Chapter 27 - The Sister Removed from Every PhotographRose Sutton had been erased so completely that even Elise had believed she was dead.
She was the youngest of the three Sutton sisters.
Margaret inherited the founding trust.
Eleanor managed it.
Rose was placed in charge of identity security.
“The roles were never separate,” Rose said. “They were a system of mutual control.”
Mara looked at Margaret.
“You knew she was alive.”
“I suspected.”
“You brought us here with her.”
“I brought you here because Rose possesses the security key.”
Rose removed a metal disk from beneath her false skin. Crown Three.
Celeste backed away.
“Where is Helena?”
Rose’s expression softened.
“Helena Vale was not your mother’s birth name.”
Celeste’s face changed.
Rose pointed toward Margaret.
“Ask her.”
Margaret looked suddenly older.
“Celeste is Eleanor’s daughter.”
Silence filled the docking chamber.
Mara stared at Celeste.
Eleanor had never married and publicly had no children.
“Who was her father?” Daniel asked.
“Charles Dane,” Margaret replied.
Charles did not deny it.
Patricia and Adrian were Charles’s children with Vivian. Celeste was his child with Eleanor.
The bloodlines had been deliberately crossed so that no single branch could activate the registry without another.
Eleanor had designed her family as a lock.
Celeste turned on Charles.
“You knew?”
“I knew Eleanor had a child. I did not know Helena took you.”
Rose laughed quietly.
“Still blaming Helena.”
“Where is she?” Adrian demanded.
Rose looked toward the dark water beneath the platforms.
“Helena died nine years ago.”
Adrian’s face went blank.
“I buried her.”
“You buried the real Helena,” Rose said. “I took her name before that.”
Adrian stepped toward her.
“You raised me?”
“For twelve years.”
“And then?”
“I needed you to believe I was dead.”
“Why?”
“Because Eleanor discovered I had kept copies of the registry.”
The platform beneath Rose illuminated.
Security witness recognized.
A second message appeared:
Memory witness absent.
Mara looked toward the sea doors.
Elise had not been brought aboard.
Charles’s hostage had always been Rose.
A speaker crackled overhead.
Elise’s voice filled the chamber.
“I am already inside.”
The lights went out.
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When they returned, Charles was lying on the floor.
Crown Five had been taken from his hand.
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