Chapter 4 - the safe behind the portrait
The ballroom was cleared within twenty minutes.
Sabrina remained under security supervision near the altar. Leah sat with Ellie on a velvet bench while the mansion physician examined the mark on her temple.
Evan stood inside Victor’s study with Daniel and Margaret.
The safe behind the portrait had been emptied.
Only the red message remained.
THE WRONG BRIDE FOUND IT FIRST.
Daniel photographed the words.
“Could Sabrina have written this?”
Evan studied the handwriting.
“No. She would never leave a warning that implicated herself.”
“Then someone knew she opened the safe.”
Margaret stood near Victor’s desk, visibly shaken.
“My husband never told me about a child.”
“He didn’t tell any of us,” Evan said.
Margaret’s eyes moved toward the ballroom where Ellie sat.
“She looks like you did at that age.”
The observation struck harder than accusation.
Evan looked down at Victor’s letter again.
“If you are reading this, then my death was not an accident.”
Daniel closed the study door.
“We need the police.”
“We need evidence before Sabrina’s family buries this.”
“Sabrina attacked Leah in front of two hundred witnesses.”
“She will say she was trying to stop forged evidence from destroying our company.”
Margaret faced her son.
“Do you believe the test?”
Evan looked through the open doorway at Ellie.
She was holding Leah’s hand, but her eyes remained fixed on him.
“I believe she believes I’m her father.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
“I don’t know what to believe.”
Leah heard him.
The pain in her face was immediate, though she tried to hide it.
Evan went to her.
“I’m not saying she isn’t mine.”
“You don’t have to explain.”
“Yes, I do.”
Leah stood carefully.
“For four years, I explained you to her. I told Ellie that her father didn’t know where she was. I told her you would never choose to ignore her.”
Evan lowered his voice.
“Why didn’t you try again after my father died?”
“I did.”
Leah removed her phone and opened a folder containing sent emails.
“I wrote to your office seventeen times. Every message received a response from your executive assistant saying you wanted no contact.”
Evan scrolled through the replies.
The signature belonged to Sabrina.
His expression hardened.
“She never worked as my assistant.”
“She controlled the address listed on the company website.”
Evan looked across the ballroom.
Sabrina met his eyes.
She knew exactly what he had discovered.
“Daniel,” Evan said, “ask security to bring her into the study.”
Sabrina entered with her torn veil removed and her hair falling loose around her shoulders.
Even now, she attempted dignity.
“Before you accuse me of something else, I want my attorney.”
“You can call one after you answer a question.”
“I don’t owe Leah anything.”
“You owe me the truth.”
Sabrina’s eyes flickered.
Evan placed Leah’s phone on the desk and showed her the emails.
“Why did you answer messages sent to me?”
“I was protecting you.”
“From my daughter?”
“From a claim designed to reach your inheritance.”
Leah stepped forward.
“You knew the DNA test was real.”
“I knew Victor believed it was real.”
“Where did he get Ellie’s DNA?” Evan asked.
Sabrina remained silent.
Leah looked at the report.
“The date is from two years ago.”
Memory entered her expression.
“Ellie was admitted to a hospital with pneumonia that winter. A nurse said one of her blood samples was misplaced.”
Evan’s anger sharpened.
“My father stole a child’s medical sample?”
“He had people everywhere,” Sabrina said. “You know what he was capable of.”
“And you used what he found.”
“I tried to protect our marriage.”
“There was no marriage to protect. We weren’t married.”
“We would have been if Leah had stayed away.”
Evan stared at her.
For the first time, Sabrina understood that the wedding was not postponed.
It was dead.
She changed tactics.
“Victor did not hide Leah because he hated her. He hid her because he knew the consequences of Ellie’s birth.”
“What consequences?”
Sabrina glanced at Margaret.
“Ask your mother what happened to Evan’s older brother.”
The room became still.
Evan looked at Margaret.
“I don’t have an older brother.”
Margaret gripped the edge of Victor’s desk.
Sabrina smiled faintly.
“That is what Victor wanted you to believe.”
“Mother?”
Margaret’s face had turned gray.
“His name was Adrian.”
Evan took a step back.
“What are you talking about?”
Margaret closed her eyes.
“Adrian was born two years before you. He lived for eleven days.”
“Why was I never told?”
“Because Victor believed someone tried to kill him.”
Leah covered Ellie’s ears and moved her farther from the study.
Evan’s voice became unsteady.
“Who?”
“We never knew.”
Sabrina looked at the open safe.
“That is why Victor monitored every possible Halstead child. It is why he kept Leah away. He believed Ellie would become a target.”
“You expect me to believe you threatened them for their safety?”
“No. I threatened them because I wanted the life I was promised.”
The honesty startled everyone.
Sabrina looked directly at Evan.
“But Victor’s fear was real. Someone killed him because he found out who targeted Adrian. And that same person sent Leah to this wedding.”
Evan remembered the anonymous message signed with a V.
“Who is V?” he asked.
Sabrina’s confidence disappeared.
“I don’t know.”
“You’re lying.”
“I found the same initial on a file inside the safe.”
“What file?”
Sabrina looked toward the ballroom doors.
“The one that disappeared before the wedding began.”
A loud alarm sounded in the corridor.
The mansion’s security system announced that the east gate had been breached.
Daniel checked his phone.
“A vehicle entered using Victor’s old access code.”
“That code was deactivated after his death,” Evan said.
Daniel looked at the security feed.
A black sedan had stopped outside the mansion.
The driver’s door opened.
An elderly man in a dark coat stepped out.
Margaret saw his face on the screen and dropped the glass she was holding.
Evan caught her before she fell.
“Mother, who is that?”
Margaret stared at the man walking toward the entrance.
“That is Dr. Samuel Voss.”
“And why does he have Father’s code?”
May you like
Margaret’s lips trembled.
“Because he was the last person to see Adrian alive.”
