Chapter 4 - THE SISTER WHO CAME BACK FOR REVENGE
I thought I had misunderstood him.
“Grace?”
The name felt impossible.
Elias’s missing sister.
The girl everyone believed had vanished years ago.
The person whose memory had made Elias soften when I named one of my daughters after her.
“She took my babies?”
Elias’s father nodded.
“Why?”
Nobody answered.
I crossed the church toward him.
“WHY?”
Elias caught my shoulders.
“Ava.”
“Don’t tell me to calm down!”
“I wasn’t going to.”
His voice was steady.
“I was going to tell you we leave now.”
Within minutes, we were inside an armored vehicle racing north.
Rose sat beside me.
I could barely look at her.
Every new truth from her seemed to destroy another part of the world I thought I understood.
Elias sat opposite us.
His father had gone in another vehicle.
“Tell me about Grace,” I demanded.
Elias stared through the darkened window.
“She was four years younger than me.”
“That isn’t what I mean.”
He remained silent.
Rose answered instead.
“Grace discovered something when she was seventeen.”
Elias looked sharply at her.
“What?”
“She found financial records linking your father’s organization to Victor Caruso.”
“My father said Caruso was his enemy.”
“He was.”
“Then why were they transferring money?”
Rose swallowed.
“Because your father wasn’t protecting the Vance empire from Caruso.”
She paused.
“He was building it with him.”
Elias leaned back.
For the first time since I met him, he looked genuinely stunned.
Rose continued.
“Years ago, the Vance and Caruso families secretly shared several businesses. Your grandfather wanted the arrangement ended. Your father refused.”
“And Grace found proof?”
“Yes.”
“So they tried to silence her.”
Rose nodded.
Elias looked out the window again.
Something inside him seemed to fracture quietly.
“My entire life,” he said, “I believed Caruso took my sister.”
“He helped.”
“And Father?”
Rose said nothing.
That silence answered him.
I felt almost sorry for Elias.
Almost.
Then I remembered my daughters.
“Where would Grace take them?”
Rose looked at me.
“If she has returned, she wants the inheritance.”
“But the babies can’t sign anything.”
“They don’t need to.”
I stared at her.
“What does that mean?”
“The trust activates when two direct female descendants of the Vance line exist simultaneously.”
Emma.
Grace.
Twins.
My daughters.
“Once they were born,” Rose explained, “ownership of the controlling shares automatically shifted.”
“To whom?”
She looked at me.
“You.”
My stomach dropped.
“Me?”
“You are their legal guardian.”
Suddenly, everything became horribly clear.
Daniel.
Caruso.
The pregnancy.
The obsession with a boy.
If I had delivered a son, Daniel could control the child’s inheritance through paternal rights.
But daughters changed everything.
The moment Emma and Grace were born, the fortune Caruso had spent decades chasing slipped directly into my hands.
“I don’t want it.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“I’ll give it away.”
“That could be exactly what Grace intends to force you to do.”
Elias leaned forward.
“Then we find her before she gets the chance.”
His phone rang.
Everyone froze.
Unknown number.
Elias answered.
“Speak.”
A woman laughed softly.
“Hello, big brother.”
Elias went motionless.
Even after all those years, he recognized her voice.
“Grace.”
“Did you miss me?”
His expression twisted.
“Where are the children?”
“Safe.”
I lunged toward the phone.
“Give them back!”
There was silence.
Then Grace spoke.
“You must be Ava.”
“If you touch them—”
“I won’t.”
Her voice softened unexpectedly.
“I would never hurt those girls.”
“Then bring them back!”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because Elias doesn’t know who is hunting them.”
Elias grabbed the phone.
“I know enough.”
“No, brother. You know what Father allowed you to know.”
His face hardened.
“What do you want?”
“Bring Ava to Pier 17 tomorrow at noon.”
“No.”
“Then you’ll never understand why Daniel threw her away.”
The call ended.
I looked at Elias.
“I’m going.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“You’re still recovering.”
“My daughters are missing.”
“And that is exactly why you’re vulnerable.”
I stepped closer.
“Elias, you carried me out of the snow because I was helpless. Do not mistake helplessness for weakness.”
His eyes held mine.
Then, slowly, he nodded.
“Fine.”
At noon the next day, we entered an empty warehouse near the river.
Grace stood alone beneath a row of broken windows.
She was beautiful.
Dark hair.
Gray eyes.
The same controlled stillness as Elias.
My daughter’s namesake.
Behind her were two bassinets.
“Emma!”
I ran.
Both babies were sleeping peacefully.
Warm.
Unharmed.
I lifted them and sobbed.
Elias remained focused on Grace.
“You kidnapped newborn babies.”
“I rescued them.”
“From my house?”
“From Father.”
Elias’s expression changed.
Grace tossed a folder onto a nearby table.
“He ordered the breach.”
I stared at her.
“What?”
“He wanted everyone to believe I took them.”
“But you did.”
“After his men arrived.”
She looked at Elias.
“I intercepted them.”
Elias opened the folder.
His face darkened.
“What is this?”
“Orders signed by Father.”
Grace’s smile vanished.
“He wasn’t trying to protect the twins.”
“Then what was he doing?”
Grace looked at my daughters.
“Taking them somewhere Ava would never find them.”
My hands shook.
“Why?”
Grace looked directly at me.
“Because your daughters aren’t the most important heirs.”
May you like
She walked closer.
“You are.”
