Chapter 3 - The Sister Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
Three months passed.
My friendship with Rose became the strangest part of my life.
I still cleaned tables at Maison Greer.
I still counted tips.
I still worried about my mother's prescriptions.
But on Thursdays, I became part of Rose's world.
She took me everywhere.
She introduced me to people who had no idea she was the mother of a billionaire.
She bought flowers from street vendors.
She complained about expensive coffee.
She carried coupons inside an old leather purse.
And she never once acted like she was wealthy.
One afternoon, we were sitting in a small bakery when she suddenly went quiet.
“What?”
She stared outside.
“Do you see that man?”
I turned.
A gray-haired man stood across the street.
“Yes.”
“I don't know him.”
“You looked scared.”
“I am.”
Adrian arrived fifteen minutes later.
The man was gone.
That evening, Adrian asked me questions.
“What did he look like?”
I described him.
“Did he approach her?”
“No.”
“What did he do?”
“Nothing.”
Adrian looked troubled.
Then he asked:
“Did he hear Rose mention Claire?”
“No.”
“Did anyone else?”
“No.”
He nodded.
“Good.”
“Why is everyone afraid of your family?”
He looked at me.
“We're not afraid.”
“You are.”
He didn't answer.
Then he said:
“My sister isn't dead.”
I stared.
“Then where is she?”
“I don't know.”
That was the first time I saw Adrian genuinely helpless.
The man who controlled billions couldn't find his own sister.
“Five years ago, Claire discovered financial fraud inside our foundation.”
“Whose?”
“My father's.”
I frowned.
“I thought your father was dead.”
“He is.”
“You said his.”
“Someone continued what he started.”
He explained that after his father's death, the Vale Foundation had become a massive philanthropic organization.
Hospitals.
Scholarships.
Domestic violence shelters.
Veterans' programs.
Food banks.
But millions had been disappearing through shell companies.
Claire discovered it.
She confronted the wrong people.
Then she vanished.
The police called it voluntary disappearance.
Adrian never believed that.
“I've spent five years looking.”
“And Rose?”
“She blames herself.”
I remembered Rose saying:
“Life made him harder than I wanted.”
She wasn't talking about Adrian alone.
She was talking about Claire too.
I asked:
“What can I do?”
Adrian stared.
“Nothing.”
“That doesn't sound like you.”
“I need you to stay away.”
I smiled.
“You say that to everyone?”
“Only people I don't want dead.”
I stopped smiling.
“That serious?”
“Yes.”
Then his phone rang.
His assistant spoke urgently.
Adrian's expression darkened.
“What?”
A pause.
“Where?”
Another pause.
“Do not touch anything.”
He ended the call.
“What happened?”
“A file was found.”
“What file?”
“A medical record.”
His voice dropped.
“With Claire's name.”
Two days later, the record was confirmed.
Claire had been admitted to a private psychiatric hospital under another identity.
Six months after she disappeared.
The hospital had no explanation for why her records were sealed.
But someone had paid the bill.
An anonymous trust.
The same trust used by Maison Greer's parent company.
Preston.
My manager.
I remembered his face on the night of Rose's birthday.
Suddenly, everything felt connected.
Adrian agreed to let me accompany him when he confronted Preston.
Preston looked terrified.
“I don't know anything.”
Adrian put the record on the desk.
“Then why did you authorize payments to this account?”
Preston stared.
“I didn't.”
“Your signature is here.”
“I was told to sign.”
“By whom?”
Preston hesitated.
“Vanessa Whitmore.”
Adrian's jaw tightened.
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
I watched Preston sweat.
Then I saw something on his desk.
A silver key.
The same symbol as the one in the medical file.
I pointed.
“What is that?”
Preston grabbed it.
Adrian moved faster.
He took it.
“Where did you get this?”
Preston shook his head.
“I don't know.”
“You're lying.”
“I swear.”
Adrian looked at me.
“Emma, step back.”
I did.
The door opened.
Vanessa Whitmore walked in.
She looked flawless.
Expensive coat.
Diamond earrings.
Controlled expression.
“I wondered when you'd find this.”
Adrian turned.
“You.”
She smiled.
“Yes.”
“Where is my sister?”
“I don't know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I expect you to stop blaming me for everything.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“You humiliated my mother.”
“I apologized.”
“You threatened my staff.”
“I corrected them.”
“You accessed my foundation.”
Vanessa's smile disappeared.
“I was protecting my family.”
“Your family has nothing to do with mine.”
“Oh, Adrian.”
She laughed.
“You still don't understand.”
She looked at me.
Then back at him.
“Your mother isn't the reason you're being watched.”
Adrian's eyes narrowed.
“Then who is?”
May you like
Vanessa whispered:
“Your sister.”
