CHAPTER 10 — THE WOMAN WHO KNEW MY MOTHER'S LAST SECRET
The mansion had never felt so silent.
Not even when Nathan thought he had complete control.
Not even when he cleared every employee from the property.
Not even when he prepared the lie that would destroy my reputation.
Because back then…
The silence belonged to him.
Tonight…
The silence belonged to the truth.
Security teams moved through every hallway.
Every door was checked.
Every entrance was monitored.
But everyone inside the mansion understood something.
If Victoria wanted to enter…
She entered.
If Victoria wanted to disappear…
She disappeared.
She had spent decades preparing for this moment.
And now…
She was finally ready to reveal why.
I stood in the center of the room holding the sapphire pendant.
The same pendant my mother placed around my neck when I was a child.
The same pendant Nathan hated.
The same pendant Victoria spent years trying to find.
A small piece of jewelry.
A small object.
A secret powerful enough to destroy an empire.
My father watched me carefully.
“Elizabeth.”
I looked at him.
“Are you okay?”
The question almost made me laugh.
Because no one had asked me that in years.
Not really.
People asked because they expected a certain answer.
A polite answer.
A comfortable answer.
“Yes, I’m fine.”
But my father was different.
He wanted the truth.
So I gave it to him.
“No.”
His expression softened.
“I’m not.”
A pause.
“I spent years wondering why my mother left me this.”
I looked at the pendant.
“I thought it was because she wanted me to remember her.”
My fingers tightened around it.
“But she was trying to protect me.”
My father nodded slowly.
“Yes.”
“And you knew something was wrong.”
The words came out before I could stop them.
My father looked away.
That small movement hurt.
Because it confirmed something.
My father knew more than he had told me.
“Dad.”
He closed his eyes.
“I was trying to protect you.”
The same sentence.
The sentence every parent used when hiding painful truths.
“I know.”
I looked at him.
“But sometimes protecting someone means trusting them with the truth.”
My father had no response.
Because he knew I was right.
Nathan stood quietly nearby.
For once…
He was not the center of attention.
And maybe that was the hardest punishment for him.
A man who spent his entire life controlling every conversation…
Was now forced to watch other people uncover the truth.
I looked at him.
“You knew my mother was investigating your family.”
Nathan nodded.
“Yes.”
“You knew Victoria was dangerous.”
“Yes.”
“You knew my marriage was part of a plan.”
His silence answered.
I looked away.
The pain was still there.
But it was different now.
Before tonight, I wondered why Nathan stopped loving me.
Now I understood something worse.
Maybe he never loved me at all.
The assistant suddenly approached my father.
“Mr. Whitmore.”
Everyone turned.
“We found something.”
My father immediately focused.
“What?”
“The security breach.”
He handed over the tablet.
“It was not an outside attack.”
My father frowned.
“Explain.”
“The system was accessed using an internal authorization code.”
The room became quiet.
“Whose code?”
The assistant hesitated.
Then answered.
“Elizabeth’s.”
Everyone looked at me.
My heart stopped.
“What?”
The assistant showed the information.
“My authorization profile was used to access the mansion system.”
I shook my head.
“I never accessed anything.”
My father believed me immediately.
“I know.”
But Nathan suddenly spoke.
“Victoria.”
Everyone looked at him.
He nodded.
“She always planned ahead.”
My father stared at him.
“What did she do?”
Nathan looked at the tablet.
“She created a way to make Elizabeth appear responsible.”
My expression changed.
“Why?”
Nathan answered quietly.
“Because if everything collapsed…”
He looked at me.
“She needed someone else to take the blame.”
A cold feeling moved through me.
Victoria was not just trying to destroy the Ashfords.
She was building an escape plan.
And I was supposed to be the person left behind.
The assistant opened another file.
“Mr. Whitmore.”
“What now?”
“There is more.”
The screen showed a list of transactions.
Thousands of transfers.
But one name appeared repeatedly.
Not Nathan.
Not Daniel.
Not Victoria.
A name that made my blood run cold.
My own.
Elizabeth Whitmore.
My father stared at the screen.
“No.”
The assistant looked confused.
“What?”
“These transactions happened after my wife died.”
He looked at me.
“Elizabeth was a child.”
The room became silent.
Because that meant one thing.
Someone had been using my identity since I was young.
Before Nathan.
Before the marriage.
Before the Ashford empire.
Someone had been preparing me to become the perfect person to blame.
My father’s expression became darker.
“Find out who authorized these.”
The assistant nodded.
“We are working on it.”
Then Nathan suddenly stepped closer.
“There is one person who can answer.”
Everyone looked at him.
“Who?”
Nathan looked toward the dark mansion hallway.
“The person who created my entire relationship with Elizabeth.”
A pause.
“The person who introduced us.”
My father’s eyes narrowed.
“Victoria.”
Nathan shook his head.
“No.”
The answer shocked everyone.
“Someone else.”
I felt a strange fear.
Because Nathan looked genuinely afraid.
“Who?”
Nathan whispered the name.
And the moment he said it…
My father stepped back.
Because he knew that name.
I did too.
It was impossible.
It belonged to someone who had been dead for years.
Nathan looked at me.
“Your mother’s closest friend.”
The room froze.
“Someone who supposedly died the same year your mother did.”
The lights flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then a message appeared on the mansion screen.
Not from Victoria.
Not from an unknown person.
From a verified account.
A name appeared.
A name nobody expected to see.
CLAIRE HAWTHORNE
Below it was a message.
ELIZABETH…
I AM SORRY I HAD TO DISAPPEAR.
A second line appeared.
BUT YOUR MOTHER ASKED ME TO WAIT UNTIL YOU WERE READY.
Nobody moved.
Because Claire Hawthorne was dead.
Everyone knew that.
The official records proved it.
The funeral happened twenty years ago.
But then the final message appeared.
I HAVE BEEN WATCHING YOU YOUR ENTIRE LIFE.
And underneath…
NOW I CAN FINALLY TELL YOU WHAT REALLY HAPPENED TO YOUR MOTHER.
The screen went black.
And for the first time that night…
Nathan looked relieved.
May you like
Because he realized something.
Someone else was about to reveal a truth that could destroy all of us.
