Chapter 7 - The Betrayal Inside the House
The photograph had been taken from the nursery.
Our security system showed no breach.
No unauthorized entry.
Which meant the person had access.
Someone inside the house.
Leo shut down every system.
Guards searched the staff.
One person was missing.
Clara.
The nanny who had worked for Leo for years.
I remembered how kind she had always been.
How she sang to Isla.
How she cried after Amelia died.
Leo confronted her.
She broke immediately.
But not from guilt.
From fear.
“Please don't let them kill my son.”
Leo froze.
“Who?”
“They have him.”
“Who?”
“The men from the network.”
Clara confessed.
She had been forced to send information.
Schedules.
Security codes.
Nursery footage.
She had never touched Isla.
She had never wanted to hurt anyone.
She was trying to save her son.
Leo believed her.
So did I.
But someone else had given her orders.
Someone who still had access.
Mara found it.
A family member.
Leo's older cousin.
Richard Mercer.
He had been secretly working with Adrian.
He wanted control of the Mercer company.
And he had a reason to fear Leo.
If Leo publicly married someone else and had a second heir, Richard would lose everything.
But there was a deeper motive.
Richard had been the one who leaked Amelia's medical records.
He had been the one who manipulated the hospital data.
He had been the one who arranged for my children to be moved.
And now he wanted Isla.
Leo confronted him at the company's headquarters.
The boardroom became a battlefield of words.
Richard laughed.
“You think this is about money?”
Leo stared.
“It isn't?”
“No.”
Richard leaned forward.
“It's about inheritance.”
He looked at me.
“You are the problem.”
I frowned.
“Why?”
“Because Leo loves you.”
Leo went still.
Richard continued.
“Amelia never controlled him. You do.”
I felt a strange sadness.
“You don't understand what love is.”
Richard smiled.
“Maybe.”
Then he revealed the final weapon.
A video.
Leo's father.
Years ago.
Talking about a second trust.
One that could transfer control of the company to a child born outside the Mercer bloodline if certain conditions were met.
My heart raced.
Leo stared.
“There was another heir.”
Richard nodded.
“Someone your father never told you about.”
“Who?”
Richard smiled.
“Your father had another daughter.”
Leo went pale.
“That's impossible.”
“No.”
Richard looked at me.
“She's alive.”
We thought the mystery was over.
We were wrong.
Because the next morning, a woman arrived at the estate.
She looked like Amelia.
Same eyes.
Same smile.
Same voice.
She introduced herself as Sophie Mercer.
May you like
And she said:
“I am Leo's sister.”
