FIFTY MILLION DOLLARS FOR THE MAID IN THE GOLDEN CAGE

The message was waiting on the dining table when we returned to the Blackwood mansion.

It was a single black envelope, positioned precisely in the center of the polished wood. No fingerprints. No visible seal. No sign of forced entry.

My name was written across the front in elegant silver lettering.

Adrian ordered everyone out of the room.

I stayed beside the fireplace, holding Margaret's letter against my chest while he examined the envelope.

"Do you recognize the handwriting?" he asked.

"No."

He opened it carefully.

Inside was a photograph of a woman standing outside a hospital entrance, holding a baby wrapped in a white blanket.

Elena.

Alive.

The photograph was dated three months after the supposed accident that killed her.

I stared at it until my eyes blurred.

"She survived."

Adrian didn't answer.

He had turned the photograph over. Someone had written a sentence on the back.

Your daughter was never the only child.

I looked at him.

"What does that mean?"

He sat slowly, as though the room had suddenly become too heavy for him.

"Elena was pregnant when she disappeared. We knew she was expecting one child. The doctors never mentioned twins, but she had been seeing a private physician before the accident."

"Could she have had another baby?"

"I don't know."

His honesty frightened me more than a lie would have.

A knock sounded at the door.

Adrian's older brother, Gabriel Blackwood, entered without waiting for permission.

At forty-three, Gabriel possessed the same imposing build as Adrian, but his silver-streaked hair and immaculate suits gave him the appearance of a respectable businessman. He managed the family's legitimate investments and rarely appeared at the mansion after dark.

He took one look at the photograph.

"Where did you get that?"

Adrian stood.

"Someone left it here."

Gabriel extended his hand. "Let me see."

"No."

The brothers stared at each other.

I noticed Gabriel's right hand trembling slightly. Then he slipped it into his pocket.

"Adrian, whatever this is, you need to be careful. Vanessa may be reckless, but she isn't stupid. She wouldn't have arranged an auction without protection."

"You're defending her?"

"I'm telling you that someone is manipulating you."

Gabriel glanced at me.

"And this girl may not be who you think she is."

"I'm standing right here," I said.

His smile was cold.

"Then answer one question, Isabella. Where were you born?"

"St. Catherine's Hospital."

"What city?"

"I don't know. Margaret never told me."

Gabriel nodded as if I had confirmed his suspicions.

"Interesting."

Adrian moved between us.

"Get out."

Gabriel obeyed, but as he passed me, he leaned close enough that only I could hear him.

"Ask your father what happened to the first woman he loved."

Then he left.

I turned toward Adrian.

"Who was the first woman you loved?"

His expression closed.

"Elena was my first wife."

"That's not what he meant."

Before Adrian could answer, the mansion's security system chimed.

A guard entered carrying a tablet. On its screen was a live image of the front gate.

Vanessa stood outside.

She was no longer screaming. Her hair was disheveled, her makeup streaked, and her wrists were wrapped in white bandages. A man in a dark overcoat stood beside her.

Adrian recognized him immediately.

"That's Victor Sloane," he said.

"Who is he?"

"The private physician who treated Elena during her pregnancy."

The guard enlarged the image.

Victor held a small object toward the security camera.

A silver hospital bracelet.

Adrian's face turned rigid.

"Bring him inside."

Ten minutes later, Victor sat across from us in Adrian's private study. Vanessa had been taken to another room under armed supervision.

The physician looked older than his photograph, but his eyes were sharp and watchful.

"I didn't come here to bargain," he said. "I came because the woman who paid me to falsify Elena's death has decided to eliminate everyone who knows the truth."

Adrian leaned forward.

"Who paid you?"

Victor's gaze shifted toward me.

"Your brother."

The room went silent.

Adrian rose so quickly his chair struck the wall.

"Say that again."

"Gabriel arranged the false identification. He paid me to report that Elena and her baby had died. But there was no body belonging to Elena. The woman recovered from the river was someone else."

I struggled to breathe.

"Where is my mother?"

Victor hesitated.

"Seven years ago, she was taken to a private clinic in Vermont. She was alive when I last saw her."

"Then she's alive now?"

"I don't know."

He reached inside his coat and produced a small key.

"This opens a safe-deposit box in Boston. Elena left instructions that it should be opened only by her daughter."

Adrian took the key.

"Why didn't you come forward before?"

"Because Gabriel controls people who disappear without leaving evidence."

Victor's eyes moved toward the study door.