Chapter 3 - Emma Reads Her Mother's Warning
Richard moved everyone into the study.
Claire protested.
Victoria demanded an attorney.
Emma barely heard any of it.
She sat on the edge of a leather chair and opened the envelope.
Inside were three folded pages.
The first began:
My Emma,
If Richard gives you this, it means I failed to protect you the way I hoped.
Emma stopped reading.
Her vision blurred.
Richard handed her a tissue.
She ignored it.
The letter continued.
Your name was never supposed to bring you back to this house.
Emma looked around.
Dark wood walls.
Old portraits.
Silver family photographs.
“This house?”
Richard nodded.
“Keep reading.”
Her mother wrote about the mansion.
About working there as a young woman.
About a family she once trusted.
About a night everything changed.
Then came a sentence that made Emma’s blood turn cold.
Victoria knows who your father is.
Emma looked up so quickly the page tore slightly in her fingers.
Victoria stood near the fireplace.
Pale.
Claire whispered, “What?”
Emma read the line again.
Victoria knows who your father is.
Richard’s face hardened.
Claire stared at Victoria.
“You knew?”
Victoria said nothing.
Emma stood.
“My mother never told me who he was.”
Victoria’s voice came quietly.
“She had her reasons.”
Emma’s anger rose.
“You knew her.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
Victoria swallowed.
“We were friends.”
Richard laughed bitterly.
“That’s generous.”
Emma looked at him.
“What does that mean?”
Richard answered.
“They were sisters.”
The room stopped.
Emma stared at Victoria.
Victoria closed her eyes.
Claire gasped.
Richard continued.
“Half-sisters.”
Emma took one step backward.
“No.”
Victoria finally looked at her.
“Your mother was older.”
Emma’s chest tightened.
“You’re my aunt?”
Victoria did not answer.
She did not need to.
Emma looked back at the letter.
Then at the old photograph Richard had carried in his jacket.
Her mother.
Richard.
A newborn.
Emma.
Her hands shook harder.
“If she was your sister,” Emma asked Victoria, “why did I grow up believing she had no family?”
Victoria’s eyes filled.
“Because Anna made a choice.”
Richard interrupted.
May you like
“No. Because you made sure she had no family left.”
And suddenly the coffee incident felt very small.
