Chapter 13 – Justice
Chapter 13 – Justice
The name remained on the report.
Catherine Holloway.
Daniel stared at the page until the letters blurred.
James Holloway's wife.
The woman who had stood among the guests at Ashford Manor for years.
The woman who had attended family dinners.
The woman who had comforted Daniel after his father's death.
The woman who had watched Evelyn's suffering from only a few feet away.
She wasn't a stranger.
She was family.
"No..."
Evelyn's voice was barely audible.
Martha immediately moved beside her.
"Mrs. Ashford."
Evelyn shook her head slowly.
"I invited her into this house."
Daniel looked at her.
"You didn't know."
"But I should have."
The old woman's eyes filled with pain.
"I spent my entire life protecting this family."
"And I never saw the enemy sitting beside me."
Detective Cross placed the report on the table.
"We need to find Catherine Holloway immediately."
Daniel looked up.
"Do you think she's still here?"
"No."
Cross answered.
"People who plan something for thirty years don't stay after the truth begins coming out."
Outside the library, officers moved through the damaged mansion.
Every room was searched.
Every exit was checked.
But Catherine Holloway was gone.
No car.
No phone.
No trace.
Except one thing.
A note left on the dining table.
Daniel picked it up carefully.
The handwriting was elegant.
Familiar.
Not Catherine's.
Richard's.
His heart tightened.
"My father wrote this."
Cross looked surprised.
"When?"
Daniel unfolded it.
The paper was old.
The ink had faded.
But the words were clear.
To whoever finds this,
I know the truth will eventually come out.
When it does, people will call me weak.
They will say I chose money over family.
They will be right.
Daniel stopped reading.
The pain was almost unbearable.
He continued.
But they will never know what it feels like to watch someone threaten your child.
They will never know what it feels like to choose between being hated by your son...
or burying him.
Daniel closed his eyes.
His father had known.
He had been afraid.
The next lines were harder to read.
Catherine told me Sebastian was planning revenge.
She told me the only way to protect Daniel was to cooperate.
I believed her.
That was my greatest mistake.
Cross looked at Evelyn.
"She manipulated him."
Evelyn nodded sadly.
"Richard always wanted to save people."
"That made him easy to control."
Daniel turned the page.
Only one sentence remained.
If Catherine is still alive when this letter is found, she is searching for the last piece of evidence.
Daniel frowned.
"The last piece?"
"What evidence?"
Before anyone could answer...
The lights in the mansion went out.
The entire estate fell into darkness.
For a moment, no one moved.
Then alarms began screaming.
An officer shouted from the hallway.
"Power failure!"
Another voice followed.
"Detective!"
"We found someone!"
Everyone rushed toward the east wing.
A young officer stood beside a hidden door.
The door was open.
Inside...
Was another secret room.
Smaller than Charles' archive.
Older.
Darker.
At the center sat a wooden box.
And beside it...
A photograph.
Daniel picked up the photograph.
It showed four people standing outside Ashford Manor.
Charles.
Eleanor.
Sebastian.
And...
A young woman.
A child.
Daniel looked at Evelyn.
"Who is she?"
Evelyn's face changed.
Because she recognized her.
"That..."
She whispered.
"...is Catherine."
The photograph was dated:
Thirty-eight years earlier.
Catherine had been part of the family long before anyone knew.
But something else was written on the back.
A single sentence.
The child who was supposed to inherit everything.
Cross opened the wooden box.
Inside were documents.
Not financial records.
Not wills.
Birth certificates.
He read the first one.
Then looked shocked.
"This can't be right."
"What?"
He handed the document to Daniel.
Daniel read the name.
Catherine Blackwell.
Father: Sebastian Blackwell.
Mother: Eleanor Blackwell.
Normal.
Then he saw the second document.
His blood ran cold.
A second birth certificate.
Same woman.
Same date.
Different father.
Father: Charles Ashford.
Nobody spoke.
Evelyn covered her mouth.
"No..."
Daniel looked at her.
"You knew?"
She shook her head violently.
"I didn't."
Cross examined the documents carefully.
"There are two possibilities."
"What?"
"One is fraud."
"And the other?"
He looked at Evelyn.
"Charles Ashford was Catherine's biological father."
The room became silent.
The family war suddenly had a new meaning.
Catherine wasn't fighting for revenge.
She was fighting because she believed the Ashfords stole her birthright.
Daniel whispered,
"She wasn't destroying the family."
"She was trying to reclaim it."
Cross nodded.
"Maybe."
"But murder isn't justice."
A noise came from the corridor.
Everyone turned.
A figure stood at the end of the hallway.
Catherine Holloway.
Rainwater dripped from her coat.
She wasn't holding a weapon.
She wasn't running.
She simply stood there.
Waiting.
Daniel stepped forward.
"Catherine."
She looked at him.
Her eyes were filled with exhaustion.
Not anger.
Not hatred.
Just years of pain.
"You finally know."
Cross raised his weapon.
"Hands where I can see them."
Catherine smiled sadly.
"Still protecting the Ashfords."
"No."
Daniel said.
"We're protecting the truth."
She looked toward Evelyn.
"You really don't remember me?"
Evelyn stared at her.
"I don't."
Catherine laughed quietly.
"Of course you don't."
"I was six years old."
"I stood outside this mansion while my mother begged Charles to acknowledge me."
Daniel froze.
"What?"
Catherine continued.
"He told her she was an embarrassment."
"He told her no one would believe a Blackwell woman."
"He offered money."
"Not love."
Evelyn whispered,
"Charles..."
She looked devastated.
"I didn't know."
"I know."
Catherine replied.
"That's the part that hurts."
She slowly reached into her coat.
Every officer tensed.
But she removed only a small envelope.
She handed it to Daniel.
"My father kept this."
Daniel opened it.
Inside was a letter.
From Charles Ashford.
Eleanor,
I cannot give Catherine my name.
If the world knows she is mine, everything I built will collapse.
But I promise she will never suffer.
Daniel looked up.
"He promised."
Catherine smiled bitterly.
"And then he broke it."
Cross stepped closer.
"Why now?"
"Why expose everything after thirty years?"
Catherine looked toward the burned mansion.
"Because I wanted them to feel what my mother felt."
"What?"
"To lose everything."
Daniel shook his head.
"You destroyed innocent people's lives."
Catherine's expression hardened.
"Your family destroyed mine first."
Evelyn slowly moved her wheelchair forward.
"Catherine."
The woman froze.
For the first time, her anger cracked.
Evelyn reached out her hand.
"I am sorry."
Catherine stared at her.
"Sorry?"
Evelyn nodded.
"For what was done to your mother."
"For what my family did."
"But I cannot apologize for crimes I did not commit."
Catherine looked away.
Tears formed in her eyes.
For a moment...
Daniel thought she might finally surrender.
Then her phone rang.
Everyone froze.
She looked at the screen.
Her face changed.
Fear.
Real fear.
"Who is it?"
Cross asked.
Catherine didn't answer.
She slowly turned the phone around.
The caller ID showed:
Sebastian Blackwell
Daniel felt his blood run cold.
"Sebastian is alive?"
Catherine whispered:
"He never died."
The phone rang again.
Then a message appeared.
One sentence.
Everyone could read it.
You failed me. Now I finish what we started.
Catherine looked toward Daniel.
For the first time, she wasn't an enemy.
She was terrified.
Because the person they thought had started the war...
Had been watching from the shadows the entire time.
May you like
And he was coming back.
End of Chapter 13
