Chapter 13 - THE LAST DANCE
I entered the studio alone.
At least that's what Rebecca demanded.
But Adrian refused to let me go without protection.
He followed from a distance.
Federal agents surrounded the building.
But Rebecca had planned for that.
The doors locked behind me.
The lights came on.
Lucia stood in the center of the dance floor.
Rebecca stood behind her.
She looked exactly like my mother.
Except colder.
"Let her go."
Rebecca smiled.
"You sound like Rose."
"Don't compare yourself to my mother."
"I'm more like her than you know."
She stepped closer.
"We were both betrayed."
"You betrayed her."
"She betrayed me first."
"How?"
"She was supposed to help me take the fortune."
"What?"
Rebecca laughed.
"Your mother was never innocent."
I shook my head.
"You're lying."
"Of course I am."
She smiled.
"But only sometimes."
She handed Lucia a small music box.
"Open it."
Lucia looked at me.
I nodded.
The melody began.
Our song.
The falling star.
Rebecca watched.
"Your mother taught you the dance."
"Yes."
"Finish it."
I understood.
The choreography was the key.
I started dancing.
One step.
Turn.
Pause.
Two turns.
Rebecca watched.
At the final movement, I pointed toward the old mirror.
It cracked.
A hidden compartment opened.
Inside was a metal case.
Rebecca rushed toward it.
I grabbed Lucia.
Adrian burst through the doors.
Federal agents followed.
Rebecca pulled a gun.
"Stop!"
Adrian stood between her and us.
"Put it down."
She laughed.
"You think this ends with me?"
She opened the case.
Inside were documents.
Photographs.
Bank records.
And one final envelope.
She looked at me.
"Your mother never told you the truth."
"About what?"
"Your father."
I froze.
"My father was Daniel Bennett."
Rebecca smiled.
"No."
She held up a photograph.
It showed my mother.
A young man.
And a newborn baby.
The man wasn't Daniel Bennett.
It was Adrian's biological father.
The photograph was dated one year before my birth.
Rebecca whispered:
"Lucia's father wasn't Daniel Vale."
I looked at Adrian.
His face had gone white.
May you like
Rebecca finished:
"He was your father."
