Chapter 19 - THE DAUGHTER WHO NEVER DIED
Her name was Anna.
David's younger sister.
Officially, she had died three days after birth.
That was a lie.
Eleanor had hidden her because David's father wanted another heir.
Anna was raised under another identity.
And according to the photograph, she had become part of the network.
David couldn't accept it.
“She was a baby.”
“Twenty years ago,” Marcus said.
“She's twenty-one.”
“Twenty-two.”
David stared at him.
“How do you know?”
Marcus didn't answer.
I looked at him.
“You knew.”
Marcus sighed.
“I met her.”
“When?”
“Years ago.”
“Why didn't you tell us?”
“Because she was working undercover.”
David stared.
“Undercover for whom?”
Marcus looked at the photograph.
“For the FBI.”
Silence.
Then another photograph arrived.
Anna standing beside Eleanor.
But there was something else.
A photograph of Alessandro.
And a third person.
My father.
Alive.
David stared.
“That picture was taken ten years ago.”
I felt the floor disappear beneath me.
“My father was alive ten years ago?”
Marcus nodded.
“According to our records.”
“Then where is he?”
“Dead.”
“When?”
“Three years ago.”
My heart broke all over again.
Three years.
Not twenty.
He had been alive when I was already married to David.
He had been watching.
And he had never contacted me.
We found his grave outside Washington.
There was no body.
Only an empty coffin.
Inside the cemetery office, Marcus found the final file.
My father hadn't been killed.
He had entered witness protection.
He had spent years gathering evidence against the network.
Then, three years ago, he vanished.
The last person to see him was Anna.
David's sister.
We tracked her to an old church.
She was waiting.
Young.
Dark hair.
David stared at her.
She smiled.
“Hello, brother.”
He couldn't speak.
Anna looked at me.
“And you must be Catherine.”
I stepped forward.
“Where is my father?”
Anna's smile disappeared.
“He's alive.”
I froze.
“Where?”
“Safe.”
“Why did he leave me?”
“Because he believed leaving you was the only way to protect you.”
David's voice hardened.
“Who is the master?”
Anna looked at him.
“You're asking the wrong question.”
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
“Because you're still thinking like your father.”
David frowned.
Anna stepped closer.
“The master isn't a person.”
“What?”
“It's a system.”
She handed him a small drive.
“Destroy it, and the organization collapses forever.”
David took it.
“What's on it?”
“Every identity.”
“Every payment.”
“Every protected official.”
“And one final name.”
David looked at her.
“Whose?”
Anna smiled sadly.
“Yours.”
He froze.
“My name?”
“You were never just a victim.”
David stared at her.
“What are you saying?”
Anna whispered:
“You were chosen to inherit everything.”
Before anyone could react, gunfire erupted outside.
Anna pushed me down.
Marcus returned fire.
David grabbed Anna.
“Who's shooting?”
She looked toward the windows.
“The last people who still believe my mother is the enemy.”
May you like
Then she whispered:
“And they're about to kill her.”
