Chapter 8 - The Woman Who Signed My Name
"I ordered the truck stopped."
Cassian didn't look away.
My throat tightened.
"Why?"
"I was twenty-eight. My father had just died. Vittorio told me someone was stealing confidential shipments."
"My father."
"I didn't know his name."
"Did you order him killed?"
"No."
"Did you order men after him?"
"Yes."
The honesty hurt.
Cassian explained that his men had been told to stop Daniel's truck and recover a package.
Daniel fled.
The truck crashed.
Cassian had believed it was an accident.
"Four years," I said. "You knew your order put him on that road."
"Yes."
"And then you married me."
"I didn't know you were his daughter until Ezra brought me your debt file."
I slapped him.
Nobody moved.
Cassian accepted it.
"I deserved that."
"You deserved worse."
I walked away.
He didn't follow.
For two days I stayed beside Mom at a private clinic.
Cassian stationed security outside but never entered.
On the third morning, Odette brought me the leather notebook Cassian had once left beside my bed.
Inside was a folded page I'd never seen.
Cassian's handwriting.
Daniel Marsh.
Underneath were dates.
Payments.
Names.
He had been investigating Dad's death before our marriage.
That didn't absolve him.
But it meant he'd known something was wrong.
Camille visited that afternoon.
She hugged me.
Then whispered:
"Your hospital suspension wasn't authorized by administration."
"What?"
"The order came through a board member."
"Who?"
"Dr. Bell."
Everything led back to Adrian.
We found him that evening.
Not through Cassian.
Through my mother's fragmented memory.
She kept repeating "blue house."
Elm Grove staff thought it meant her childhood home.
I knew better.
Bellwether's original logo had been a blue house.
Its abandoned clinic remained outside Evanston.
Cassian wanted me to stay behind.
I refused.
Inside the clinic, we found Adrian Bell.
He was sixty-one.
Too old to be Cassian's brother.
But genetics had shown close relation.
Adrian looked at Cassian.
"You have your mother's eyes."
Cassian stiffened.
"Who are you?"
"Your uncle."
Adrian was Isabella Raldi's brother.
The second heir wasn't him.
His DNA had been used because it was close enough to create confusion in manipulated reports.
"Where is the other heir?"
Adrian smiled sadly.
"Dead."
"When?"
"Thirty-two years ago."
That contradicted Dad's recording.
Adrian explained that Isabella had delivered twins.
One survived.
One supposedly died.
But Maryanne had discovered the second infant's death certificate was falsified.
She helped move the baby.
"Where?"
"I don't know."
"Who forged Elena's signature?" Cassian demanded.
Adrian's expression changed.
"A woman."
"Name."
"She worked with Vittorio."
"Name."
Adrian looked at me.
"Your father knew her."
My pulse rose.
"Who?"
Before he could answer, a gunshot shattered the window.
Adrian collapsed.
Cassian dragged me down.
Ezra pursued the shooter.
I pressed my hands against Adrian's wound.
"Stay with me."
Blood filled my fingers.
Adrian grabbed my wrist.
"The woman..."
"Who?"
"She signed everything."
"Tell me her name."
His eyes moved toward the doorway.
Someone stood there.
A woman.
Silver hair.
Elegant coat.
My mother's missing wedding hair clip pinned above her ear.
May you like
She smiled at me.
"Hello, Elena."
