Chapter 4 — The Mistress in My Penthouse
Chapter 4 — The Mistress in My Penthouse
At 6:17 the next morning, Sabrina woke to the sound of someone knocking on the penthouse door.
She smiled.
For one brief second, she thought it was Julian.
She had spent the night imagining what would happen next.
Julian would come back.
He would apologize.
He would tell her the lawyers had fixed everything.
He would put his arms around her and promise that Elena was finally out of their lives.
Sabrina had believed him because she needed to.
She opened the door.
It wasn't Julian.
Two security officers stood outside.
Behind them was a woman Sabrina had never seen before.
She wore a dark suit and carried a leather portfolio.
“Ms. Cross?”
“Yes?”
“I’m Amelia Grant, counsel for Saint Clair Holdings.”
Sabrina's smile disappeared.
“What do you want?”
Amelia held up a document.
“You need to vacate the penthouse.”
Sabrina stared at her.
“What?”
“This residence is no longer authorized for your use.”
“But Julian—”
“Mr. Mercer no longer has authority to grant access to this property.”
Sabrina looked behind Amelia.
The corridor suddenly seemed much longer.
“But this is my home.”
Amelia's expression didn't change.
“No.”
Sabrina's face hardened.
“Julian gave it to me.”
“He did not own it.”
“He told me he did.”
“That is irrelevant.”
Sabrina stepped into the doorway.
“You can't throw me out.”
Amelia calmly handed her the document.
“You have thirty minutes.”
Sabrina looked down.
The letterhead carried the Saint Clair family crest.
She felt her stomach drop.
“You're serious.”
“Completely.”
Sabrina looked around the penthouse.
The marble floors.
The ocean view.
The enormous bedroom.
The wardrobe filled with clothes Julian had bought her.
The jewelry.
The champagne.
The flowers.
Everything she had believed was proof that she had won.
Suddenly, it all looked borrowed.
Because it was.
Twenty minutes later, Sabrina called Julian.
He didn't answer.
She called again.
Nothing.
A third time.
Straight to voicemail.
She stared at the phone.
“Coward.”
She walked into the bedroom and opened the safe.
The safe was empty.
Her jewelry was gone.
Her passport was gone.
Her emergency cash was gone.
Even the expensive watch Julian had given her had been removed from the drawer.
Sabrina stood frozen.
Then she noticed something taped to the inside of the safe door.
A single note.
PROPERTY OF SAINT CLAIR HOLDINGS.
Her hands began shaking.
She tore it down.
“This can't be happening.”
A security officer appeared in the doorway.
“Ma'am.”
“Don't call me that.”
“We need you to come downstairs.”
“I'm not leaving.”
“You have eleven minutes.”
Sabrina stared at him.
Then she laughed.
“You people think you can do whatever you want.”
The officer said nothing.
“You're forgetting who Julian is.”
The man finally looked at her.
“No, ma'am.”
He paused.
“We're remembering who he isn't.”
At 6:55 a.m., Sabrina stepped outside with two suitcases.
The rain had stopped.
The pavement was still wet.
A few employees watched from the entrance.
Some looked sympathetic.
Others looked away.
Sabrina hated them all.
She had spent years imagining herself walking through those doors as the future Mrs. Mercer.
Now she was leaving through them with two suitcases and no home.
A black sedan pulled up.
The window lowered.
Elena sat inside.
Sabrina stopped.
For several seconds, neither woman spoke.
Then Elena looked at the emerald pendant.
Sabrina had returned it the day before.
But she was still wearing a second piece of jewelry.
A gold bracelet.
Elena recognized it immediately.
“My grandmother's.”
Sabrina touched her wrist.
“I thought Julian bought it.”
“He didn't.”
“I didn't know.”
“You never asked.”
Sabrina's eyes flashed.
“You think you're better than me?”
“No.”
“You have everything.”
Elena looked at the penthouse.
“No.”
She looked back at Sabrina.
“I had everything.”
Sabrina didn't understand.
Elena opened the car door.
“You have no idea what it cost me.”
Sabrina laughed bitterly.
