Chapter 14 - THE LAST HEIR
The final secret was buried beneath the oldest Vance records.
A child born twenty-nine years earlier.
A child Arthur had hidden from everyone.
A child with the Bennett bloodline.
A child whose existence could change everything.
His name was Alexander Vance.
He wasn't dead.
He wasn't missing.
He had been living under another name.
And he was the biological father of my unborn baby.
I refused to believe it.
“I never met him.”
My father shook his head.
“You did.”
I stared at him.
“When?”
“Before the accident.”
My memories returned.
A summer evening.
A man at a bookstore.
A conversation.
A kiss.
Then nothing.
I had forgotten him.
Because the Vances had erased him from my memory.
Alexander had discovered the truth and disappeared.
Now he returned.
He came to the hospital the night before my delivery.
He stood in the doorway.
I stared at him.
“You're him.”
He nodded.
“I'm sorry.”
“You knew?”
“Not until recently.”
He looked at my stomach.
“That's my child.”
I stepped between him and the bed.
“You don't get to walk into my life and claim my baby.”
“I don't want to take the child.”
“Then why are you here?”
“Because someone is coming.”
“Who?”
He looked toward the hallway.
“The real person behind the Vance empire.”
My blood froze.
“Beatrice?”
“No.”
“Arthur?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Alexander whispered:
“Your mother.”
I stared at him.
“My mother is dead.”
He shook his head.
“She isn't.”
The hospital lights flickered.
Then the fire alarm began screaming.
Smoke filled the corridor.
Agents rushed toward me.
Mercer shouted:
“GET CLARA OUT!”
A woman appeared through the smoke.
Long silver hair.
Black coat.
Cold eyes.
I knew her face.
I'd seen it in photographs.
My mother.
She looked at me.
“Hello, Clara.”
May you like
Then she smiled.
“It's time you learned why I left you.”
