Chapter 9 - The Woman Behind the WomanVanessa called from jail.
“Is the baby yours?”
Ethan asked.
She laughed.
“That depends.”
“On what?”
“Whether you help me.”
She claimed Adrian had lied about the crash.
Then her voice broke.
“He killed someone I loved.”
“Who?”
“My mother.”
Ethan frowned.
“Celeste is alive.”
“No, Ethan.”
The call ended.
When they returned to the hospital, Celeste was gone.
Her discharge papers carried Judge Cole's signature.
The date was impossible.
Security footage showed a masked man pushing her wheelchair.
Marcus paused the frame.
Adrian.
But Adrian was supposed to be in custody.
Then facial recognition revealed something else.
Older photographs of Celeste showed a crescent-shaped mark near her eye.
The woman rescued from the fire did not have it.
Marcus searched old family records.
The woman in the hospital was not Celeste.
She was Eleanor Cross.
Celeste's younger sister.
Olivia's aunt.
Why had Eleanor pretended to be Celeste?
A recovered recording answered the question.
Richard's voice:
“Celeste wants to confess.”
A woman replied:
“Then replace her before she reaches Olivia.”
The voice belonged to Eleanor.
Richard responded:
“Adrian will handle it.”
Ethan felt sick.
Celeste had been replaced.
And probably killed.
Before they could process it, reporters surrounded the Bennett property.
The scandal had become national.
Pensioners demanded answers.
The company board suspended Ethan.
Instead of hiding, Ethan went before the cameras.
“I did not know the money was stolen,” he said.
“But I benefited from a system that discouraged questions.”
He signed away most of his fortune.
Olivia watched him.
“You may lose everything.”
Ethan looked at Sophie.
“I already know what everything is.”
That night, a vehicle smashed through the gate.
May you like
Adrian stepped out with a gun.
And Eleanor was his hostage.
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