Chapter 13 - THE MAN WHO KNEW BOTH SISTERS
Gregory Ashford was found alive beneath an abandoned Valmont Foundation clinic two days later.
He had been held in a locked medical room for eighteen months. He was thin, bruised and unable to walk without assistance, but his mind remained sharp.
Julian waited beside his hospital bed until Gregory awakened.
Elena stood near the door with Detective Cross.
Gregory looked at his son first.
“I’m sorry.”
Julian gripped his hand.
“For what?”
“For leaving you alone with her.”
“You didn’t leave.”
“I should have exposed Isabella years ago.”
Elena stepped closer.
“You met Emilia before you disappeared.”
Gregory’s gaze moved to her.
“You must be Mara’s daughter.”
“Eliana’s daughter.”
He nodded slowly.
“Yes.”
“Why did Emilia meet my mother?”
“Because I arranged it.”
Julian looked shocked.
“You knew she was alive?”
“I discovered Rose Winter while auditing the foundation’s historical accounts. Payments had been sent for years to a private institution under Marcus’s authority.”
“Did Mother know?” Julian asked.
“She knew Rose existed. I don’t believe she knew Rose was Eliana’s child until later.”
Elena folded her arms.
“What did Emilia want from Mara?”
“The truth. Mara tried to explain what happened in the nursery, but Emilia believed she had been deliberately abandoned.”
“Why?”
“Because someone showed her a letter in Mara’s handwriting.”
“What letter?”
Gregory requested water before continuing.
“The letter said Mara had discovered two living infants but could carry only one through the greenhouse. It said she chose the healthier child and left the weaker one behind.”
Elena stared at him.
“Did Mara write it?”
“She denied it.”
“Where is the letter?”
“Emilia has it.”
Cross asked, “Who gave it to her?”
“Samuel.”
Elena took a step back.
“My father?”
Gregory shook his head.
“The man presenting himself as Samuel Maren.”
The hospital room fell silent.
Julian looked toward Cross.
“You verified his identity.”
“Fingerprints matched records from twenty-five years ago.”
“Records can be altered,” Gregory said. “Especially records created by Marcus Vale.”
Elena remembered Samuel’s hesitant answer in the boathouse.
I wanted to be your father.
“Who is he?” she asked.
“His real name is David Soren. He worked for Augustus Valmont.”
Celeste’s old warning returned to Elena.
Trust no one wearing the family crest.
David had not worn the crest, but he had served the man who created it.
“What happened to the real Samuel?” Elena asked.
Gregory looked toward Cross.
“I don’t know. David claimed Samuel died at the railway station.”
“Why impersonate him?”
“To gain Mara’s trust and locate the document.”
“Did Mara know?”
“She discovered the truth shortly before her death.”
Elena struggled to breathe.
“The photograph inside the locket showed David, not Samuel.”
“Yes.”
“Then who sent it?”
“I did.”
“Why not contact Mara directly?”
“I was being watched. I believed the photograph would lead her to Saint Orison, where David was hiding.”
“It did.”
“Mara confronted him. He convinced her he had been forced to use another identity.”
“And she believed him?”
“Not completely. She asked me to investigate.”
Julian looked at his father.
“Then Mother imprisoned you.”
“Not immediately.”
Gregory’s eyes closed with pain.
“Emilia did.”
Elena stiffened.
“She held you for eighteen months?”
“At first, she wanted information. She believed Isabella was her mother.”
“Why?”
“Marcus raised her on that lie. He told her Isabella had given birth in secret and Mara stole the chosen heir.”
Elena understood the rage Emilia carried.
“Then Emilia learned Eliana was her mother.”
“Yes. But by then, she trusted no one. David promised to reveal which twin was the Valmont heir and which belonged to Damian Ravenhurst.”
“So they worked together.”
“Until Mara found the bloodstained document.”
Cross leaned forward.
“Where did she find it?”
“In Augustus Valmont’s old mausoleum.”
“The document delivered to the gala came from Mara?”
Gregory nodded.
“She arranged the delivery before confronting David. She feared she would not survive.”
Elena looked down.
Mara had known she was going to die.
“Who poisoned her?”
Gregory’s face tightened.
“Emilia placed the vial in Mara’s tea.”
Elena closed her eyes.
“But Isabella supplied it,” Gregory continued. “David told Emilia it was a sedative. Emilia didn’t know it was poison until afterward.”
“That doesn’t excuse her.”
“No. But it means Isabella turned both sisters into weapons against each other.”
Julian sat motionless.
“Where is David now?”
Gregory looked toward Cross.
“If he escaped the mansion, he will go to the Ravenhursts.”
“Why?”
“Because the final page identifies one twin as Damian Ravenhurst’s biological daughter.”
Elena asked the question she feared.
“Which one?”
Gregory shook his head.
“I never saw the page.”
Cross’s phone rang.
He answered, listened and looked at Elena.
“David escaped protective custody thirty minutes ago.”
Elena’s pulse raced.
“How?”
“He had help.”
“Emilia?”
“No. One of my officers found a message written on the wall.”
“What did it say?”
Cross turned the phone toward her.
May you like
The photograph showed seven words written in blood.
THE WRONG SISTER CAME BACK TO VALMONT.
