Chapter 4 - The Debt Her Father Buried
Evelyn pushed the door open.
The room was empty.
A small speaker sat on a table.
Her own name came from it again.
"Evelyn."
Recorded.
Not live.
Adrian entered first.
Daniel switched on the overhead light.
The room looked like an archive.
Boxes.
Ledgers.
Old photographs.
Property deeds.
Margaret covered her mouth.
"I've never been inside."
Evelyn approached the speaker.
A digital recorder was connected to it.
A red light blinked.
Someone had activated it recently.
Adrian examined the device.
"This isn't twenty-seven years old."
Daniel looked toward the hallway.
"Dad knew we'd come."
Adrian opened the first box.
Inside were property records.
Hundreds of them.
Evelyn immediately recognized what they were.
Her career had taught her to read old documents.
She pulled on gloves from a supply box and began examining signatures.
"They're transfers."
"To whom?" Adrian asked.
"Vale Development."
She compared dates.
Many original owners had been elderly.
Several signatures looked almost identical.
"These are forged."
Adrian's jaw tightened.
Claire had discovered the same scheme.
Richard had spent decades building his fortune on stolen property.
But another ledger revealed something stranger.
Payments.
Monthly.
For twenty-seven years.
To a private institution called Hawthorne Residence.
Evelyn pointed.
"Who is C.M.?"
Nobody answered.
They didn't need to.
Claire Mercer.
Adrian immediately searched the address.
Hawthorne Residence had closed eight years earlier.
But its patients had been transferred.
"Where?" Evelyn asked.
Adrian kept searching.
Then stopped.
"St. Catherine's."
Margaret went pale.
"What?"
"You know it?"
Richard had donated millions to St. Catherine's private care facility.
Every year.
For almost two decades.
Evelyn stared at the ledger.
Her father hadn't killed Claire.
He had been paying to keep her somewhere.
Alive.
Adrian called his security team.
"We're going now."
Margaret grabbed Evelyn's hand.
"Don't."
Evelyn pulled away.
"You knew enough already."
"I didn't know this."
"Then you can learn with me."
They drove through the night.
St. Catherine's stood behind high walls outside the city.
The administrator initially refused them entry.
Adrian placed the ledger on her desk.
"We can call the police instead."
Her face changed.
Twenty minutes later, they were walking through a private wing.
Room 314.
The administrator stopped.
"The patient registered under Cora Mills has been here for eight years."
Evelyn's heart hammered.
"Who pays?"
The administrator hesitated.
"Vale Family Trust."
Adrian closed his eyes.
Evelyn touched the door.
"Is she conscious?"
"Sometimes."
"Does she speak?"
"Rarely."
Evelyn opened the door.
A woman sat beside the window.
Gray streaked her dark hair.
She was thin.
Fragile.
But Evelyn recognized her immediately.
The eyes.
Her own eyes.
"Claire?"
The woman turned.
She stared at Evelyn.
Seconds passed.
Then Claire began crying.
"My baby."
Evelyn couldn't breathe.
She crossed the room.
Claire reached for her face.
"Evelyn."
"Yes."
"My Evelyn."
Evelyn dropped to her knees beside her.
Twenty-seven years disappeared in a single touch.
Claire remembered fragments.
Richard confronting her.
A car.
A needle.
Waking in locked facilities under different names.
Doctors telling her she was confused.
Medication.
Threats.
Years disappearing.
But one memory remained perfectly clear.
Richard taking her baby.
Adrian stood near the door, fists clenched.
"Why didn't Sebastian find you?"
Claire looked at him.
"Adrian?"
He froze.
"You know me?"
She smiled weakly.
"You have your mother's eyes."
"My mother?"
Claire frowned.
Then terror crossed her face.
"No."
She grabbed Evelyn's wrist.
"He's lying."
"Who?"
"Richard."
"We know."
"No."
Claire shook her head violently.
"Not Richard."
She pointed at Adrian.
"Blackwood."
Adrian went still.
Claire whispered, "Sebastian didn't fail to find me."
Evelyn leaned closer.
"What happened?"
Claire looked toward the hallway.
"He found me."
Footsteps approached outside.
Claire's face drained of color.
"No."
The door handle moved.
May you like
She clutched Evelyn.
"He came back..."
