Chapter 6 - A Betrayal Written in Blood
"OLIVIA! HELP ME!"
The scream came from the second floor.
Olivia dropped the photograph.
Adrian grabbed her arm as she rushed toward the staircase.
"Wait!"
"Someone's up there!"
"I heard it."
"Then let me go!"
Another scream echoed through the house.
This time, Olivia recognized the voice.
It was her own.
Or rather, it sounded exactly like hers.
Adrian looked toward Marcus.
"Secure the exits. Nobody leaves this property."
Marcus immediately spoke into his radio.
Olivia pulled away from Adrian and ran upstairs.
She reached the bedroom just as something heavy crashed against the door.
"HELP!"
Olivia grabbed the handle.
Locked.
"Amelia?"
A frightened voice answered.
"Olivia! Don't let her get away!"
Olivia froze.
"Who?"
The lock suddenly clicked.
The bedroom door swung inward.
And a woman with Olivia's face stumbled into the hallway.
But this woman had a white scar above her right eyebrow.
The woman Olivia had rescued from the hotel had no scar.
Adrian reached the landing seconds later.
He stopped when he saw the woman.
Her hair was tangled. Her wrists were red where someone had apparently restrained them. She wore a gray sweater and dark trousers.
She looked directly at Olivia.
"I'm Amelia."
Olivia backed against the wall.
"No."
The woman began crying.
"Please. I know what she told you. I know she showed you the birth certificate. But I'm your sister."
Olivia shook her head.
"Then who was downstairs?"
Amelia looked toward the staircase.
"My cousin."
Silence.
Adrian stared at her.
"Your cousin?"
Amelia nodded.
"Her name is Victoria Cross."
Olivia felt the room spinning.
"Evelyn's daughter?"
"Yes."
"Why does she look like me?"
Amelia wiped her cheeks.
"Because Evelyn and our mother are identical twins."
Adrian's expression hardened.
"And Victoria?"
"She inherited the family resemblance. She spent years learning how to impersonate me."
Olivia remembered the woman at the hotel.
The familiar eyes.
The matching beauty mark.
The emotional reunion in Adrian's kitchen.
The photograph of two newborn girls.
Everything had been carefully arranged.
"Why?"
Amelia looked toward the bedroom.
"Because she needed you to trust her."
Adrian stepped forward.
"Where is Victoria now?"
Amelia's expression changed.
"She went through the bathroom."
Marcus appeared behind them.
"There's a service staircase connected to the rear hallway."
Adrian immediately raised his radio.
"Check the rear entrance."
A moment later, someone answered.
"Rear gate is open. One female suspect has escaped."
Olivia closed her eyes.
Another lie.
Another betrayal.
And this time, she had welcomed the person responsible into her arms.
Margaret entered the house ten minutes later.
She carried the wooden box from the security footage.
The moment she saw Amelia, she dropped it.
"Amelia!"
Her daughter ran toward her.
They embraced.
Olivia stood several feet away, watching.
She wanted to feel relieved.
Instead, she felt something much uglier.
Jealousy.
Margaret had spent eleven years away from Olivia.
Yet she apparently knew exactly how to comfort Amelia.
She knew her daughter's favorite words, the way she held her, the way she brushed the hair away from her face.
Olivia had been given photographs.
Amelia had been given a mother.
Margaret noticed her expression.
"Olivia—"
"Don't."
Her mother stopped.
Olivia pointed toward the wooden box.
"What's that?"
Margaret hesitated.
"Something I should have given you years ago."
"Then open it."
Adrian moved closer.
"Margaret, before you do anything, tell us whether Victoria knows what's inside."
Margaret looked at him.
"She knows enough."
"Enough to kill for it?"
Margaret's silence answered the question.
Olivia folded her arms.
"Open the box."
Her mother placed it on the dining table.
Inside were several photographs, an old bank statement, two passports, and a small digital storage device.
But Olivia noticed something else.
A folded hospital document.
She reached for it.
Margaret immediately covered it with her hand.
"Not yet."
