Chapter 6 - THE SISTERS’ FIRST CRIME
Vanessa and Cynthia had grown up in the Whitmore household.
Their mother, Margaret Lane, worked as Richard Whitmore’s personal assistant.
Margaret knew the family’s secrets.
She knew about Julian’s gambling debts, Richard’s hidden accounts, and Alexander’s inheritance.
Twenty-five years earlier, Margaret died after falling from a balcony at the estate.
The death was ruled accidental.
Vanessa had been thirteen.
Cynthia had been seventeen.
Afterward, Richard paid for their education and allowed them to remain close to the family.
Everyone believed his generosity came from guilt.
Marcus found Margaret’s sealed personnel file inside the old company archive.
A handwritten statement had been hidden between salary records.
Margaret claimed she had discovered Julian stealing money from a family trust.
She planned to tell Richard.
The statement ended abruptly.
The final page was missing.
Alexander remembered Cynthia becoming distant after her mother’s death.
Vanessa became desperate for affection and approval.
Julian disappeared less than one year later.
Marcus believed Cynthia helped him create a new identity.
In return, Julian promised to expose whoever caused Margaret’s death.
Instead, he used Cynthia’s anger to control her.
The two had spent decades preparing to take the Whitmore empire.
Vanessa was never the mastermind.
She was the visible replacement for Elena.
Cynthia ran the operation.
Julian financed it.
Dr. Bell provided medical access.
A message arrived on Alexander’s phone.
It contained a photograph of Elena standing beside Blackwater Lake.
Her hands were tied.
Her pregnant stomach was visible beneath a gray coat.
A man stood behind her.
His face was turned away.
The message read:
BRING THE ORIGINAL TRUST DOCUMENTS.
COME ALONE.
Alexander immediately prepared to leave.
Marcus stopped him.
“They will kill you after they get the documents.”
“They have my wife.”
“They may have your brother too.”
“He stopped being my brother when he helped do this.”
I studied the photograph.
The lake reflected a wooden building behind the camera.
A small white symbol appeared on the window.
It matched the emblem used by an abandoned Whitmore hunting lodge.
I had seen it in old security plans.
Alexander looked at me.
“You know where she is.”
“I know where the photograph was taken.”
Before we could alert the authorities, Lily called me from my sister’s house.
Her voice shook.
“Mom, a man is outside.”
May you like
“What man?”
“The doctor from the ballroom.”
