Chapter 9 - THE CHILD WHO VANISHED
The storm intensified over Valmont Mansion.
Detective Cross escorted Isabella and her guards back toward the house, but the arrest remained fragile. Without the original document or proof of murder, Isabella’s lawyers could challenge nearly every accusation.
Samuel refused to enter the mansion until Elena agreed to hear him beside the lake.
She stood beneath the boathouse roof, rain blowing against her uniform.
“Where is my sister?” she asked.
“I don’t know.”
“You had twenty-five years.”
“I spent most of them believing both children were dead.”
“But Mara took me.”
“Mara believed she took Elena.”
Elena looked at the bracelet.
“Which twin am I?”
Samuel’s silence frightened her more than any answer.
“We don’t know,” he said.
“How can you not know?”
“The bracelets were removed during the confusion. Eliana had chosen the names Elena and Emilia. Mara wrapped one child in a blanket and ran. The other remained in the nursery.”
“What happened to her?”
“Isabella claimed the second baby died with Eliana.”
“And you believed her?”
“I was injured. By the time I returned, the nursery had been cleaned. The doctor disappeared. Celeste refused to speak to me.”
Celeste sat in the wheelchair near the doorway, wrapped in Julian’s coat.
“I thought the second child was dead,” she whispered.
“You thought?” Elena demanded.
“I saw no body.”
“Then why tell Mara only one baby survived?”
“Isabella told me the smaller child stopped breathing.”
Samuel looked at Celeste.
“You trusted a murderer.”
“I was in shock.”
“You were protecting the Valmont name.”
Celeste lowered her eyes.
Elena turned toward Samuel.
“You said Mara found you six months ago.”
“She received a photograph from an anonymous sender. It showed me outside a clinic in Saint Orison.”
“Why were you hiding there?”
“Because the person who arranged my disappearance threatened to kill Mara and the child if I returned.”
“Who arranged it?”
“Your grandfather, Augustus Valmont.”
Celeste closed her eyes.
“My husband.”
Samuel continued.
“After the railway station, Augustus’s men took me to a private facility. He offered me a choice. Sign a confession claiming I had kidnapped Eliana’s child for money, or watch Mara’s location delivered to Isabella.”
“You signed.”
“Yes.”
“Then he let you go?”
“He staged my death and sent me abroad. I spent years trying to trace Mara without exposing her.”
“Why didn’t you contact Cross?”
“Because Marcus was still inside the police department. Every inquiry I made reached Isabella.”
Samuel handed Elena the photograph.
“Mara found me because someone wanted her to.”
“Who?”
“The same person who sent her information about the second twin.”
Elena stared at him.
“My sister may be alive.”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“The anonymous sender gave Mara one clue. A name used in adoption records connected to the Valmont family physician.”
“What name?”
“Rose Winter.”
Elena remembered the painted roses on the west nursery door.
“Did Mara find her?”
“She believed so. Before she could tell me more, she became ill.”
“You said Isabella poisoned her.”
“I believe Isabella arranged it, but Mara’s death was more complicated.”
“How?”
“She knew someone had been watching her. She called me the night before she died and said the person following her was a young woman.”
Elena’s pulse quickened.
“What did she look like?”
“Mara said the woman looked exactly like you.”
Before Elena could respond, Julian entered the boathouse.
“Cross needs us inside.”
“What happened?”
“My mother’s attorney arrived with a court order.”
Samuel’s expression hardened.
“So quickly?”
“She scheduled it before the gala.”
They returned to the ballroom.
The guests had not been allowed to leave. Rumors spread beneath the chandeliers as police officers secured the entrances.
Isabella stood near the staircase without handcuffs.
A gray-haired attorney held a court document.
Detective Cross looked furious.
“The district judge authorized temporary release pending formal questioning,” he said. “The evidence against her is currently insufficient.”
“She kidnapped Celeste,” Elena said.
Isabella’s attorney replied, “Mrs. Valmont was relocating her mother for emergency treatment. The alleged kidnappers were private medical personnel.”
“She burned the chapel.”
“An electrical fire.”
“She ordered a man to inject Celeste.”
“An unverified accusation.”
Cross stepped toward Elena.
“We need the bloodstained document.”
Isabella smiled.
“You will never find it.”
Samuel entered the ballroom.
Every trace of color left Isabella’s face.
The guests began whispering.
Samuel looked directly at her.
“You didn’t find the document because Mara never hid it in the mansion.”
Isabella’s composure returned.
“Then why come here?”
Samuel glanced at the ballroom clock.
It was eleven forty.
“Because at midnight, the document was scheduled to be delivered.”
The front doors opened.
A courier entered carrying a sealed evidence box.
Isabella turned toward one of her guards.
The ballroom lights went out.
In the darkness, a woman screamed.
When the emergency lights came on, the courier lay bleeding on the marble floor.
May you like
The evidence box was gone.
And Samuel had vanished.