Olivia stared at her.
"Move your hand."
"Sweetheart, please."
"Move it."
Slowly, Margaret obeyed.
Olivia unfolded the paper.
It was a hospital discharge record dated twenty-seven years earlier.
Two newborn girls were listed.
Olivia Grace Marshall.
Amelia Rose Marshall.
But the father's name had been covered with correction fluid.
Olivia held the document toward the light.
Beneath the white covering, she could make out the beginning of a name.
Daniel.
She looked up.
"Daniel Marshall really is our father?"
Margaret closed her eyes.
"Yes."
"Then why did Amelia say he discovered what you were hiding?"
Margaret's lips trembled.
"Because your father learned something that destroyed our marriage."
Adrian leaned forward.
"What?"
Margaret looked directly at him.
"Your father wasn't simply helping me disappear."
A terrible silence settled over the room.
"He was the man who ordered Daniel Marshall's death."
Across Chicago, Felix Kesler stared at the woman sitting opposite him.
Victoria Cross looked almost exactly like Olivia.
But her expression was entirely different.
Where Olivia's eyes reflected fear and uncertainty, Victoria's carried a cold, practiced confidence.
Felix slammed his glass onto the desk.
"You were supposed to stay inside Vale's house!"
Victoria crossed her legs.
"And get caught when Margaret arrived?"
"You had one job!"
"I completed it."
Felix stopped.
"What?"
Victoria reached into her handbag.
She removed a small silver key.
Attached was a paper label.
317.
Felix stared.
"That's impossible."
Victoria smiled.
"Olivia wasn't the only one who found something in her mother's office."
She placed the key on his desk.
Felix picked it up.
"What does it open?"
"Not the hotel room."
"Then what?"
Victoria leaned forward.
"A safety deposit box registered under Adrian Vale's father's name."
Felix's expression changed.
"Where?"
"First Chicago Trust."
He stood.
"Then let's go."
Victoria remained seated.
"Not so fast."
Felix turned.
"What now?"
She smiled.
"I want my sister."
Felix stared at her.
"Amelia?"
Victoria nodded.
"She knows where the original documents are."
"And Olivia?"
Victoria's smile disappeared.
"Olivia is becoming a problem."
Back at the Lincoln Park house, Adrian stood motionless.
"My father ordered Daniel's death?"
Margaret nodded.
"That's what I believed for eleven years."
Adrian's voice hardened.
"Believed?"
She looked down.
"I never saw the order. I found documents that appeared to prove it."
Olivia stared at her.
"Appeared?"
Margaret swallowed.
"Evelyn showed them to me."
Adrian laughed bitterly.
"Evelyn Cross."
"She was my sister. I trusted her."
"And she convinced you my father murdered your husband?"
Margaret looked away.
"Yes."
Adrian stepped toward the window.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then he turned.
"Show me the documents."
Margaret hesitated.
"Adrian—"
"Show me."
She opened the wooden box and removed an envelope.
Inside was a photocopied financial authorization.
At the bottom appeared a familiar signature.
Richard Vale.
Adrian examined it.
Then he shook his head.
"This isn't his signature."
Margaret looked stunned.
"What?"
"I've seen my father's handwriting thousands of times. This is a forgery."
Olivia remembered the motel footage.
Ryan had discovered a forged signature belonging to Adrian.
Someone had been impersonating the Vale family for years.
"Who would do that?" she whispered.
Adrian looked toward the envelope.
"Someone who wanted our families to destroy each other."
Margaret suddenly covered her mouth.
"Oh, God."
Olivia turned.
"What?"
Her mother stared at the documents.
"Evelyn."
Marcus entered the room carrying a laptop.
"We found something."
Adrian turned.
"Ryan?"
"Not directly. But we traced the vehicle that took him."
He opened the laptop.
A satellite image appeared.
An industrial property near the Chicago River.
Several abandoned warehouses stood beside an old shipping terminal.
"Who owns it?" Adrian asked.
Marcus hesitated.
"Officially, a company called Northbridge Holdings."
Adrian frowned.
