Chapter 6 - The Sister They Buried Without a Funeral
I could not breathe.
A twin.
A sister.
Alive somewhere in the world.
Or dead.
My father sat at the table.
“We believed she had been killed.”
“Why?”
“Because Malcolm told us she died.”
“But you don't believe him.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because no body was ever found.”
Roman asked, “What was her name?”
“Lena.”
The name settled over me strangely.
Familiar.
Not because I remembered it.
Because I felt as though some part of me had been waiting to hear it.
“What happened after we were born?”
Gabriel took a breath.
“Your mother discovered Malcolm was using the Red Ledger to blackmail people. She tried to expose him.”
“And he took Lena.”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“We never found out.”
My father's hands trembled.
“I spent seventeen years searching.”
I looked at Roman.
“We need to find her.”
“Yes.”
Arthur entered with a file.
“Then you're going to want to see this.”
He placed a photograph on the table.
A young woman stood outside a charity clinic in Boston.
She had my eyes.
My jaw.
The same small scar near the eyebrow.
I stared.
“Lena.”
Arthur nodded.
“We believe so.”
The woman in the photograph worked under the name Lily Hart.
A nurse.
Twenty-nine years old.
My age.
My heart began racing.
“Is she safe?”
“She disappeared two days ago.”
My father went pale.
“Malcolm found her.”
Roman's eyes hardened.
“Where?”
Arthur pointed to the map.
“Manhattan.”
The hunt began.
We discovered that Lily had been working with a nonprofit clinic connected to Victor Dane's charities.
She had unknowingly treated employees connected to the Red Ledger.
Someone had recognized her.
The next clue came from Trevor.
He had been arrested attempting to cross the Canadian border.
Roman went to see him.
I insisted on coming.
Trevor sat behind the glass.
He looked different.
Scared.
The arrogance was gone.
“You're alive,” he said.
“So are you.”
He looked at Roman.
“I didn't know who you were.”
“You knew enough.”
Trevor swallowed.
“I thought Sadi was still poor.”
“I know.”
“I was paid to leave.”
“By whom?”
“Malcolm.”
“Why?”
“Because he wanted her isolated.”
I spoke.
“Why?”
Trevor looked at me.
“Because he knew about the twin.”
My heart stopped.
“What did he do to her?”
“I don't know.”
“You're lying.”
“No.”
Tears appeared in his eyes.
“I swear.”
He leaned closer to the glass.
“Malcolm said your twin was dangerous.”
“Why?”
“Because she had something.”
“What?”
“A memory.”
Roman frowned.
“A memory of what?”
Trevor shook his head.
“A murder.”
Silence.
“Whose murder?”
Trevor whispered:
“Alexander Vale.”
Roman went still.
“Your grandfather was not killed by Victor Dane.”
Trevor continued.
“Malcolm killed him.”
The room seemed to tilt.
Roman gripped the table.
“Why?”
“Because Alexander discovered Malcolm had taken control of the Red Ledger.”
Trevor looked at me.
“And Lily saw it.”
I whispered.
“She was there?”
“She was a baby.”
“How could she remember?”
“Not consciously.”
Trevor looked terrified.
“Your mother recorded everything.”
I stared.
“What does that mean?”
“Your mother used an audio recorder hidden in the nursery.”
Roman’s eyes widened.
“Where is it?”
Trevor laughed bitterly.
“Malcolm has spent twenty-nine years looking for it.”
I left the prison trembling.
We returned to my mother's old apartment.
The building had been renovated.
My old kitchen was gone.
The walls had been repainted.
But behind a loose panel in the bedroom, I found something.
A cassette recorder.
Old.
Dusty.
Still intact.
Roman found an adapter.
The tape played.
My mother's voice emerged.
“If you're hearing this, then I failed to keep both of my girls safe.”
My hands shook.
She continued.
“Lena remembers what happened.”
I began crying.
“She doesn't understand it now. But someday, something will trigger it.”
A man's voice appeared in the background.
Malcolm.
My mother whispered:
“Alexander found out.”
Then a gunshot.
I gasped.
My mother screamed.
Another voice.
My grandfather.
“You can't take this from me.”
Then Malcolm.
“You should have stayed out of it.”
A second gunshot.
The tape stopped.
Roman stared at the machine.
“That is enough to reopen the case.”
Arthur nodded.
“It can also destroy Malcolm.”
A noise came from outside.
Tires.
Roman immediately reached for his weapon.
“Someone followed us.”
We ran through the rear exit.
The old stairwell shook under our feet.
A black SUV sped away.
Arthur fired one shot at the rear tire.
The vehicle crashed into a parked car.
Two men fled.
We caught one.
He carried a photograph.
Lily.
My twin.
And on the back:
Midnight. Pier 19.
Bring Sadi alone.
I knew it was a trap.
I also knew I had to go.
Roman looked at me.
“No.”
“I need to see her.”
“You are not going alone.”
The next night, we arrived at Pier 19.
The harbor was dark.
Fog rolled between the boats.
I stepped forward.
A woman emerged from the shadows.
I stopped breathing.
She looked exactly like me.
She stared at me.
Neither of us spoke.
Then she whispered:
“Are you Sadi?”
I nodded.
She began crying.
“I always wondered why I dreamed about your face.”
I walked toward her.
“Lena.”
Before I could reach her, a laser dot appeared on Roman's chest.
A shot rang out.
Roman collapsed.
I screamed.
May you like
And from the darkness came Malcolm's voice.
“Now you understand what happens when you dig up the dead.”
