Chapter 13: The Family Nathan Tried to Destroy
My Husband Ordered Two Hundred Strikes—Then He Learned Who My Father Really Was
Chapter 13: The Family Nathan Tried to Destroy
The most dangerous lies are not the ones strangers tell.
They are the ones families bury.
For years, Richard Carter had believed he knew everything about his late wife.
He knew her kindness.
Her courage.
Her quiet determination.
He knew the day they met, the promises they made, and the dreams they built together.
Now, one sentence from Edward Sinclair had shattered decades of certainty.
"Catherine was my sister."
If it was true...
Then Evelyn had been fighting a war against her own blood.
The abandoned railway station was silent except for the wind passing through broken windows.
Richard stared at Edward, searching his face for any sign of deception.
"You expect me to believe that?"
Edward calmly removed another envelope from his coat.
"I expected you to deny it."
He tossed it onto an old wooden table.
Marcus opened it first.
Inside were birth certificates.
School records.
Family photographs.
Letters written more than forty years earlier.
Every document carried the same surname.
Sinclair.
One birth certificate belonged to Catherine Sinclair.
Date of birth.
Parents.
Place of birth.
Everything matched the information Richard remembered from his wife's private records.
Only one detail had been missing all those years.
Her maiden name.
Evelyn slowly picked up one of the photographs.
A young Catherine smiled while standing beside a teenage Edward.
Neither looked wealthy.
Neither looked powerful.
They looked like ordinary siblings.
She whispered,
"Mom never told me."
Richard answered quietly,
"She never told me either."
Edward's expression softened for the first time.
"Because she was ashamed."
Richard looked at him sharply.
"Ashamed of what?"
"Of our father."
Edward began walking slowly through the abandoned station.
"Our father believed power mattered more than love."
"He built the first version of what later became the Phoenix Circle."
"Catherine hated everything he represented."
"When she met you..."
Edward looked directly at Richard.
"...she finally found a way to escape."
Richard felt memories returning.
The night Catherine had insisted they leave the city without explanation.
The anonymous threats that had arrived during the first years of their marriage.
The strange feeling that someone was always watching them.
He had blamed business rivals.
Now he understood.
It had started much earlier.
"Catherine disappeared from our family," Edward continued.
"She changed her name."
"Destroyed every official record linking us."
Richard's voice trembled.
"To protect Evelyn."
Edward nodded.
"Yes."
Marcus interrupted.
"If Catherine rejected the Phoenix Circle..."
"Why didn't she expose it?"
Edward looked down.
"Because our father still controlled hundreds of lives."
"If she spoke..."
"People would die."
The revelation hung heavily in the air.
Richard suddenly remembered something Catherine had once whispered after waking from a nightmare.
"Promise me that Evelyn grows up free."
At the time, he thought she feared kidnappers.
Now he knew she had feared something far more dangerous.
Her own family.
Agent Grant stepped forward.
"So why reveal this now?"
Edward smiled sadly.
"Because secrets lose their value once they're discovered."
He glanced toward Evelyn.
"And because she deserves the truth."
Nathan Ashford arrived at the station under federal protection several minutes later.
He had insisted on coming after learning Edward intended to meet Richard in person.
The moment he entered, his eyes fell on the old family photographs.
"What is this?"
No one answered immediately.
Evelyn finally looked at him.
"You tried to destroy my family."
Nathan lowered his head.
"I know."
"You thought I had no one."
"I know."
"You believed you could erase me."
"I know."
Each admission sounded heavier than the last.
Richard watched silently.
For weeks he had blamed Nathan for everything.
Now, standing before the truth, he realized something painful.
Nathan had indeed committed terrible acts.
But the man before him was not the architect of the nightmare.
He had been manipulated.
Used.
Broken.
That did not erase his guilt.
But it placed it in its proper place.
Edward looked toward Nathan with cold indifference.
"You served your purpose."
Nathan frowned.
"My purpose?"
Edward nodded.
"You were never chosen because you were brilliant."
"You were chosen because you were predictable."
Nathan felt the words strike harder than any accusation.
"You admired powerful people."
"You ignored honest ones."
"You mistook flattery for loyalty."
Edward shrugged.
"You were easy."
Nathan clenched his fists.
"I loved Evelyn."
Edward laughed quietly.
"No."
"You loved owning her."
The truth cut deeper than Nathan wanted to admit.
Marcus opened Anna Pierce's final journal.
Near the back, he discovered another handwritten note.
It listed several names beneath a heading.
Families That Refused.
Richard Carter.
Harold Whitaker.
Judge Eleanor Whitmore.
Three cabinet ministers.
A foreign ambassador.
Every family on the list had one thing in common.
Each had refused to cooperate with the Phoenix Circle.
Each had later suffered tragedy.
Business failures.
Disappearances.
Fatal accidents.
Political scandals.
Richard looked at Edward.
"You destroyed them."
Edward remained silent.
Silence was answer enough.
Evelyn slowly closed the journal.
"So this was never about money."
Edward nodded.
"It was always about control."
Suddenly, a familiar voice echoed through the station.
"I think that's enough."
Everyone turned.
An elderly woman stepped from the shadows, supported by a cane.
Her silver hair was neatly tied back.
Though age had changed her appearance, Richard recognized her immediately.
He whispered in disbelief,
"Anna..."
Anna Pierce smiled faintly.
"I told you I'd stay hidden until the right moment."
Marcus stared.
"We searched for you everywhere."
"I know."
"I made sure you couldn't find me."
Edward's expression changed for the first time.
It was not anger.
It was surprise.
"You should be dead."
Anna answered calmly,
"So should your empire."
She handed Agent Grant a small metal key.
"The last archive."
Grant frowned.
"Where?"
Anna looked directly at Richard.
"Inside Carter Manor."
Richard's eyes widened.
"My house?"
Anna nodded.
"Your wife hid it before she died."
Evelyn felt tears well in her eyes.
"My mother knew?"
Anna smiled gently.
"Catherine knew everything."
Richard's heart pounded.
All these years, he had lived in the same home.
Raised Evelyn there.
Grieved Catherine there.
Never realizing that his late wife had hidden the final evidence beneath their own roof.
Before anyone could ask another question, a sharp crack echoed across the station.
A sniper's bullet shattered a window just inches from Anna's head.
Federal agents rushed everyone to cover.
Marcus pulled Richard and Evelyn behind a concrete pillar.
Grant shouted into his radio.
"Sniper!"
Outside, engines roared to life.
Several black vehicles sped away into the darkness.
Edward Sinclair was gone.
But he hadn't escaped alone.
During the confusion...
The leather briefcase containing Anna's original journals had disappeared.
Marcus checked the empty table.
"It's gone."
Anna closed her eyes.
"No..."
Richard looked at her.
"What was inside?"
Anna took a slow, trembling breath.
"The names..."
She looked toward the shattered window.
"...of every living member of the Phoenix Circle."
Without that list, they still had evidence.
But they had lost the only document capable of exposing the organization completely.
The war was no longer just about proving the truth.
May you like
It had become a race to recover the names before Edward Sinclair erased them forever.
End of Chapter 13
