Chapter 5 - The Trial Begins
Kira fitted one over Sebastian’s face.
The ledger listed payments made to nurses, judges, and adoption officials.
One entry carried Ruth’s signature.
Sebastian saw it. You accepted money. Ruth did not deny it.
I took it so Victor believed I had agreed to disappear. And then, I used every dollar to hide Kira.
Kira’s voice broke.
You told me my father abandoned us. I could not tell a child that powerful people were searching for her blood.
The maintenance door shook. Arabella shouted from the other side. Ruth, open it.
You know what happens if the house detects both heirs. Kira looked at the console. What happens?
Ruth turned the page of the ledger. A handwritten clause appeared.
If the lost daughter returns before the substitute son turns 30, the Vail estate enters bloodline trial. Sebastian checked the date on the monitor.
His 30th birthday was tomorrow. Arabella began cutting through the door. We have 11 hours, Kira said.
To do what? Prove my identity. Ruth shook her head.
That is only half. The trial requires the substitute son to surrender the Vail name voluntarily. Sebastian stared at the estate map.
If I surrender it, what happens to me? Every account, property, and legal record connected to Sebastian Veil disappears at midnight. I become nobody.
Kira faced him. No. You become the man you were before they used you.
A blade pierced the door.
Arabella’s face appeared through the opening.
He will never surrender billions for a maid. Sebastian looked at Kira. She is not a maid.
Arabella smiled. Then ask your precious sister why she applied to work here under a false name.
Sebastian turned. Kira went still.
Arabella pushed a photograph through the broken panel. It showed Kira meeting Victor Crest 3 months earlier.
On the back was written, “Deliver Sebastian before his 30th birthday.”
Sebastian’s expression changed.
You knew who I was before tonight. Kira could not answer fast enough. The door burst inward.
Arabella entered with two armed guards and held up the torn half of Elena’s envelope.
“I did not bring Kira into this mansion,” she said.
“She came to finish the job her mother started.”
Ruth stepped in front of her daughter.
“That is a lie.”
Arabella aimed a pistol at Sebastian.
“Then let Kira prove it.”
She placed a knife on the console between them.
“The bloodline trial begins now.
One drop from the true Veil daughter opens the vault.”
Kira reached for the blade.
May you like
Arabella’s smile widened.
“And one drop from the substitute son erases him forever.”
