Chapter 8 - The Sister They Erased
Nobody moved.
The screen continued showing the woman standing outside the mansion.
Watching.
Waiting.
Smiling.
My sister.
The word felt impossible.
I looked at Adrian.
"Say it again."
He didn’t answer.
My voice became louder.
"Say what you just thought."
Adrian looked at me.
His expression was filled with something I had never seen before.
Fear.
"Her name is Clara."
The room became silent.
"Clara?"
My father looked away.
Elena started crying.
And that was when I knew.
Everyone knew her.
Everyone except me.
"Who is she?"
Nobody spoke.
I looked around the room.
At my mother.
At my father.
At Victor.
At Adrian.
"Who is she?"
Daniel took a slow breath.
"Your sister."
The answer broke something inside me.
"No."
"Nora—"
"No."
I shook my head.
"I don't have a sister."
Daniel looked devastated.
"You did."
I stared at him.
"Did?"
Nobody corrected him.
Because that was the truth.
I had a sister.
And somehow, she disappeared from my life just like everyone else.
"Where was she?"
Elena closed her eyes.
"With me."
I looked at my mother.
"What?"
She wiped her tears.
"When you were born, I thought I had lost everything."
Her voice trembled.
"Then Clara was born."
I listened.
"You were twelve years older than her."
A strange feeling moved through me.
I had spent years alone.
Years believing I had nobody.
And somewhere in the world, there had been another person who shared my blood.
Another person who knew what it meant to be a Vale.
"What happened to her?"
Nobody answered.
Then Adrian spoke.
"She was taken."
I turned toward him.
"By who?"
His jaw tightened.
"The same people who took you."
The room felt smaller.
"So why don't I remember her?"
Daniel looked at me.
"Because they made sure you wouldn't."
My heart raced.
"They changed my memories."
Daniel nodded.
"Yes."
I grabbed the edge of the table.
"No."
The truth was becoming too much.
"My whole life..."
I whispered.
"My whole life was fake."
Elena moved toward me.
"Nora."
I stepped away.
"Don't."
She stopped.
I looked at the screen.
The woman outside.
My sister.
"Why is she here now?"
Nobody answered.
Adrian did.
"Because she found you."
I looked at him.
"And?"
His expression changed.
"And because she knows something."
"What?"
He looked at the security monitor.
"Something that could destroy everyone in this room."
Before I could ask more, the front gate alarm sounded.
The screen went black.
The woman disappeared.
Adrian immediately moved.
"Everyone downstairs."
Nobody argued.
The confidence in his voice made everyone move.
Even Daniel.
Even Victor.
Everyone except me.
I stayed.
Because I was tired of running toward answers and finding more secrets.
Adrian stopped.
"Nora."
I looked at him.
"Are you going to lie again?"
The question hit him.
"No."
"Are you sure?"
He looked at me.
Then quietly said:
"No."
The honesty surprised me.
For the first time, he admitted it.
"I have hidden things from you."
My eyes burned.
"But I never wanted to hurt you."
I looked away.
"I don't know what to believe anymore."
"I know."
He stepped closer.
"But believe this."
His voice lowered.
"I would die before letting them take you again."
Those words should have comforted me.
Instead, they scared me.
Because they sounded like someone who had already lost me once.
The security alarm stopped.
Too suddenly.
Adrian immediately noticed.
"That's wrong."
"What?"
"The alarm doesn't turn off by itself."
Everyone became alert.
Then the mansion speakers activated.
A woman's voice filled the hallway.
"Nora."
I froze.
The voice from the screen.
Clara.
My sister.
"Come downstairs."
Adrian grabbed a weapon.
"No."
The voice continued.
"I don't want to hurt anyone."
A pause.
"But if you want the truth about what happened twelve years ago..."
The lights flickered.
"...you need to come alone."
Daniel stepped forward.
"Absolutely not."
Clara laughed softly through the speakers.
"Still protecting her, father?"
Daniel froze.
The voice changed.
It became colder.
"You couldn't protect her then."
Silence.
"Don't pretend you can now."
My father looked broken.
Like those words had hit a wound that never healed.
Adrian looked at me.
"Stay here."
"No."
"Nora."
"I'm going."
Everyone turned.
"No."
Elena grabbed my arm.
"Please."
I looked at her.
"You all kept me hidden."
My voice shook.
"You all made choices for me."
I pulled away.
"Not anymore."
I walked downstairs.
Every step felt heavier.
The main hall was empty.
The front doors were closed.
The cameras showed nothing.
Then the doors opened.
Slowly.
A woman entered.
She looked like me.
Not exactly.
But enough.
Same eyes.
Same dark hair.
Same expression.
The kind of face that carried too many secrets.
She stopped.
And looked at me.
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
Then she whispered:
"Nora."
My throat tightened.
"Clara."
A small smile appeared.
Not a happy one.
A sad one.
"You really don't remember me."
I shook my head.
"No."
Her eyes filled with tears.
"I knew they erased me."
She stepped closer.
"But I didn't know they erased you too."
Behind me, footsteps approached.
Adrian.
Daniel.
Everyone.
Clara looked past me.
And her expression changed.
"You brought him."
I turned.
"Who?"
She stared at Adrian.
Her eyes filled with anger.
"You brought the man who destroyed our family."
The room went silent.
Adrian didn't deny it.
Again.
I looked at him.
"Clara."
Her voice became colder.
"Ask him what happened the night your father disappeared."
Adrian looked down.
My heart sank.
Because I already knew.
There was something he had never told me.
Clara reached into her coat.
She pulled out a small envelope.
Old.
Worn.
With my name written on it.
"I found this where he hid the truth."
She handed it to me.
My fingers trembled as I opened it.
Inside was a letter.
My father's handwriting.
Only one sentence was visible.
"If you are reading this, Adrian has already betrayed you."
I looked up.
Adrian’s face had gone completely pale.
Because beneath my father's sentence...
Was another line.
Written later.
By someone else.
May you like
And it began with four words.
"Your father never died..."
