Chapter 12 - Family Secrets
The wooden cabin in Upstate New York smelled of pine and damp earth. Emma drove for three hours through the snow to find Victoria's temporary exile. The woman who once exclusively wore haute couture was now in a frayed bathrobe, pouring tea into chipped mugs.
"You shouldn't have come, Emma," Victoria said, avoiding her daughter's eyes as she stirred her sugar.
"You hid Sora from me," Emma said bluntly, tossing a photograph of the young woman onto the table. "You said I was your only daughter."
Victoria dropped the spoon. The clatter of metal echoed loudly in the quiet kitchen.
"Sora isn't my daughter," Victoria confessed in a raspy whisper. "She's Richard's daughter... but not with another woman."
Emma frowned, deeply confused. "What are you talking about?"
"Before you were born, Richard had an affair with Julian's younger sister, Helena. When Helena got pregnant, Richard used his influence to quietly ship her off to a boarding school in Switzerland. Sora was born there. When Helena died years later in a mysterious car crash, Richard secretly assumed legal custody."
Emma felt a chill trace its way down her spine. The web of lies wasn't a recent tangle; it was a labyrinth built over decades.
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"Does Julian know?" Emma asked.
"Julian believes his sister committed suicide," Victoria replied, her voice shaking. "If he finds out Sora is Helena's daughter... and that Richard raised her to be a weapon against all of us, Julian will lose his mind completely."