“You still have your empire.”
Elena's expression changed.
“For now.”
She closed the door.
The car pulled away.
Sabrina watched it disappear.
For the first time, she realized Elena wasn't celebrating.
She was worried.
And that frightened Sabrina more than anger would have.
At 8:30 a.m., Julian was nowhere to be found.
His attorneys had spent the morning trying to locate him.
His phone was off.
His private driver couldn't reach him.
His usual hotel suite had been abandoned.
Then, at 9:04, Elena received a call.
“Ms. Saint Clair?”
“Yes.”
“This is Thomas.”
“What happened?”
“We found Mr. Mercer.”
“Where?”
“The old marina.”
Elena frowned.
“Why?”
“He's asking to see you.”
She looked out the window.
“Did he say why?”
Thomas hesitated.
“He said he found something.”
“What?”
“I don't know.”
Elena stood.
“Send security.”
“They're already there.”
“Good.”
She hung up.
Her father looked at her.
“Julian?”
“Yes.”
“Don't go alone.”
“I won't.”
“Take Amelia.”
Elena nodded.
Then she noticed something on her desk.
A photograph.
The mysterious woman from the archive.
The woman her father claimed was her mother's sister.
Elena picked it up.
Something about the face bothered her.
She had seen it before.
Not in a photograph.
In a mirror.
At 9:47 a.m., Elena arrived at the marina.
Julian stood at the end of the pier.
His suit was wrinkled.
His face looked exhausted.
He held a small metal box.
Elena stopped several feet away.
“What did you find?”
Julian looked at her.
“You knew.”
“About what?”
“Your grandfather.”
Elena's expression hardened.
“What are you talking about?”
“He kept records.”
“So?”
“Records about your mother.”
Her heart stopped.
“Where?”
Julian raised the box.
“Here.”
Elena walked closer.
“Where did you get it?”
“From the old storage facility.”
“Why were you there?”
“Because I was looking for leverage.”
She stared at him.
“Against me?”
“Yes.”
“And instead you found this.”
“Yes.”
Elena reached for the box.
Julian didn't give it to her.
“There is a condition.”
She looked at him.
“What?”
“You help me.”
“No.”
“You haven't heard the condition.”
“I don't need to.”
“I'm facing criminal liability.”
“That isn't my problem.”
“You can stop it.”
“I won't.”
“Then people will go to prison.”
Elena's eyes narrowed.
“Who?”
Julian hesitated.
“Your father.”
Silence.
Elena stared at him.
“What did he do?”
“I don't know.”
“Then why are you threatening me?”
“Because the documents mention him.”
Elena looked at the box.
“Give it to me.”
Julian finally handed it over.
She opened it.
Inside was a single file.
The first page carried her mother's name.
ISABELLA SAINT CLAIR
Elena's hands began to tremble.
Beneath the name was a date.
Twenty-six years earlier.
And one word.
DISAPPEARED.
Elena looked at Julian.
“What does this mean?”
“I don't know.”
“You expect me to believe you?”
“I swear.”
She opened the next page.
A photograph fell out.
Isabella stood beside another woman.
The same woman from the archive.
Elena stared.
Her father had told her the woman was her mother's sister.
But there was something written on the back.
She turned it over.
Four words.
Not her sister. Her daughter.
Elena couldn't breathe.
Julian looked at her.
“That's why I called you.”
She stared at him.
“Who is she?”
Julian shook his head.
“I don't know.”
At noon, the Saint Clair family archive went into lockdown.
Every entrance was sealed.
Every employee was questioned.
The mysterious photograph was analyzed.
The results came back quickly.
The woman had been photographed twenty-seven years ago.
But her face had appeared in another photograph taken three years ago.
Elena stared at the images.
Same eyes.
Same scar.
Same distinctive smile.
No aging.
Impossible.
Her father entered the room.
“Where did you get that?”
Elena turned.
“Julian.”
Her father's face went pale.
“You spoke to him?”
“Yes.”
“What did he tell you?”
She held up the photograph.
“Who is she?”
Her father didn't answer.
