Chapter 5 - The Woman Who Was Erased
Adrian stepped between the door and Claire.
The handle turned.
A nurse entered.
Everyone exhaled.
Claire didn't.
She stared at the nurse's medication tray.
"No injection."
The nurse stopped.
"It's scheduled."
"No," Evelyn said.
The nurse looked annoyed.
Adrian took the vial.
"What is this?"
"Her medication."
"What medication?"
The nurse couldn't answer.
Adrian read the label.
A sedative.
Far stronger than Claire appeared to need.
He called the police.
By dawn, St. Catherine's administration was under investigation.
Claire was transferred to a hospital Adrian trusted.
For the first time in decades, her medication was reviewed independently.
Within forty-eight hours, her mind became clearer.
And her story became worse.
Sebastian had found Claire six months after her disappearance.
Richard had arranged for her to be declared mentally unstable.
Sebastian tried to remove her.
Someone stopped him.
"Who?" Adrian asked.
Claire looked at him sadly.
"Your father."
Adrian recoiled.
"My father died when I was twelve."
"Yes."
"Why would he help Richard?"
"Money."
Adrian sat down.
Claire explained.
Sebastian's son, Thomas Blackwood, had secretly partnered with Richard.
Richard forged property transfers.
Thomas moved the money.
Claire discovered both men.
Sebastian learned the truth too late.
He spent years trying to undo the damage without destroying the company that employed thousands.
Adrian looked sick.
"My grandfather knew?"
"Eventually."
"And Evelyn?"
Claire cried.
"He searched for her."
Margaret had legally adopted Evelyn through documents Richard forged.
By the time Sebastian traced her, she was six.
Claire had begged him not to rip Evelyn from the only mother she knew.
"So he left me there?" Evelyn asked.
"He watched you."
Adrian looked at her.
The scholarships.
The anonymous grant that paid for Evelyn's university tuition.
The private archive that hired her despite Richard's attempts to stop her.
All funded indirectly by Sebastian.
Evelyn felt anger and gratitude collide.
"He should have told me."
Claire nodded.
"Yes."
Nobody tried to defend him.
That mattered.
Later, Adrian found Evelyn alone in the hospital corridor.
"I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"For bringing you into this."
"You didn't start it."
"I used you."
"Yes."
He looked down.
"I thought marrying Richard's daughter would force him close enough to expose himself."
"It did."
"That doesn't make it right."
"No."
Adrian looked at her.
"I'll sign an annulment immediately."
Evelyn studied him.
"Why did you really offer eighteen million?"
"Because I knew Richard would accept."
"And if I refused?"
"I would have walked away."
She believed him.
That irritated her.
"You're still a liar."
"I know."
"But apparently not the biggest one in my life."
A faint smile touched his mouth.
She almost returned it.
Almost.
Daniel arrived with news.
Richard had disappeared.
So had eighteen million dollars.
Adrian stared at him.
"The transfer wasn't completed."
"It was."
"Impossible."
Daniel placed banking documents on the table.
Richard had redirected the money minutes after the wedding.
But that wasn't the worst part.
"He took something else," Daniel said.
"What?"
"The original Vale Development archive."
Evelyn understood immediately.
Evidence.
Daniel nodded.
"Dad's destroying everything."
Claire suddenly spoke from her hospital bed.
"No."
They turned.
"Richard never destroys documents."
"Why?"
"Because paper is power."
Claire looked at Evelyn.
"He keeps originals."
"Where?"
Claire hesitated.
"There's another property."
Adrian leaned closer.
"What property?"
Claire gave them an address.
Daniel entered it into his phone.
His expression changed.
"That's impossible."
Evelyn looked.
The property was registered to her.
Purchased on the day she was born.
Nobody in the room had known it existed.
Then Evelyn's phone rang.
Richard.
She answered.
"Dad?"
His voice was calm.
"Come alone if you want the truth."
"Where are you?"
"You already know."
The call ended.
Seconds later, a photograph arrived.
It showed the mysterious property.
A man stood at its front door.
Evelyn enlarged the image.
Adrian saw him too.
An elderly man.
May you like
Very much alive.
Sebastian Blackwood...