"I've never heard of it."
Marcus clicked another document.
"Northbridge was incorporated eleven years ago."
Olivia leaned forward.
"Who registered it?"
Marcus looked at Margaret.
"Daniel Marshall."
Margaret went pale.
"That's impossible."
Marcus continued.
"The company has remained active. Someone has been using Daniel's identity to move money through several accounts."
Adrian stared at the screen.
"How much?"
"Approximately forty million dollars."
Olivia felt sick.
Forty million.
Her entire life had been shaped by people fighting over money she hadn't even known existed.
"And Ryan?" she demanded.
Marcus opened another image.
A security photograph taken that morning.
Ryan stood outside one of the warehouses.
Beside him was the gray-haired man from the motel footage.
The man who looked like Adrian's father.
Margaret leaned closer.
Then she gasped.
"Daniel."
Olivia turned sharply.
"What?"
Margaret pointed toward the screen.
"That's Daniel."
Adrian stared.
"No. That man looks like my father."
Margaret shook her head.
"He's wearing a disguise."
Olivia examined the photograph.
The silver hair.
The familiar smile.
The eyes she'd remembered from childhood.
Her father.
Alive.
"Then why didn't he come home?" she whispered.
Margaret began crying.
"Because he believed I betrayed him."
An hour later, Olivia found Amelia sitting alone in the guest bedroom.
Her sister was staring at the scar above her eyebrow in the mirror.
"Does it hurt?" Olivia asked.
Amelia turned.
"Not anymore."
Olivia sat beside her.
For several minutes, neither spoke.
Then Olivia asked the question she'd been avoiding.
"Did Mom raise you?"
Amelia lowered her eyes.
"Yes."
Olivia felt a sharp pain in her chest.
"All eleven years?"
Amelia nodded.
"Mostly. Sometimes Evelyn took me away for months."
Olivia stared at the floor.
"So while I was crying at her grave, she was making you breakfast."
Amelia's eyes filled.
"I'm sorry."
Olivia shook her head.
"You didn't do anything wrong."
"Neither did you."
The words broke something inside Olivia.
She began crying.
Amelia reached for her hand.
This time, Olivia didn't hesitate.
They sat together, two sisters separated by secrets neither had chosen.
Eventually, Amelia spoke.
"There's something you need to know about Victoria."
Olivia wiped her cheeks.
"What?"
"She didn't always hate me."
Olivia looked up.
"We grew up together. Evelyn told us we were cousins. She said you were dangerous because you carried information that could destroy our family."
Olivia stared.
"Me?"
Amelia nodded.
"Victoria believed everything her mother said. But when we turned eighteen, she discovered something."
"What?"
Amelia looked toward the door.
"She found a photograph of Felix."
Olivia felt her stomach tighten.
"Felix?"
"With our father."
Silence.
Amelia continued.
"The photograph was taken before you met Felix. Before you even knew he existed."
Olivia's hands began shaking.
"What were they doing together?"
Amelia swallowed.
"Planning how Felix would meet you."
Adrian found Olivia in the library.
She was standing beside the fireplace, holding the photograph Amelia had given her.
Felix.
Daniel Marshall.
And a third man.
Richard Vale.
Adrian stared.
"Where did you get this?"
"Amelia."
He took the photograph.
His expression darkened.
"This was taken at my father's private estate."
Olivia looked at him.
"When?"
"Thirteen years ago."
"Before your father died?"
"Yes."
She folded her arms.
"Then explain why Felix was meeting both our fathers."
Adrian studied the photograph.
He noticed something unusual.
Richard Vale wasn't smiling.
Daniel Marshall looked furious.
And Felix appeared much younger than Olivia remembered.
Adrian turned the photograph over.
A date had been written in blue ink.
October 17.
Olivia's birthday.
Beneath it were four words.
The inheritance belongs to her.
Adrian looked up.
"Olivia."
She stared at him.
"What?"
"I think Felix didn't approach you because of the financial records."
"Then why?"
Adrian held up the photograph.
