Chapter 9 — The Betrayal Inside the Mansion
Chapter 9 — The Betrayal Inside the Mansion
The message remained on every screen in the mansion.
TWO HEIRS. ONE CROWN.
ONLY ONE WILL SURVIVE.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Then the screens went black.
Ryan turned toward his mother.
“Who did this?”
She didn't answer.
I looked around the room.
My father.
My mother.
Daniel.
Ryan.
Vanessa.
And Eleanor—if that was truly the woman who had spent years pretending to be Margaret.
Someone had been feeding information to Ryan's mother.
But who?
My father stepped toward the security panel.
“Everyone stays here.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
He looked at me.
“Olivia—”
“Someone inside this mansion knew about the DNA test.”
I pointed at the screens.
“They knew before we did.”
Daniel's expression hardened.
“She's right.”
Ryan looked at him.
“Then we have a traitor.”
“No,” I said.
“We have someone who has been reporting everything we do.”
The distinction mattered.
A traitor might act once.
A spy could have been watching us for months.
And suddenly, several small details from the past week came back to me.
The mysterious messages.
The missing documents.
The locked study.
The security cameras that had briefly gone offline.
Vanessa somehow knowing when I would be home.
Someone had been watching.
And they had access to the mansion.
The First Search
I gathered everyone in the library.
“No phones.”
Ryan frowned.
“Olivia—”
“Put yours on the table.”
One by one, they did.
My father hesitated.
I looked at him.
“You too.”
He placed his phone down.
Daniel followed.
My mother.
Vanessa.
Finally, Eleanor.
I stared at her.
“You've been lying to us for years.”
She smiled faintly.
“So has everyone else.”
“Then you won't mind being searched.”
Her smile disappeared.
“Be careful.”
“With what?”
“Accusing the wrong person.”
I turned to Ryan.
“Check the security system.”
He nodded.
My father opened the control panel.
“What are we looking for?”
“Remote access.”
He began scrolling.
Then stopped.
“There.”
A login appeared.
ADMINISTRATOR — 11:43 PM.
The exact moment the threatening message appeared.
Ryan looked at me.
“Whose account?”
My father zoomed in.
The account belonged to the household manager.
Daniela Brooks.
I frowned.
“Who is Daniela?”
My father looked surprised.
“You hired her.”
“I did?”
“Two years ago.”
I remembered.
Daniela had worked in the mansion since before Ryan and I married.
She had always been quiet.
Reliable.
Almost invisible.
She knew where everything was.
She knew my schedule.
She knew when Ryan came home.
She knew which rooms were locked.
And she'd been there when Vanessa first arrived.
I whispered:
“She has access to everything.”
We found Daniela in the kitchen.
She was preparing coffee.
When she saw us, she smiled.
“Mrs. Anderson.”
I stepped toward her.
“Who have you been talking to?”
Her smile vanished.
“No one.”
“That's a lie.”
“I don't understand.”
I placed the security log on the counter.
“Your account accessed the security system last night.”
She stared at it.
“I didn't do that.”
“Then who did?”
“I don't know.”
Ryan stepped forward.
“Daniela, think carefully.”
She looked at him.
“I swear.”
My father examined the security footage.
At first, nothing.
Then he rewound the recording.
A shadow appeared outside the study.
A person wearing a black coat.
The face was hidden.
The figure entered the room.
Three minutes later, they left.
Daniela stared at the screen.
“I wasn't there.”
I believed her.
Because there was something wrong with the footage.
The person's height.
The posture.
The way they walked.
I had seen it before.
I looked at Eleanor.
She noticed.
“What?”
“You.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“You think that was me?”
“You walk exactly like that.”
Eleanor laughed.
“You're making a mistake.”
Then Daniela whispered:
“No.”
Everyone turned.
Daniela was staring at the screen.
“That isn't Mrs. Eleanor.”
“Then who is it?”
She swallowed.
“Mr. Anderson.”
Ryan's face changed.
“My father?”
“No.”
She pointed at the screen.
“Your brother.”
Adrian.
Adrian's Secret
We found Adrian in the garage.
He was standing beside his car.
When he saw us, he immediately knew.
“You found the footage.”
I stared at him.
“You've been accessing the security system.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To protect you.”
“By spying on us?”
“Yes.”
Ryan stepped forward.