“Dad.”
Silence.
“Who is she?”
He finally whispered:
“Her name is Victoria.”
“Victoria what?”
“Saint Clair.”
Elena's heart pounded.
“My aunt?”
“No.”
Her father closed his eyes.
“Your mother’s daughter.”
Elena stared.
“My mother had another child?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because she was dangerous.”
“Where is she?”
Her father looked toward the locked archive.
“She has been trying to come back for twenty-seven years.”
Elena's blood ran cold.
“Come back for what?”
Her father looked directly at her.
“The trust.”
That evening, Sabrina sat alone in a cheap hotel room.
The room smelled of detergent and old carpet.
She stared at her phone.
No calls.
No messages.
Nothing from Julian.
She opened social media.
The headlines were everywhere.
SAINT CLAIR TRUST TAKES CONTROL OF MERCER CROWN
JULIAN MERCER FACES FINANCIAL INVESTIGATION
ELENA SAINT CLAIR RECLAIMS FAMILY EMPIRE
Sabrina scrolled.
Then she saw a photograph.
Elena leaving the marina.
Julian behind her.
Sabrina zoomed in.
There was something in Elena's hand.
A metal box.
Sabrina recognized it.
She had seen it once.
In Julian's study.
He had told her never to touch it.
Her stomach tightened.
She called Julian again.
No answer.
Then a message arrived.
Not from him.
From an unknown number.
You want Julian back?
Sabrina stared.
Another message.
Help me get Elena.
Her fingers froze.
Who are you?
The reply came immediately.
Someone who knows what Elena doesn't.
Then:
And someone who can give you everything she took from you.
Sabrina stared at the screen.
She should have deleted the message.
Instead, she typed:
What do you want?
The answer appeared.
The trust.
Sabrina's heart began pounding.
She looked toward the hotel window.
For the first time since losing the penthouse, she smiled.
Maybe she hadn't lost everything.
Maybe she had simply changed sides.
At 11:38 p.m., Elena returned home.
Her father was waiting in the library.
The lights were off.
Only the fireplace illuminated the room.
“Dad?”
He looked at her.
“You shouldn't have gone to the marina.”
“Why?”
“Because Julian is desperate.”
“He found the file.”
Her father stood.
“What file?”
“The one about Mom.”
His face changed.
“What did he show you?”
Elena placed the photograph on the table.
“Victoria.”
Her father stared at it.
“She knows about the trust.”
“Yes.”
“She knows about me.”
“Yes.”
“She knows about Mom.”
“Yes.”
Her father sat down.
Elena watched him.
“Tell me everything.”
He didn't speak.
“Now.”
Finally, he whispered:
“Your grandfather didn't erase Victoria because she was dangerous.”
Elena waited.
“He erased her because she was the rightful first beneficiary.”
Elena's blood ran cold.
“What?”
“Before you were born, the trust belonged to her.”
“Then why was it transferred to me?”
“Because she disappeared.”
“Disappeared?”
“No.”
He looked at Elena.
“She was taken.”
“By whom?”
Her father looked toward the window.
“Your grandfather.”
Elena stepped backward.
“You're lying.”
“I wish I were.”
“Why would he take his own granddaughter?”
“Because Victoria knew what he had done.”
“What?”
Her father's voice dropped.
“He didn't build the Saint Clair fortune.”
Elena stared at him.
“Then who did?”
Her father looked directly at her.
“Your grandmother.”
“And Grandpa stole it?”
“No.”
He swallowed.
“He killed her for it.”
The room went silent.
Elena couldn't move.
Then her phone vibrated.
One message.
Unknown number.
Ask your father where your grandmother died.
A second message arrived.
Then ask him who was holding the knife.
Elena slowly raised her eyes.
Her father was already crying.
For the first time in her life, she understood.
The trust wasn't protecting her from Julian.
It was protecting her from the truth.
And somewhere in the city, the woman who had been erased from the Saint Clair bloodline was coming home.
Not to reclaim the empire.
But to reclaim the name.
May you like
And she had just found the first person willing to help her.
Sabrina Cross.