"Because someone left you an inheritance."
Olivia laughed bitterly.
"Forty million dollars?"
Adrian shook his head.
"Possibly much more."
She stared at him.
"And who left it?"
Adrian's expression changed.
"My father."
Felix entered the First Chicago Trust building shortly before midnight.
Victoria followed him.
The bank manager had agreed to a private appointment after receiving a confidential authorization.
Felix placed the silver key on the desk.
"Safety deposit box 317."
The manager examined the paperwork.
Then he frowned.
"There's a problem."
Felix leaned forward.
"What problem?"
"This box requires two authorized signatures."
Victoria's expression hardened.
"Whose?"
The manager checked his computer.
"Adrian Vale."
Felix cursed.
"And?"
The manager looked up.
"Olivia Marshall."
Victoria slowly smiled.
Felix turned toward her.
"You knew."
She didn't deny it.
"Of course."
"Then why bring me here?"
Victoria reached into her coat.
She removed a folded photograph.
"Because there's another way to open it."
Felix stared at the picture.
It showed Olivia entering Adrian's house.
But the woman beside her wasn't Amelia.
It was Victoria.
Felix suddenly understood.
"You've been preparing to impersonate her."
Victoria smiled.
"Not Olivia."
She pointed toward the second name on the authorization.
"Adrian."
Back at the Lincoln Park house, Olivia stood beside Adrian's desk.
He had opened a confidential file from his father's estate.
Inside were several legal documents.
A trust agreement.
A list of properties.
And a sealed letter addressed to Olivia Marshall.
Adrian stared at the envelope.
His father's handwriting.
He recognized it immediately.
"Open it," Olivia whispered.
He handed it to her.
She carefully broke the seal.
Inside was a single handwritten page.
She began reading.
Dear Olivia,
If you are reading this, then the people who destroyed your family have finally made their move.
Your mother believed I was responsible for Daniel's disappearance. She was wrong.
I tried to protect your father, but I failed.
The inheritance I established in your name contains more than money. It contains the evidence needed to expose everyone involved.
Olivia's hands began shaking.
She continued.
But there is one person you must never trust.
The next line had been torn away.
Olivia stared.
"Someone removed the name."
Adrian examined the page.
Then he noticed something.
A faint indentation remained beneath the missing section.
He placed the letter on the desk and carefully angled a lamp across it.
Several letters became visible.
Olivia leaned closer.
The first letter was E.
Then V.
Then E.
Her breath caught.
"Evelyn."
Adrian looked at her.
"She's been controlling this from the beginning."
Before Olivia could respond, Marcus rushed into the office.
"Adrian, we have an emergency."
Adrian stood.
"What happened?"
"Someone just accessed your father's trust account."
Olivia turned.
"Who?"
Marcus looked directly at her.
"The authorization came from you."
She stared.
"That's impossible."
Marcus held up his phone.
A live security feed showed the entrance to First Chicago Trust.
A woman stood beside Felix Kesler.
She had Olivia's face.
But Marcus enlarged the image.
And Adrian noticed something that made his blood run cold.
The woman was holding a second authorization document.
It bore Adrian's signature.
A signature he had never written.
Then his phone rang.
Unknown number.
Adrian answered.
A familiar woman's voice whispered:
"Hello, Adrian. Your father left you one final surprise."
He went completely still.
"Who is this?"
The woman laughed softly.
"Ask Olivia what happened the night her father disappeared."
Adrian looked toward Olivia.
She stared back at him.
Then the woman spoke again.
"Or better yet, ask the man standing outside your front door."
The doorbell rang.
Marcus checked the security monitor.
His face drained of color.
A gray-haired man stood at the entrance.
He looked directly into the camera.
Then he raised a photograph.
Adrian recognized it immediately.
It was the last photograph ever taken of his father.
But someone had written a message across the bottom.
ADRIAN, YOUR FATHER ISN'T DEAD.
The man reached for the doorbell again.
May you like
And this time, when he spoke, Adrian heard the voice he had buried eight years earlier.
"Son. Open the door."