“You've been reporting to Mom.”
Adrian's expression hardened.
“No.”
“You expect us to believe that?”
“I wasn't reporting to her.”
“Then who?”
Adrian looked at me.
“Your father.”
I turned.
My father looked stunned.
“What?”
Adrian pulled out his phone.
He showed me a series of messages.
From my father's number.
WATCH RYAN.
DON'T LET HIM LEAVE THE HOUSE.
FIND OUT WHO IS CONTACTING VANESSA.
I looked at my father.
“Did you send these?”
“No.”
Adrian frowned.
“Then someone has your phone.”
My father checked his pocket.
His phone was still there.
He opened the messages.
His face went pale.
“They were sent from my old encrypted account.”
“Can you access it?”
“No.”
Adrian looked at me.
“Someone cloned your father's identity.”
I stared at the screen.
“So they wanted us to suspect Adrian.”
“Yes.”
Ryan looked around.
“They're playing us against each other.”
I nodded.
“Exactly.”
Then Daniela spoke.
“There is another camera.”
We turned.
“What camera?”
“Inside the west corridor.”
My father frowned.
“That system was removed.”
“No.”
Daniela shook her head.
“I saw it last month.”
“Where?”
“Behind the painting.”
We rushed there.
She pulled the painting aside.
A tiny camera was hidden behind it.
My father connected it to the system.
The footage appeared.
It showed the mansion.
For the past six months.
Every room.
Every conversation.
Every meeting.
Someone had been watching us constantly.
I felt sick.
“Who had access?”
My father checked.
“One account.”
“Whose?”
He looked at me.
“Yours.”
I froze.
“My account?”
“Yes.”
Someone had used my credentials.
Then the camera displayed the login location.
Not the mansion.
Not the city.
A private server.
In another country.
Ryan whispered:
“Someone has been controlling your identity.”
The Missing Phone
I suddenly remembered something.
“Where's my old phone?”
Ryan frowned.
“What old phone?”
“The one I stopped using six months ago.”
My father looked at me.
“You gave it to Daniela.”
I turned.
Daniela shook her head.
“No.”
“You didn't?”
“I gave it to you.”
“I never received it.”
Silence.
We all looked at one another.
Then Daniela whispered:
“Someone took it.”
“When?”
“The day before your anniversary.”
I looked at Ryan.
That was when everything had begun.
The threats.
The messages.
The fake pregnancy.
The asset transfers.
Someone had taken my old phone and used it to impersonate me.
But why?
To make it appear that I was communicating with people inside Guardian.
To create evidence against me.
I felt a chill.
“This isn't about the inheritance.”
Ryan looked at me.
“Then what?”
“It's about control.”
I remembered my father's words.
Guardian didn't simply transfer money.
It transferred power.
Someone wanted to make sure I was declared unfit to control it.
And the easiest way was to make me look like a criminal.
The Betrayal
That night, I couldn't sleep.
I went downstairs alone.
The mansion was silent.
I entered the kitchen.
And found Daniela standing there.
She was crying.
I stopped.
“Daniela?”
She wiped her face.
“I'm sorry.”
“For what?”
She looked at me.
“I didn't know what they would do.”
My stomach dropped.
“Who?”
She couldn't speak.
I stepped closer.
“You've been feeding someone information.”
She nodded.
“Who?”
“My sister.”
I frowned.
“Your sister?”
“She works for them.”
“Who?”
Daniela looked terrified.
“Mrs. Anderson.”
I froze.
“Margaret.”
She shook her head.
“No.”
“Then who?”
Daniela whispered:
“Eleanor.”
My heart stopped.
The woman we'd thought was Margaret.
The woman claiming to be Ryan's mother.
She had been using Daniela.
“For how long?”
“Six months.”
“What information?”
“Everything.”
My blood ran cold.
“My meetings.”
“Yes.”
“Ryan's movements.”
“Yes.”
“Adrian's location.”
“Yes.”
“My father's condition.”
Daniela began crying.
“Yes.”
I felt betrayed.
Not because Daniela had lied.
But because she had been close enough to know everything.
“Why?”
“My sister was in prison.”
I stared at her.
“Eleanor promised to get her out.”
“And you believed her?”
“I had no choice.”
“There is always a choice.”
Daniela looked at me.
“I know.”
Then she reached into her pocket.
