Chapter 14 - THE SISTER
For days, I couldn't stop thinking about the photograph.
I had never known I had a half-sister.
My father had taken the secret to his grave.
Detective Hayes found her.
Her name was Sarah.
She lived in Oregon.
And she had no idea who I was.
When she arrived, she brought a box.
Inside were letters from my father.
Letters he'd written over twenty years.
He had never sent them.
I cried reading them.
He had wanted to tell me.
But he was afraid.
Sarah wasn't interested in the money.
She wanted answers.
“What happened to our father?”
I told her everything.
She listened.
Then she said something that changed my understanding of the entire case.
“Victor knew about me.”
“What?”
“He contacted me three years ago.”
I stared at her.
“What did he want?”
“He offered me money.”
“How much?”
“Five million dollars.”
“Why?”
“To sign something.”
“What?”
Sarah opened the box.
She pulled out a contract.
It transferred her rights to my father's estate.
I stared at it.
“He wanted you to sign away your inheritance.”
“Yes.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Why?”
She smiled sadly.
“Because Dad told me never to trust a man who offers money before telling you what he wants.”
I almost laughed through my tears.
That sounded exactly like my father.
Then Sarah looked at my baby.
“She has his eyes.”
I looked at my daughter through the NICU glass.
“Yes.”
Ryan stood beside me.
For the first time, he looked peaceful.
Then his phone rang.
He answered.
His face changed.
“What?”
I watched him.
“Who is it?”
He hung up.
“Victor's attorney.”
“What did he say?”
“He wants a deal.”
“What kind?”
Ryan stared at me.
“He says he'll confess to everything if we give him one thing.”
“What?”
“Access to the trust.”
I laughed.
“No.”
Ryan nodded.
“I thought so.”
But then he handed me another document.
It was signed by Victor.
At the bottom was a handwritten note.
You think this is about money. It isn't.
I looked at Ryan.
“What does he mean?”
Before he could answer, Detective Hayes rushed into the room.
“Emma.”
“What?”
“We found the person Victor was working for.”
I froze.
“Who?”
She looked at Ryan.
Then at me.
“Your father-in-law.”
I stared at Ryan's father.
He had been sitting quietly in the waiting room.
I couldn't breathe.
“No.”
Detective Hayes nodded.
“He funded the original operation.”
Ryan turned toward his father.
“Dad?”
His father closed his eyes.
“I can explain.”
Ryan stepped back.
“You lied to me.”
His father whispered:
“I was trying to protect you.”
“From what?”
His father looked at me.
“From the truth.”
Then he said:
“Victor wasn't working for me.”
May you like
He pointed toward the NICU.
“He was working for someone who wants your daughter.”
