Chapter 13 - THE HEIRESS WHO NEVER DIED
Elena boarded.
The doors closed before Adrian’s agents reached the platform.
The train moved into the tunnel.
Hannah sat wrapped in a dark coat. She was thinner than in the video, but alive.
Elena crossed the carriage.
“Hannah.”
The young woman began crying.
“I’m sorry.”
“You have nothing to apologize for.”
Mrs. Hart remained seated.
“You should not have brought the Vales into this.”
“I did not know trains could be rerouted beneath Manhattan.”
“They cannot. Not officially.”
“Who are you working for?”
Mrs. Hart looked toward the window.
“For the person Isabel trusted.”
“Ella?”
The older woman’s expression confirmed it.
Hannah gripped Elena’s hand.
“Owen kept me at the cottage for months. Mrs. Hart helped me escape.”
“Why didn’t you go to the police?”
“They found my sister.”
Mrs. Hart answered for her.
“Owen’s network included police officers, doctors, accountants, and members of the Vale board. Every official report returned to him.”
“Where is Hannah’s sister?”
“Safe.”
“And Isabel?”
Mrs. Hart closed her eyes.
“I do not know.”
“You told me she survived.”
“She survived the crash. I took Sophie from Blackwood and placed her back in the vehicle before emergency services arrived.”
Elena stared at her.
“You put a three-year-old child into a wrecked car?”
“The car was no longer on the road. I had minutes. If Owen believed Sophie had escaped with Isabel, he would have hunted them both. If he believed Isabel was dead and Sophie was traumatized, he would wait.”
“You gambled with her life.”
“Yes.”
Mrs. Hart did not defend herself.
“I have regretted it every day.”
“What happened to Isabel?”
“She left with Ella.”
“Where?”
“I was not told.”
“Why did no one return for Sophie?”
“Because the conspiracy was larger than Isabel believed.”
The train slowed.
Outside the windows was not a station but an underground maintenance platform.
A tall woman waited beneath a single light.
She wore a red scarf.
Mrs. Hart stood.
“Elena Marlowe, meet Ella Vale.”
Ella entered the carriage.
She was in her late thirties, with dark-blonde hair and eyes that resembled Adrian’s.
“You look disappointed,” she said.
“I was hoping for Isabel.”
“So was I.”
Ella sat across from Elena.
“Isabel disappeared from our safe house six months after the crash.”
“Disappeared willingly?”
“I don’t know.”
“She left Sophie?”
“She believed returning would expose her.”
“Then why record messages?”
“To guide Adrian toward the truth if the network moved against Sophie.”
Elena looked at Hannah.
“Why send her statement now?”
“We did not.”
“Celeste produced it.”
“Owen forced an early recording. Celeste released it when she needed to discredit you.”
“Why contact me?”
“Because Sophie trusts you, and Adrian’s judgment is compromised.”
“By what?”
“Love. Guilt. Family loyalty. The usual Vale diseases.”
Ella handed Elena a file.
It contained photographs of board members, judges, doctors, and politicians.
Each wore the black eye-shaped ring at different events.
“What is this group?”
“They call themselves the Meridian Circle.”
“Celeste belongs to it?”
“She wanted to.”
“Owen?”
“A servant, not a member.”
“Dr. Carrow?”
“Useful.”
“Who leads them?”
Ella looked toward the front of the train.
“That is why you are here.”
A screen turned on.
Live footage showed Adrian inside Vale House.
Sophie sat beside him.
Julian stood near the fireplace.
Ella pointed to the image.
“One of those men is lying about who he is.”
Elena stared at the screen.
“Adrian or Julian?”
“Yes.”
“That is not an answer.”
“The original Vale heir was switched as an infant.”
Elena felt the carriage tilt beneath her.
“Which one?”
“Only Isabel knew.”
“Then why tell me?”
“Because Owen is going to Vale House tonight.”
Elena stood.
“You said his network controls the estate cameras.”
“It does.”
“Sophie is there.”
Ella pressed a button.
The train accelerated.
“If we are lucky, we reach them first.”
“And if we are not?”
Ella looked at the live image.
On the screen, Julian turned toward a window.
May you like
Behind him, a man in a security uniform raised a gun.
The feed went black.
