Chapter 7 — The Woman Who Betrayed My Mother
Chapter 7 — The Woman Who Betrayed My Mother
For several seconds, Charlotte could not hear anything.
Not the security alarms.
Not the footsteps in the corridor.
Not even Adrian breathing beside her.
Only one sentence remained inside her mind.
Your biological mother is alive.
Charlotte looked at Martin.
Then at the photograph.
The woman standing beside Victoria had dark hair, sharp features, and a small scar near her left eyebrow.
Charlotte had never seen her before.
Yet something about the woman's eyes felt strangely familiar.
"You're saying she's my mother?"
Martin nodded.
"Biologically."
Charlotte stared at him.
"Then who was Victoria?"
Adrian answered quietly.
"The woman who raised you."
Charlotte turned toward him.
"That's not what I asked."
Adrian's expression softened.
"Victoria was your mother in every way that mattered."
Charlotte looked back at the photograph.
"Then why did everyone lie?"
No one answered.
She pointed at Martin.
"You knew."
"Yes."
"Adrian knew."
"Yes."
"Grandmother knew."
"Yes."
"And my father knew."
Martin lowered his eyes.
"Yes."
Charlotte laughed bitterly.
"So everyone knew who my real mother was except me."
Martin said nothing.
Charlotte's voice cracked.
"Who is Elena?"
Martin took a long breath.
"Elena Marlowe."
The name meant nothing.
But then he continued.
"She was Victoria's closest friend."
Charlotte's eyes narrowed.
"Friend?"
"Once."
"What happened?"
Martin looked at the photograph.
"She betrayed her."
Twenty-Nine Years Earlier
Victoria stood inside a private hospital room.
Her hands were trembling.
A newborn baby slept beside her.
Charlotte.
Tiny.
Fragile.
Perfect.
Elena stood near the window.
She was crying.
"She's beautiful."
Victoria smiled.
"She is."
Elena looked at the baby.
"Gabriel knows?"
"No."
"He'll find out."
"Not if we disappear."
Elena turned.
"You can't run forever."
"I don't need forever."
Victoria walked toward the crib.
"I only need long enough."
"For what?"
"To destroy Blackwell."
Elena stared at her.
"You promised me you were done."
"I promised Gabriel."
"And?"
"I changed my mind."
Elena's expression darkened.
"Victoria, listen to me."
"I am listening."
"You don't understand what you're dealing with."
"I understand perfectly."
"No."
Elena stepped closer.
"They aren't businessmen."
"Neither am I."
"They'll kill you."
Victoria smiled sadly.
"They already tried."
Elena looked at the baby.
"And Charlotte?"
Victoria's face hardened.
"Nobody touches my daughter."
Elena looked away.
"I hope you're right."
Charlotte stared at the photograph.
"Why did Elena betray my mother?"
Martin hesitated.
"Because she believed Victoria had stolen her daughter."
Charlotte froze.
"What?"
"Elena believed you were hers."
"She was my biological mother."
"Yes."
"Then she had every right to me."
"Legally, no."
"Why?"
"Because Gabriel had signed away his parental rights."
Charlotte frowned.
"Why would he do that?"
"To protect Elena."
"From what?"
Martin's expression became grim.
"Blackwell."
Charlotte walked toward the archive window.
The city stretched below her.
Thousands of lights.
Thousands of lives.
And somewhere in that city was the woman who had given birth to her.
A woman who had betrayed Victoria.
A woman who had apparently survived for twenty-nine years.
"Where is she?"
Martin shook his head.
"We don't know."
"Then why did the photograph appear tonight?"
"Because someone wanted you to know."
"Who?"
"Elena."
Charlotte turned.
"You think she's behind this?"
"I don't know."
Adrian stepped closer.
"I do."
Charlotte looked at him.
"Why?"
"Because Elena has been trying to contact you for months."
"How?"
"Letters."
"What letters?"
Adrian pulled an envelope from his jacket.
Charlotte stared.
"You had this?"
"Yes."
"How long?"
"Three months."
Her expression hardened.
"Why didn't you give it to me?"
"Because Victoria instructed me not to."
Charlotte snatched the envelope.
There was no address.
Only her name.
CHARLOTTE.
She opened it.
Inside was one page.
My daughter,
Charlotte stopped.
Her eyes filled with tears.
She forced herself to continue.
I don't expect you to forgive me.
I don't even expect you to believe me.
But you deserve to know why I left you.
Charlotte's hands shook.
I did not abandon you.
I was forced to disappear.
Then the final sentence:
Victoria saved your life, but she also stole it from me.
Charlotte lowered the letter.
Adrian watched her carefully.
"What does that mean?"
Charlotte looked at him.
"I don't know."
That night, Charlotte couldn't sleep.
She sat alone in her mother's old bedroom.
Elena's letter was on the table.
She read it again.
Then again.
Something bothered her.
The handwriting.
It looked familiar.
Not because she had seen it before.
Because the shape of certain letters resembled her own.
Charlotte opened an old notebook.
She compared the handwriting.
The similarities were unsettling.
She called Martin.
"Where did you get this?"
"From Elena."
"When?"
"Last year."
"How?"
"She sent it through a private courier."
"Why didn't Mother know?"
"Victoria did know."
Charlotte froze.
"What?"
"She received one too."
"Where is it?"
"I don't know."
Charlotte stood.
"You're lying."
"No."
"Then search."
"I already did."
"Do it again."
Martin sighed.
"Charlotte—"
"Please."
