Chapter 9 - The Woman Who Came Back From the Dead
Roman did not move.
Claire had never seen absolute shock before.
Now she had.
On the monitor, the woman waited.
Rain ran down her face.
Mason looked at Roman.
“What do you want me to do?”
Roman’s mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
Claire stepped closer to the screen.
The resemblance was perfect.
Not close.
Not similar.
Perfect.
“Could it be Celeste?”
Mason shook his head.
“Celeste is still in federal custody.”
The woman pressed the intercom again.
“Roman, I know you can see me.”
Her voice broke.
“The boys are alive, aren’t they?”
Roman grabbed the edge of the desk.
Claire looked at him.
“Do you recognize her voice?”
He nodded.
That frightened Claire more than anything.
Mason remained cautious.
“Facial recognition gives ninety-eight percent match to Amelia Vale.”
Roman finally spoke.
“Open the pedestrian gate.”
Mason stared.
“Boss.”
“Now.”
The woman entered surrounded by security.
Roman waited in the foyer.
Claire stayed near the staircase.
The four boys were sleeping upstairs.
For now.
The front door opened.
The woman stepped inside.
Roman whispered, “Amelia.”
She began crying.
He didn’t go to her.
He looked as if crossing those ten feet might kill him.
Amelia took one step.
“I’m sorry.”
Roman’s face broke.
“You’re dead.”
“I know.”
“I buried you.”
“I know.”
“I buried you.”
His voice rose.
Amelia covered her mouth.
Roman’s eyes filled.
“Whose body did I bury?”
She shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
Mason looked at Claire.
Claire understood immediately.
This changed everything.
Amelia continued.
“I woke in a private clinic in Wisconsin.”
Roman stared.
“When?”
“Three years ago.”
“And you didn’t come home?”
“I couldn’t.”
“Why?”
“They told me you tried to kill me.”
Roman recoiled.
Amelia cried harder.
“They showed me police reports. Photos. Messages. They said Harrison rescued me before you could finish it.”
Roman’s face turned toward stone.
“Who is they?”
“Doctors. Nurses. Burke.”
Mason swore.
Roman whispered, “Your father.”
Amelia nodded.
“He said the boys were safe.”
“With me?”
“No.”
Roman’s eyes darkened.
“He told you I was dead?”
Amelia shook her head.
“He told me you had taken them overseas.”
Roman turned away.
Three years stolen.
Claire felt sick.
The woman continued.
“I had head trauma. Memory loss. I believed him.”
“When did you remember?”
“Slowly.”
She looked around the foyer.
“Pieces.”
“The lake?”
“Yes.”
“Celeste?”
Amelia shut her eyes.
“Yes.”
“Harrison?”
“Yes.”
Roman’s hands curled.
“And me?”
Amelia looked at him.
“I remembered you last month.”
“Last month.”
“I tried to leave the clinic.”
“What happened?”
“They moved me.”
“Where?”
“A house near Madison.”
“How did you escape?”
“Andrew.”
Everyone froze.
“Andrew helped you?” Claire asked.
Amelia looked at her.
“And you are?”
Claire almost laughed from emotional exhaustion.
“Complicated.”
Roman answered.
“She’s Claire Bennett.”
Amelia’s eyes widened.
“Eleanor’s granddaughter.”
Now Claire froze.
“You know who I am?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Your grandmother was with me.”
Claire stopped breathing.
“My grandmother is dead.”
Amelia shook her head.
“No.”
Margaret Bennett entered from the hall.
She had been staying at Roman’s mansion since the abduction.
Her face went white.
“Amelia?”
The two women stared at each other.
Then Margaret whispered, “Where is my mother?”
Amelia answered.
“Alive.”
Claire grabbed the banister.
Margaret began crying.
“She’s alive?”
“Harrison has kept her hidden for decades.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know now.”
Amelia looked at Roman.
“That’s why I came.”
“Harrison moved Eleanor yesterday.”
Claire felt rage rising.
“What does he want?”
“The original records.”
Roman looked toward the memory card.
Amelia shook her head.
“That isn’t the original.”
Margaret looked at her.
“What?”
“Eleanor told me there was a master ledger.”
Claire laughed bitterly.
“Of course there is.”
Roman asked, “Where?”
Amelia looked upstairs.
“With Lucas.”
Roman’s face changed.
“What?”
“Three years ago, before the lake, I hid it inside one of the boys’ toys.”
“Which?”
“Lucas’s stuffed bear.”
Claire remembered the kidnapping.
The break-in.
The nursery searches.
“They weren’t trying to silence Lucas because he remembered the crash.”
Roman understood.
“They thought he had the ledger.”
Everyone ran upstairs.
Lucas’s bear sat on the shelf.
Roman carefully opened the seam along its back.
Inside was a waterproof pouch.
Ledger.
Names.
Payments.
Photographs.
Everything Harrison had spent decades hiding.
Margaret covered her mouth.
Amelia whispered, “That can destroy him.”
Roman looked at Claire.
“No.”
She frowned.
“What?”
