Chapter 14 - THE WRONG SISTER
Elena returned to Valmont Mansion one week after the gala.
The shattered ballroom windows had been boarded. Burn marks climbed the marble walls. Broken crystal from the chandeliers had been swept away, but the room still carried the scent of smoke.
Isabella waited beneath police supervision near the staircase.
She had been granted permission to collect personal belongings before her transfer to a detention facility.
“You came to watch me leave,” Isabella said.
“I came for the truth.”
“You have collected so many versions. Which truth do you prefer?”
“The one that explains the wrong sister.”
Isabella smiled faintly.
“David always enjoyed dramatic messages.”
“You knew he wasn’t Samuel.”
“Of course.”
“You allowed him into the mansion.”
“My father employed him.”
“Did he help you kill Eliana?”
“No.”
“Did he help you hide her?”
“Yes.”
Elena stepped closer.
“Which baby did Mara take?”
“I don’t know.”
“You saw her leaving.”
“The child was wrapped in a white blanket.”
“Which twin wore white?”
“Both.”
“Why did David say the wrong sister returned?”
“Perhaps because you are not Elena.”
“That changes a name, not who I am.”
“For ordinary people, perhaps. In this family, names control ownership.”
Isabella looked around the damaged ballroom.
“If you are Emilia, the legal records Mara preserved may not grant you the estate.”
“And if I’m Elena?”
“You inherit everything.”
“You burned people alive to protect a house.”
“I protected power. Houses can be rebuilt.”
“Did you know one twin was a Ravenhurst?”
Isabella’s expression shifted.
“I knew my father believed it.”
“Was he right?”
“I never trusted his tests.”
“What does the final page say?”
“I never read it.”
“Emilia has it.”
“Then find her.”
“You trained her to hate me.”
“I trained her to survive.”
“You poisoned the woman who raised me.”
Isabella glanced toward the officers.
“Careful.”
“Gregory saw the vial.”
“Gregory saw what he wanted to see.”
“You told Emilia it was a sedative.”
“I told David.”
The distinction mattered.
“You knew David would manipulate her.”
“I knew he wanted the document. I did not know how far he would go.”
Elena studied her.
For the first time, Isabella’s fear seemed directed not toward arrest or lost wealth, but toward David.
“What does David want?”
“To complete Augustus’s agreement with the Ravenhursts.”
“After twenty-five years?”
“Blood contracts do not expire for families like theirs.”
“What agreement?”
Isabella looked toward the boarded windows.
“One daughter would inherit Valmont. The other would inherit Ravenhurst. Their combined ownership would control ports, hospitals, banks and political foundations across three countries.”
“Who controls the assets until the daughters are identified?”
“The appointed executor.”
“David.”
“No.”
Isabella’s voice lowered.
“The family doctor.”
“The doctor disappeared.”
“Dr. Nathaniel Voss did not disappear. He changed his name.”
“To what?”
Before Isabella could answer, Detective Cross entered with Julian.
Cross carried a tablet.
“We found Emilia.”
Elena turned.
“Where?”
“A security camera recorded her entering Saint Orison Airport two hours ago.”
“Was she alone?”
Cross showed the footage.
Emilia walked through the terminal beside an older man wearing a medical mask.
Even with half his face covered, Isabella recognized him.
She stepped backward.
“No.”
“Who is he?” Elena asked.
Isabella’s composure collapsed.
“Dr. Voss.”
Cross enlarged the image.
“Airport records show they boarded a private aircraft registered to Ravenhurst International.”
Elena looked at Isabella.
“Why are you afraid of him?”
Isabella whispered, “Because Voss delivered the twins.”
“We know.”
“No. You don’t understand.”
She gripped Elena’s arm.
“There were not two babies in the nursery.”
Elena went still.
“What are you saying?”
“Voss falsified the record.”
“Celeste saw two infants.”
“Celeste saw what Voss allowed her to see after she had been sedated.”
“Then how many?”
Isabella’s eyes filled with an emotion Elena had never expected to see.
Terror.
“Three.”
Julian stared at his mother.
“Eliana had triplets?”
“One child was born before the others. Voss removed her from the room before Mara entered.”
“Why?”
“Because the first child carried both blood markers.”
Elena struggled to understand.
“That’s impossible.”
“Not if the tests were never about paternity.”
“What were they testing?”
Isabella released her arm.
“Compatibility.”
“With what?”
She looked toward the ruined ballroom doors.
“With the treatment that kept Augustus Valmont alive for another seventeen years.”
Cross stepped closer.
“You’re saying a child was used for medical experiments?”
“I’m saying the first daughter never left Dr. Voss’s clinic.”
Elena thought of the message written in blood.
The wrong sister came back to Valmont.
“Where is she now?”
Isabella looked at the footage of Emilia boarding the plane.
“If Voss is taking Emilia to Ravenhurst, then he believes she can lead him to the first child.”
“Why would Emilia know?”
“Because Mara found all three names before she died.”
Elena’s voice fell to a whisper.
“What was the third name?”
Isabella hesitated.
Then she answered.
“Evelyn.”
From behind them came the sound of a cane striking marble.
Celeste stood at the ballroom entrance with Vivian supporting her.
The elderly woman’s face was white.
“Evelyn is dead,” Celeste said.
Isabella turned toward her mother.
“No, Mother.”
May you like
She pointed toward Elena.
“Evelyn is standing in front of you.”