She pulled out a small flash drive.
“This is everything I gave her.”
I took it.
“Why are you giving it to me now?”
“Because I saw what she did tonight.”
“What?”
“She ordered someone to kill Ryan.”
My heart stopped.
“When?”
“Twenty minutes ago.”
“Where?”
Daniela looked toward the garage.
“On the road outside the mansion.”
The Car
We ran.
Ryan was already outside.
His car was starting.
“Ryan!”
He turned.
“What happened?”
“Don't drive.”
He frowned.
“Why?”
“Someone sabotaged your car.”
Adrian rushed toward the vehicle.
He opened the hood.
Then froze.
A wire had been cut.
The brake system had been tampered with.
Ryan stared.
“If I'd driven…”
“You wouldn't have made it past the gate.”
Silence.
My hands shook.
“Who did this?”
Daniela looked at me.
“Eleanor.”
We turned toward the mansion.
The front door was open.
Eleanor was gone.
So was my father's black case.
And so was the original DNA report.
I felt the pieces falling into place.
“She knew.”
Ryan looked at me.
“She knew about the DNA.”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“She knew the DNA would expose her.”
The Betrayal Was Bigger
We searched the mansion.
Eleanor's room was empty.
Her closet contained almost nothing.
No photographs.
No personal belongings.
No evidence of a life.
It was as though she'd never lived there.
Then Adrian found something beneath the mattress.
A passport.
The name on it wasn't Eleanor.
It wasn't Margaret.
It was:
CLAIRE ANDERSON.
Ryan stared at it.
“Who is Claire?”
My father went pale.
“No.”
I looked at him.
“Dad?”
He didn't answer.
“Who is Claire?”
He whispered:
“Richard's daughter.”
Ryan frowned.
“Richard didn't have a daughter.”
My father looked at him.
“He did.”
“With whom?”
“With your mother.”
Silence.
I stared at him.
“The missing child.”
My father nodded.
“Eleanor wasn't Margaret's daughter.”
“She was Richard's.”
“Yes.”
Ryan's face hardened.
“So Eleanor is my sister?”
“Yes.”
The betrayal suddenly became much worse.
She hadn't infiltrated the family as an outsider.
She had been family all along.
And she'd been waiting years to take control of Guardian.
I looked at the passport again.
Then at the flash drive Daniela had given me.
I plugged it into my laptop.
Hundreds of files appeared.
Messages.
Bank transfers.
Photographs.
Audio recordings.
And one folder labeled:
PROJECT HEIR.
I opened it.
The first document contained a list of names.
My name.
Ryan's.
Adrian's.
My parents'.
Daniel's.
And finally—
CHILD #4 — UNKNOWN.
I stared at the screen.
“There's another child.”
Ryan stepped closer.
“What?”
I pointed at the file.
“Someone else was born into this family.”
Adrian read the document.
His expression changed.
“No.”
“What?”
“This isn't a child.”
“Then what?”
He pointed to the date.
It was twenty-nine years ago.
The same year Ryan and I were born.
I looked at the final line.
CHILD #4 — STATUS: ALIVE.
A message suddenly appeared on the screen.
YOU FOUND THE WRONG TRAITOR.
Then another:
DANIELA NEVER BETRAYED YOU.
And finally:
THE PERSON INSIDE YOUR HOUSE IS SOMEONE YOU TRUST COMPLETELY.
I slowly turned toward Ryan.
He looked at me.
Neither of us spoke.
Then we heard footsteps behind us.
Someone entered the study.
I turned.
It was my father.
He was holding a gun.
And he wasn't looking at me.
He was looking at Ryan.
“Step away from my daughter,” he said.
Ryan froze.
“Dad…”
My father's voice was cold.
“I'm not your father.”
Ryan stared at him.
My mother screamed from the hallway.
“Don't!”
My father raised the gun.
Then he said the words that shattered everything:
“Ryan is not the child I brought home twenty-nine years ago.”
I looked at Ryan.
Then at my father.
“What are you saying?”
He lowered the weapon slightly.
“The real Ryan died as an infant.”
Silence.
“And the man standing in front of you…”
He looked directly at Ryan.
“…is the missing heir who was supposed to replace him.”
Ryan's face went completely white.
May you like
Then the mansion lights went out.
And somewhere in the darkness, someone began laughing.