“It can prove it.”
The distinction mattered.
Destroying Harrison had been revenge.
Proving the truth was justice.
Amelia noticed too.
“You changed.”
Roman looked at her.
“You were gone three years.”
Then footsteps sounded behind them.
Noah stood in the hallway.
He stared at Amelia.
The color left his face.
“Mom?”
Amelia collapsed to her knees.
“Noah.”
His scream woke the house.
The reunion shattered every adult in the room.
Noah ran first.
Eli second.
Theo stopped halfway, sobbing.
Lucas didn’t move.
He stood inside his bedroom.
Watching.
Amelia held the other three boys.
“My babies.”
Noah cried into her shoulder.
“You died.”
“I know.”
“Dad said you died.”
“I’m sorry.”
Theo touched her face repeatedly.
Eli asked questions too quickly to understand.
Lucas remained beside Claire.
Amelia looked at him.
“Lucas.”
He gripped Claire’s hand.
His mother’s face crumpled.
Claire crouched.
“You don’t have to do anything before you’re ready.”
Amelia heard.
She nodded through tears.
“Claire’s right.”
Lucas stared.
Then slowly walked forward.
He stopped three feet away.
“Did you leave me?”
Amelia’s heart visibly broke.
“No.”
“Grandpa said you left.”
“No.”
“Did you?”
She shook her head.
“I fought every day to come back.”
Lucas took another step.
Then another.
Finally, he touched her cheek.
“Mommy?”
Amelia pulled him into her arms.
Roman turned away.
Claire saw tears on his face.
She looked away too.
This moment belonged to them.
Later, after the boys fell asleep around their mother on Roman’s enormous bed, the adults gathered downstairs.
Evelyn Price arrived before sunrise.
“This is legally catastrophic.”
Claire blinked.
“That is your reaction?”
“My emotional reaction is wonderful. My attorney reaction is catastrophic.”
Roman almost smiled.
Evelyn pointed toward Amelia.
“You are legally dead.”
“I noticed.”
“Harrison’s custody case collapses if your identity is verified.”
“Good.”
“Not automatically.”
Roman frowned.
“Why?”
“Because someone has spent three years manufacturing evidence that both parents are dangerous.”
Amelia looked at him.
“I signed statements.”
Roman froze.
“What statements?”
“They told me they were necessary to protect the boys.”
Evelyn leaned forward.
“What did you sign?”
Amelia whispered, “That Roman threatened me.”
Roman went completely still.
“Did I?”
“No.”
“But you signed it.”
“I thought the boys were in danger.”
Roman looked away.
Claire felt the fragile reunion crack.
Amelia continued.
“There’s more.”
Roman laughed bitterly.
“There’s always more.”
Amelia looked toward Claire.
“Harrison knows Claire accepted guardianship.”
“Yes.”
“He expected it.”
Claire’s stomach tightened.
“Why?”
“Because temporary guardians have access to the children’s trust accounts for emergency care.”
Evelyn sat forward.
“What?”
Amelia nodded.
“The Devereux trust.”
Claire remembered the inheritance.
“Harrison needs my signature.”
“Yes.”
“For what?”
“To move the money before the federal freeze.”
Roman’s face hardened.
“How much?”
Amelia swallowed.
“Six hundred and forty million dollars.”
Claire nearly choked.
“I have five hundred dollars.”
Roman looked at her.
“Technically fifteen thousand if you accepted my job.”
“Not the time.”
Mason entered abruptly.
“We have a problem.”
Roman stood.
“What?”
“Harrison’s attorneys filed an emergency motion thirty minutes ago.”
Evelyn took the document.
Her face changed.
“What?”
Claire asked.
Evelyn looked up.
“Harrison claims Amelia is an impostor.”
Amelia stared.
“He filed DNA affidavits.”
Roman’s eyes narrowed.
“How?”
Evelyn kept reading.
“According to this, the woman upstairs is not Amelia Devereux Vale.”
Silence.
Claire felt cold.
Mason’s phone rang.
He answered.
Then looked at Roman.
“The lab called.”
Roman didn’t move.
Mason’s face was pale.
“The emergency DNA test came back.”
Amelia stood.
“And?”
Mason looked at her.
“You are related to the boys.”
Everyone exhaled.
Then Mason continued.
“But you are not their mother.”
Roman stared.
“What?”
The woman’s face collapsed.
“That’s impossible.”
Mason swallowed.
“The test indicates you’re their maternal aunt.”
Claire’s eyes widened.
Celeste was in custody.
Which meant there had been another sister.
Roman whispered, “Who are you?”
The woman began shaking.
Then Margaret Bennett spoke from the doorway.
“I know.”
Everyone turned.
Margaret stared at the woman.
“You’re Elizabeth.”
The woman closed her eyes.
Roman frowned.
“Who is Elizabeth?”
Margaret’s answer made Claire’s skin crawl.
“Harrison’s youngest daughter.”
May you like
Amelia’s identical twin.
The daughter the Devereux family had erased from every record thirty-eight years ago.
