Chapter 8 - THE TRUTH ABOUT THAT NIGHT
Rachel remembered the night her mother died.
Rain.
Hospital lights.
Her mother's weak hand squeezing hers.
“Promise me something.”
Rachel had cried.
“What?”
“If Daniel ever finds you…”
Her mother had stopped.
“Don't trust anyone.”
Rachel had assumed she meant Daniel.
Now she understood.
She had been warning her about everyone else.
Daniel sat beside Rachel in the hospital waiting room.
“You should have told me.”
Rachel looked at him.
“I didn't know.”
“You carried this alone.”
“I thought I was protecting the girls.”
“You were.”
He reached for her hand.
She let him.
For the first time in eight years.
Richard Vale had disappeared.
But Daniel's security team found an old storage unit connected to his name.
Inside were boxes.
Photographs.
Bank records.
Medical files.
And one envelope addressed to Rachel.
She opened it.
Her mother's handwriting.
Rachel, if you found this, Richard failed to stop you from discovering the truth.
Rachel began crying.
The letter explained everything.
Daniel's father had discovered Richard was stealing money from Harden Enterprises.
Richard had built a network inside the company.
When Charles tried to expose him, Richard threatened Rachel.
Rachel's mother agreed to help hide her daughter.
But Richard discovered the pregnancy.
He knew Daniel would choose his children over the company.
So he intercepted Rachel's messages.
He forged documents.
He convinced Daniel she had abandoned him.
Then he convinced Rachel Daniel didn't want her.
Two lies.
One destroyed family.
Rachel lowered the letter.
“He made us hate each other.”
Daniel nodded.
“He needed us apart.”
“Why?”
Daniel looked at the financial records.
“Because if I had children, my father's trust would transfer control to them when I died.”
Rachel stared.
“So Richard wanted the company.”
“Yes.”
A noise came from the storage unit hallway.
Daniel stood.
“Stay here.”
The lights went out.
A gunshot echoed.
Rachel screamed.
Daniel grabbed her and pulled her behind a metal shelf.
Another shot.
Then silence.
Security rushed in.
Richard was gone.
But he left something behind.
A USB drive.
Daniel picked it up.
On it was a single file.
PROJECT TWINS.
Rachel's heart stopped.
“Open it.”
Daniel did.
A video appeared.
Rachel saw herself.
Eight years earlier.
Leaving the hospital.
Pregnant.
Someone had been following her.
Then another video.
The twins being born.
Richard had been there.
Watching.
Rachel whispered:
“He knew.”
Daniel looked at her.
“He knew before they were born.”
The final video appeared.
Richard speaking to someone.
“We don't need the mother.”
May you like
Rachel froze.
“We only need the girls.”
