Chapter 18 - The Girl Nobody Knew Existed
By sunrise, the gala had finally ended.
Guests left in controlled groups after giving statements.
Some walked out angry.
Some frightened.
Several left with federal agents.
The steel barriers lifted one by one.
This time no one applauded.
I watched the people who had laughed at me earlier avoid my eyes.
One man who had raised his champagne glass after Adrian hit me stopped near the door.
“Elena.”
I looked at him.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
He hesitated.
“For not helping.”
That answer mattered more than a generic apology.
“Remember that feeling next time.”
He nodded and walked away.
I went to the hospital.
No fracture.
Three stitches inside my lip.
A concussion warning.
A bruise that would look worse before it looked better.
When I returned to the estate, Brooke was still there.
She was sitting alone near the grand staircase.
I sat beside her.
“You could have gone home.”
“I don’t know where home is anymore.”
I understood that better than she probably realized.
She looked at the bruise beneath my eye.
“I’m sorry about Adrian.”
“You didn’t hit me.”
“I kept quiet about him for years.”
I looked at her.
“Why?”
She laughed sadly.
“Same reason everyone in that ballroom did.”
Fear.
I didn’t make her say it.
Brooke reached into her purse.
“I have something.”
She handed me a photograph.
It showed my uncle Daniel standing beside a woman and a little girl.
The child was the same one from my mother’s file.
“Where did you get this?”
“My mother kept it.”
“Vivian?”
Brooke nodded.
“She and Daniel knew each other.”
My pulse quickened.
“How well?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why would she keep this?”
Brooke looked toward the doorway.
“Ask her.”
Vivian stood there.
Her face looked hollow.
She walked toward us slowly.
I held up the photograph.
“Who is the girl?”
Vivian sat across from me.
For several seconds, she said nothing.
Then she whispered,
“My niece.”
I stared at her.
“Rebecca Stone was your sister?”
“Yes.”
Everything shifted.
Vivian continued.
“Daniel loved Rebecca.”
“Why was their daughter hidden?”
“Because Conrad found out.”
Her hands began trembling.
“Daniel planned to leave the network and testify.”
“Then his plane crashed.”
Vivian nodded.
“Rebecca disappeared with their daughter the same day.”
“Where?”
“I never knew.”
“Did Mom?”
“I think Evelyn helped them.”
Brooke leaned forward.
“Is Rebecca alive?”
Vivian shook her head.
“She died five years ago.”
My chest tightened.
“The girl?”
Vivian looked at me.
“Alive.”
“Where?”
“I promised Rebecca I would never say unless Conrad was in custody.”
“He is.”
She reached into her coat.
Then handed me a folded card.
An address in Boston.
A name.
Claire Stone.
My cousin.
My uncle’s hidden daughter.
I looked at Vivian.
“Does Claire know who she is?”
Vivian shook her head.
“No.”
I stared at the address.
My family had just become larger in the middle of its collapse.
But Vivian wasn’t finished.
“Before you go to her, Elena, there’s something else.”
“What?”
“Claire has a box from your mother.”
My heart stopped.
“She was told never to open it.”
“Until when?”
May you like
Vivian looked toward the ruined ballroom.
“Until the night Charles Hartwell finally told the truth.”
