We sat around a long wooden table.
Elizabeth remained near the window.
Jason sat across from Sydney.
Elena placed a recorder on the table.
Sydney stared at it.
"Are you recording me?"
"Yes."
She swallowed.
"Okay."
I leaned forward.
"When did Dad tell you about Victoria?"
"Six years ago."
"Why?"
"Because I found something."
"What?"
"A box."
"What was inside?"
"Photographs."
"Of Victoria?"
"Yes."
Sydney looked at Jason.
"And you."
He frowned.
"Me?"
"You were in them."
Jason stared at her.
"Where?"
"At a house."
"What house?"
"I don't know."
Sydney pulled a folded photograph from her bag.
I stared.
It showed Jason at maybe twenty-one.
Standing beside Victoria.
They were smiling.
Behind them was a house.
I recognized it.
Elizabeth's house.
Jason went pale.
"I've never seen this."
Sydney shook her head.
"You have."
"No."
"You were there."
"I don't remember."
Sydney whispered:
"You were there the night Victoria disappeared."
The room went silent.
Jason stood.
"That's impossible."
Sydney's eyes filled with tears.
"I saw you."
He backed away.
"I didn't kill her."
"I never said you did."
"You think I did."
"I think you know more than you remember."
Jason turned toward Elizabeth.
"Did you drug me?"
Elizabeth's expression changed.
"What?"
"After Victoria died."
"No."
"Then why can't I remember that night?"
Elizabeth slowly walked toward him.
"Because your father wanted you to forget."
Jason stared.
"How?"
"Medication."
His face went white.
"He erased it?"
"Not completely."
Elizabeth touched his shoulder.
"Memories don't disappear."
"They hide."
Sydney looked at me.
"There was something else."
"What?"
She hesitated.
"The baby."
I frowned.
"What about it?"
She looked down.
"Terrence isn't the father."
"I know."
"No."
She shook her head.
"You don't know everything."
I waited.
Sydney whispered:
"Jason isn't the father either."
I froze.
Jason stared at her.
"What?"
Sydney began crying.
"The baby's father is someone else."
Silence.
I couldn't breathe.
"Who?"
She looked at me.
"I don't know."
"Then how do you know Jason isn't the father?"
"Because I was never with him."
I stared.
"Then why did you tell Terrence that Jason was?"
Sydney looked ashamed.
"Because Mom told me to."
My hands curled into fists.
"Why?"
"She said it would protect me."
"From what?"
Sydney looked toward Elizabeth.
"From the truth."
Elizabeth's face hardened.
"Tell her."
Sydney shook her head.
"I can't."
"You can."
"I'll lose everything."
"You've already lost everything."
Sydney covered her face.
Then finally whispered:
"The baby was conceived as part of the plan."
I felt cold.
"What plan?"
"To create a claim against the Vale trust."
Jason stepped forward.
"Explain."
Sydney looked at him.
"Mom said if the baby had Vale blood, we could challenge the inheritance."
I stared.
"Who was supposed to be the father?"
Sydney's voice dropped.
"Thomas Vale."
Jason's face turned white.
"That's impossible."
"He's dead."
Sydney nodded.
"I know."
I felt sick.
"Then what does that mean?"
Sydney looked at Elizabeth.
"Mom told me there was another man."
Elizabeth's eyes widened.
"Who?"
Sydney whispered a name.
"Daniel Vale."
Jason froze.
"Daniel?"
Elizabeth staggered backward.
"No."
I looked between them.
"Who is Daniel Vale?"
Nobody answered.
Then Elizabeth whispered:
"Thomas's first son."
Jason stared at her.
"My brother?"
Elizabeth nodded.
"Everyone believed he died twenty-eight years ago."
I felt a chill.
"Everyone?"
Elizabeth looked at me.
"Except your mother."
Later that morning, Sydney finally told us the rest.
She had been pressured into meeting a man six months before my wedding.
She was told he could help her secure financial independence.
She didn't know his real name.
He wore a silver ring engraved with a bird.
A small silver bird.
I remembered the photograph.
Victoria had worn the same symbol.
"What did he look like?"
Sydney closed her eyes.
"Dark hair."
"Age?"
"Maybe forty."
"Scar?"
She nodded.
"Near his left eye."
Jason stood.
"Daniel."
Elizabeth looked horrified.
"You saw him?"
"No."
Jason's voice shook.
"I did."
"When?"
"Three years ago."
I stared.
"Where?"
"In the city."
"Why didn't you tell anyone?"
"Because he told me he was dead."
Silence.
Jason looked at me.
"He said he was my brother."
Then his phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
Nobody spoke.
Then a man's voice came through.
"Jason."
Jason froze.
The voice continued.
"You've been looking in the wrong direction."
Jason's face went white.
"Daniel?"
A quiet laugh.
"Good."
I leaned closer.
The voice said:
"Tell Meline her sister's secret isn't the only secret in that family."
Then the call ended.
Jason slowly lowered the phone.
I stared at him.
"What did he say?"
He looked at me.
"He knows where Sydney's baby came from."
Sydney began crying.
Elena stood.
"Can you trace the call?"
She checked the number.
Her expression changed.
"No."
"Why?"
"Because it came from inside this house."
Everyone froze.
Then every light in the safe house went out.
In the darkness, a single sound came from the hallway.
A baby crying.
Sydney screamed.
"That's impossible."
Her hands flew to her stomach.
The crying continued.
Closer.
Louder.
Then a man's voice whispered from somewhere in the dark:
"Family secrets always come home."
The emergency lights flickered on.
Nobody was in the hallway.
But on the floor lay a small silver bird pendant.
The same symbol Victoria had worn.
And beneath it was a handwritten note.
ASK SYDNEY WHO REALLY FATHERED HER CHILD.
I looked at my sister.
She was trembling.
And for the first time, I realized Sydney's secret wasn't simply about betrayal.
May you like
Someone had deliberately made her pregnancy part of a much larger inheritance scheme.
And whoever had designed it knew exactly how to destroy all of us.
