Chapter 4 - THE WOMAN IN THE PHOTOGRAPH Julian refused to believe it.
His mother had supposedly died when he was eight.
There had been a funeral.
A grave.
A death certificate.
Everything.
Yet the photograph was unmistakable.
She was standing beside Emily.
Alive.
Smiling.
And much younger than she would have been on the date Julian had been told she died.
"Who are you?" Julian demanded.
"My name is Samuel Cross."
"What do you know about my wife?"
"Enough to know that Victoria was never the person controlling this operation."
Julian's jaw tightened.
"Then who was?"
Samuel looked at the ceiling.
"Your father."
Julian's anger returned.
"My father is dead."
"Death doesn't always end a man's plans."
Samuel explained that Julian's father had created an underground financial network decades earlier.
The illegal weapons operation had been real.
But it wasn't the entire story.
The Vance fortune had funded something called Project Eclipse.
Its purpose was to hide people whose identities had become dangerous to powerful organizations.
Witnesses.
Scientists.
Political defectors.
Journalists.
And occasionally members of the Vance family.
Emily had discovered the project after finding her father-in-law's private ledger.
She had threatened to expose everything.
But instead of killing her, Julian's father had hidden her.
"Why?" Julian asked.
"Because your wife discovered something even more dangerous."
"What?"
Samuel looked at Lilly.
"The child."
Julian's protective instincts exploded.
"Stay away from my daughter."
Samuel didn't move.
"Lilly isn't dangerous."
"Then what are you talking about?"
"Her mother was investigating a financial network that stretches across three countries."
Julian stared.
"And Lilly?"
"Her birth records were altered."
Silence.
Julian felt as if the floor had disappeared.
"My daughter is my daughter."
"Of course."
"Then what are you saying?"
Samuel lowered his voice.
"I'm saying someone wanted the world to believe Emily had only one child."
Julian looked toward Lilly.
The little girl was coloring quietly beside Clara.
"What does that mean?"
May you like
Samuel answered:
"It means Lilly may have a sister."
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