Chapter 5 - THE SEVENTH WOMAN
The man on the hospital footage wasn't Victor.
Adrian confirmed that within an hour.
Victor had died six years earlier.
But someone had deliberately dressed the man to resemble him.
The message was obvious.
Someone wanted Adrian to believe the dead had returned.
Fear was the weapon.
Confusion was the shield.
We returned to Philadelphia.
The seven women were still in the city.
Adrian ordered his team to locate them.
Six were found within hours.
The seventh was missing.
Caroline Wells.
She had chosen the emerald necklace.
She had also been the only woman who asked what Adrian's test meant before selecting anything.
At first, I thought that made her innocent.
Then Adrian found her car abandoned near the Delaware River.
Inside was the necklace.
And a handwritten note.
You chose the wrong woman.
Adrian looked at me.
“What does that mean?”
I stared at the note.
“Maybe she didn't.”
We returned to Vale House.
I walked directly to the service corridor.
Adrian followed.
“Why here?”
“Because that's where the frame was hidden.”
I touched the wall.
Then noticed something I'd never seen before.
A scratch.
Three inches long.
Just beneath the molding.
I pressed it.
A panel opened.
Inside was a second compartment.
Adrian stared.
“What is that?”
I pulled out a small envelope.
Inside was a photograph of Caroline Wells.
She was standing beside my mother.
Twenty years earlier.
My stomach dropped.
“She knew my mother.”
Adrian took the photograph.
On the back was written:
Caroline is Rebecca's daughter.
I stared.
“No.”
Adrian looked at me.
“Your mother's daughter?”
“I am her daughter.”
He turned the photograph over again.
Then understood.
“She may have been adopted.”
A voice came from behind us.
“Not adopted.”
We turned.
Caroline stood in the doorway.
Her face was pale.
She was holding a gun.
Adrian stepped in front of me.
Caroline shook her head.
“Don't.”
“Put it down.”
“I can't.”
“Why?”
“Because if I do, your people will kill me.”
Adrian's expression changed.
“I don't kill people for asking questions.”
Caroline laughed bitterly.
“You're still Adrian Vale.”
“And you're still alive.”
She looked at me.
“Nora.”
“How do you know my name?”
“Because your mother told me about you.”
“Who are you?”
Caroline's eyes filled.
“My name is Caroline Bennett.”
Silence.
Adrian slowly lowered his hand.
Caroline continued.
“Rebecca wasn't my biological mother.”
I waited.
“But she raised me.”
“What?”
“My mother died when I was three. Rebecca took me in. She became my mother.”
My chest tightened.
“So why hide from me?”
“Because Victor wanted both of us.”
She explained.
Rebecca had discovered that Caroline's biological father had been one of Victor's financial partners.
When he died, Rebecca became Caroline's guardian.
Victor wanted Caroline because she inherited shares in several shell companies.
Rebecca refused to surrender them.
So Victor threatened both women.
Rebecca hid Caroline.
Then she hid me.
Eventually, she arranged for me to disappear under another name.
“But you were five.”
“I remember almost nothing.”
Caroline nodded.
“That's what she wanted.”
I stared at her.
“Did my mother die?”
Caroline's face crumpled.
“Yes.”
The word destroyed something inside me.
“How?”
“She was shot.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
“By whom?”
Caroline looked at him.
“Your father.”
Adrian's face became completely empty.
“I didn't see it.”
“You saw the aftermath.”
His eyes snapped open.
“What?”
“You were there.”
“No.”
“You were twenty.”
“I remember that night.”
“Then remember harder.”
Adrian staggered backward.
Fragments returned.
A warehouse.
Rain.
His father shouting.
A woman on the floor.
A bloodstained coat.
And Adrian standing in the doorway.
He had blocked the memory.
Caroline continued.
“Your father told you Rebecca had betrayed you.”
Adrian's breathing became uneven.
“He convinced you she had been working with an enemy.”
I watched Adrian.
The most feared man in Philadelphia was shaking.
Not from fear of death.
From the realization that his entire adult life had been built on a lie.
Caroline lowered the gun.
“Rebecca knew you would eventually remember.”
“Why?”
“Because she left you something.”
Adrian stared.
“What?”
Caroline looked at me.
“The frame wasn't the real secret.”
She pointed toward the wall.
“It was the key.”
I touched the compartment.
A tiny metal key was hidden beneath the frame's original backing.
Adrian picked it up.
Caroline whispered:
“Your father's private vault.”
Then the mansion alarm sounded.
Grant's voice came over the intercom.
“Adrian, we have a problem.”
“What?”
“Someone just breached the west gate.”
A pause.
Then Grant said:
“And he's asking for you by name.”
Adrian looked at the key.
May you like
I knew before he spoke.
“It's time to open my father's vault.”