Silence.
Then:
"All right."
At 7:30 the next morning, Martin called.
"I found something."
Charlotte rushed to his office.
He placed an old leather case on the desk.
Inside was a letter.
Victoria's handwriting.
Charlotte opened it.
Elena,
If Charlotte ever asks about you, tell her the truth.
Charlotte's heart raced.
She continued.
You were not the woman who betrayed me.
She stopped.
"What?"
Martin looked at her.
"Keep reading."
Charlotte did.
The woman who betrayed me was the one I trusted to protect you.
Elena, you were framed.
Gabriel was told that you had taken Charlotte.
I was told that you had sold her to Blackwell.
Neither was true.
Charlotte's eyes widened.
Someone had manipulated both women.
Her mother had believed Elena betrayed her.
Elena had believed Victoria stole Charlotte.
And Gabriel had believed both women were working against him.
A perfect trap.
Charlotte turned the page.
The final paragraph was worse.
I finally know who did it.
She has been inside our family for years.
She is the reason Thomas disappeared.
Charlotte's breath stopped.
There was a name underneath.
Charlotte stared.
Then whispered:
"No."
Martin's face tightened.
"What?"
She handed him the letter.
He read the name.
His face went pale.
"That's impossible."
"Why?"
"Because she's dead."
Charlotte looked at him.
"Who?"
Martin slowly raised his eyes.
"Margaret Vale."
Charlotte immediately drove to her grandmother's house.
The front door was open.
"Grandmother?"
No answer.
She walked inside.
The living room was empty.
A cup of tea sat on the table.
Still warm.
Charlotte's heart began racing.
"Grandmother?"
She searched every room.
Nothing.
Then she heard a sound upstairs.
A door closing.
Charlotte ran.
The hallway was empty.
But one bedroom door stood open.
Inside, everything had been overturned.
Drawers emptied.
Clothes scattered.
Documents torn apart.
On the bed was a photograph.
Charlotte picked it up.
It showed Margaret.
Victoria.
Elena.
And Thomas.
All four standing together.
On the back:
The night everything changed.
Charlotte turned the photograph over.
A date.
Twenty-nine years ago.
The same night she was born.
Then she noticed something else.
A second person stood in the background.
A man Charlotte had seen before.
Gabriel.
But he wasn't looking at the women.
He was looking at a newborn baby.
Charlotte.
And beside him stood Margaret.
Charlotte's blood ran cold.
She heard footsteps behind her.
She turned.
Margaret stood in the doorway.
Alive.
But she was holding a gun.
"Grandmother?"
Margaret's eyes filled with tears.
"Put the photograph down."
Charlotte slowly lowered it.
"You knew Elena."
"Yes."
"You framed her."
Margaret closed her eyes.
"Yes."
Charlotte's heart shattered.
"Why?"
"Because I had no choice."
"Everyone says that."
"I was protecting the family."
"You destroyed my mother's life."
"I know."
"You made her believe Elena betrayed her."
"Yes."
"You made Gabriel believe she had stolen you."
"Yes."
Charlotte's voice trembled.
"And you made me believe my entire life was real."
Margaret raised the gun.
"Charlotte, please."
"Put it down."
"I can't."
"Why?"
"Because they've found you."
"Who?"
Margaret looked toward the window.
Then whispered:
"Blackwell."
Charlotte's eyes narrowed.
"Who controls them?"
Margaret's hands shook.
"The person you should have feared from the beginning."
"Who?"
Margaret looked directly into Charlotte's eyes.
"Your grandfather."
Charlotte froze.
"Thomas?"
Margaret nodded.
"He's alive."
Charlotte's heart stopped.
"Where?"
Before Margaret could answer—
A gunshot shattered the window.
Margaret collapsed.
"Grandmother!"
Charlotte rushed toward her.
Blood spread across Margaret's shoulder.
Charlotte pressed her hands against the wound.
"Stay with me!"
Margaret grabbed her wrist.
"Listen."
"I'm listening."
"Your grandfather..."
She coughed.
"...is not your grandfather."
Charlotte stared.
"What?"
Margaret's eyes filled with tears.
"He stole the Vale name."
"He stole the trust."
"And he stole you."
Charlotte's blood ran cold.
Margaret whispered the final words:
"Thomas Vale died twenty-nine years ago."
Charlotte looked toward the shattered window.
"Then who has been running Solmere?"
Margaret's eyes closed.
"An impostor."
Charlotte slowly stood.
Her entire life had been built on a lie.
Her mother wasn't her biological mother.
Her father was a Blackwell founder.
Her grandfather had supposedly died decades ago.
And now—
The man controlling the Vale empire wasn't Thomas Vale at all.
Someone had stolen his identity.
Charlotte looked at the photograph again.
Then she saw the detail she'd missed.
The man standing beside Margaret wasn't Thomas.
His wedding ring was on the wrong hand.
Charlotte whispered:
"Who are you?"
A phone on the floor suddenly rang.
Charlotte picked it up.
A distorted voice answered.
"You finally understand."
"Who are you?"
The voice laughed.
"Ask your mother."
"Which one?"
A pause.
Then:
"Exactly."
The call ended.
Charlotte stared at the screen.
Behind her, Margaret struggled to breathe.
And somewhere across the city, a man wearing Thomas Vale's face watched a live security feed of Charlotte.
He smiled.
Because the first part of his plan had worked.
May you like
Charlotte had discovered the truth.
But she had discovered only the truth he wanted her to find.
