Chapter 3 - THE SECRET DANIEL NEVER EXPECTED AVA TO DISCOVER
“And Daniel knows the twins aren’t really his.”
Rose’s words seemed to extinguish every sound inside the abandoned church.
I stared at her.
For several seconds, I could not breathe.
“What did you say?”
Across the aisle, Elias’s father remained perfectly still. Elias himself looked from Rose to me, his expression hardening with every passing second.
I instinctively wrapped my arms around myself, thinking of Emma and Grace sleeping miles away beneath armed protection.
“They’re Daniel’s daughters,” I whispered. “They have to be.”
Rose lowered her eyes.
“No, Ava.”
My entire marriage had already been revealed as a lie. Somehow, there was still another lie beneath it.
“Then whose are they?”
Before Rose could answer, Elias stepped between us.
“Choose your next words carefully.”
His father gave him a warning look.
“Elias.”
“No.” Elias’s voice dropped. “She has been manipulated enough.”
Rose began crying.
“Ava, do you remember collapsing when you were three months pregnant?”
Of course I remembered.
Daniel had taken me to a private clinic afterward. He claimed I had become dangerously dehydrated and needed observation overnight.
“I remember.”
“Do you remember the doctor?”
“Dr. Mercer.”
Rose nodded.
“He worked for Caruso.”
A chill moved through me.
“What did he do?”
“He performed tests Daniel never told you about.”
Elias’s jaw tightened.
“What tests?”
Rose looked directly at me.
“Paternity.”
My stomach turned.
“That makes no sense.”
“Daniel had been injured years earlier,” Rose continued quietly. “Doctors told him becoming a biological father was almost impossible. Victor Caruso knew it. Daniel knew it.”
“Then why was I pregnant?”
“That was the mystery.”
My pulse hammered.
Rose stepped closer.
“Your twins were conceived before Daniel believed you could possibly be carrying his child.”
I searched my memory desperately.
There had been no other man.
No affair.
No forgotten night.
Nothing.
“I never betrayed my husband.”
“I know.”
“Then explain it!”
My voice echoed through the church.
Rose flinched.
“The laboratory discovered something Daniel wasn’t expecting. The twins were biologically his after all.”
I froze.
Even Elias looked confused.
“But you just said—”
“I said Daniel knows they aren’t really his.”
Rose wiped her tears.
“I didn’t say he was correct.”
Silence.
Daniel had believed someone else fathered them because doctors had told him he probably could not have children.
“But why pretend otherwise?”
“Because Victor needed Daniel to believe the babies were useless.”
Elias’s eyes narrowed.
“Why?”
Rose looked toward the old man.
“Because girls inherit the Vance trust differently from boys.”
Elias’s father finally spoke.
“A male heir would have inherited money.”
He looked at me.
“A female heir inherits control.”
The words landed like thunder.
“What control?”
“The Vance family holdings,” he answered. “Legitimate companies, properties, voting shares, trusts—and certain assets Victor Caruso has spent thirty years trying to obtain.”
I shook my head.
“This is insane.”
“It is documented.”
Elias looked at his father.
“You let us believe you were d/e/@/d for twelve years because of a trust?”
“No.”
The old man’s expression changed.
“I disappeared because someone inside our family tried to k/i/ll Grace.”
Elias went rigid.
“My sister?”
“Yes.”
“And you knew she survived?”
“I learned afterward.”
Elias crossed the distance between them so quickly that Rose gasped.
“You let me mourn her.”
“I had no choice.”
“You always had a choice.”
Elias’s voice trembled with restrained fury.
“You chose secrets.”
The old man’s face softened.
“Because secrets kept her alive.”
Before Elias could answer, glass shattered above us.
“DOWN!” someone shouted.
A sharp burst of g/u/nfire struck the church windows.
Elias grabbed me and pulled me behind a stone pillar as his guards moved.
Rose screamed.
The old man disappeared behind the altar.
More shots cracked through the church.
I covered my ears.
“Emma and Grace!” I cried.
“They’re safe,” Elias said.
“How do you know?”
His radio suddenly hissed.
“Boss!”
A panicked voice came through.
Elias grabbed it.
“What?”
“The Hudson house has been breached.”
My heart stopped.
“The twins?”
Silence.
Then:
“They’re gone.”
I screamed.
Elias’s face became terrifyingly blank.
“No.”
I grabbed his coat.
“You promised!”
His eyes met mine.
Something changed inside them.
Not fear.
Not panic.
War.
“We’re getting them back.”
Behind us, Rose whispered something.
I turned.
She was staring at the shattered window.
“This isn’t Caruso.”
Elias looked at her.
“How do you know?”
“Victor would never take the girls this way.”
“Then who did?”
Rose went pale.
“Someone who knows what they’re actually worth.”
Elias’s father emerged from the darkness.
And for the first time, fear showed on his face.
“Grace.”
Elias stared at him.
“What about Grace?”
May you like
The old man slowly lifted his head.
“Your sister just took Ava’s daughters.”
