Chapter 13 - The Other Daughter
Laura denied everything.
At first.
Then Roman showed her the photograph.
She began crying.
“There were two.”
I felt something inside me detach.
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know.”
“Mom.”
“I swear.”
My biological mother gave birth to twin daughters.
Sebastian knew about me.
Vincent knew there was a baby but not twins.
Laura smuggled both children out.
One came home with her.
Me.
The other went to a family outside Illinois.
No names were recorded together.
No photographs kept.
Except apparently one.
“Why separate us?”
“Because Vincent was searching.”
Sebastian’s trust complicated everything.
It had been written for “my surviving daughter or daughters.”
If two existed, neither could fully activate the archive alone.
Vincent had spent decades trying to find Sebastian’s hidden daughter.
He found me.
But I was only half the key.
That meant Lily was never his solution.
She was leverage to make me cooperate while he searched for my twin.
Roman’s investigators attacked the problem differently.
They searched Vincent’s recent spending.
Private investigators.
DNA laboratories.
Travel.
One pattern emerged.
Boston.
New York.
Chicago.
Then a recurring payment to a woman in Chicago.
Rebecca Ashford.
Roman knew the name.
I did too.
Everyone did.
Old money.
Charity galas.
Political donors.
The kind of family whose photographs filled society pages.
“What does she have to do with this?”
Roman’s answer was simple.
“Her adopted daughter was born the same day you were.”
Her name was Hannah Evans.
Twenty-seven.
Recently fired from a private catering company.
Currently working multiple jobs while paying for her mother’s cancer treatment.
Something about that story sounded painfully familiar.
Then Roman received a security alert.
Vincent’s car had been found outside the Ashford mansion.
We drove there.
Too late.
Police.
Ambulances.
Guests flooding outside.
A charity gala had erupted into chaos.
Roman stopped one frightened employee.
“What happened?”
“A woman disappeared.”
“Who?”
“Hannah Evans.”
My blood chilled.
Inside, shattered glass covered the marble floor.
Red wine stained the center of the ballroom.
A waiter explained that Tyler Ashford had publicly humiliated Hannah.
Minutes later, she was fired.
Then she vanished after leaving the estate.
Roman checked exterior cameras.
A black BMW had collected her.
Registered to Moretti Imports.
Roman’s expression changed.
“Giovanni.”
“Who?”
“Someone Vincent should be very afraid of.”
Giovanni Moretti.
A man whispered about almost as carefully as Roman.
Why would he take Hannah?
Then Roman’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
A calm male voice said:
“Roman Callahan.”
“Giovanni.”
“I have a woman here whose blood sample just triggered a private alert connected to your family.”
Roman looked at me.
Giovanni continued:
“And Vincent Callahan has offered me ten million dollars to hand her over.”
My heart pounded.
“Is she safe?” I demanded.
Silence.
Then Giovanni asked:
“Who is that?”
May you like
Roman looked directly at me.
“Her sister.”
