Chapter 7
Evelyn stared at Elena, noticing the terrifying facial resemblance between them for the first time.
"Why do you look like me?" Evelyn asked, her voice trembling in the cold, damp room.
Elena let out a bitter, heartbroken laugh that echoed hollowly off the wooden rafters.
"Because I'm not just a stranger your father hired," Elena revealed, her eyes welling with tears.
"I am your half-sister, Evelyn... your father's secret daughter from his first marriage in Boston."
Evelyn felt as if the ground beneath her wheelchair had suddenly dissolved into thin air.
Her entire life, she believed she was an only child, the sole heir to the Sterling pharmaceutical empire.
"My father hid us away in Massachusetts to protect his public reputation on Wall Street," Elena explained.
"When you had your crash, he came to us because he needed compatible genetic tissue that only a blood relative possessed."
Leo stepped out from behind his mother, holding his dirty right hand out toward Evelyn.
There was a fresh surgical scar running down his wrist, identical to the mark on Evelyn's arm.
"They took my nerves when I was just an infant," Leo said quietly, his voice full of innocent pain.
"My mother brought me here because Vance Biotech is trying to take me back into their lab."
"Vance Biotech?" Evelyn repeated, her mind racing to connect the dots.
"Julian Vance owns that company now," Elena warned, her tone sharp with absolute panic.
"Julian didn't just help your father... he orchestrated the entire medical cover-up from the beginning."
"He keeps you in that wheelchair with synthetic neurotoxins so you can never claim your inheritance!"
Before Evelyn could digest the horrifying revelation, the wooden doors of the boathouse burst open.
May you like
A bright spotlight blinded them as heavy footsteps stomped across the wet pier outside.
Julian stepped into the boathouse, flanked by three armed security guards carrying tactical suppressed rifles.
