Chapter 13 - THE BRIDE’S REAL NAME
No one spoke.
The tunnel seemed to grow colder.
Daniel looked at Thomas as though he were seeing another stranger.
“You’re saying I married my sister?”
“No.”
Thomas answered quickly.
“Olivia is not my biological child.”
“You just said she was yours.”
“I meant she was raised as part of an operation I created.”
Daniel’s anger sharpened.
“Stop speaking in riddles.”
Thomas gripped his cane.
“Twenty-eight years ago, your mother and I helped relocate two girls whose parents had been murdered after exposing political corruption.”
Margaret turned away.
“We were told they would be protected.”
Thomas nodded.
“One girl was placed with the Mercers.”
“Olivia.”
“Yes.”
“And Serena?”
“With another family connected to the foundation.”
Emma looked at the photograph.
“Why does it say Bennett daughters?”
“Because I funded their lives through private accounts.”
Daniel frowned.
“That still doesn’t explain why Olivia wants revenge.”
Thomas closed his eyes briefly.
“Richard told her I ordered her parents’ deaths.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Who did?”
“Arthur Mercer.”
The convicted congressman had not merely stolen from charity.
He had killed the auditors preparing to expose him.
Thomas had rescued their daughters and secretly helped prosecute Arthur.
Richard later convinced Olivia that the Bennett family had destroyed her real parents.
“He turned her into a weapon,” Thomas said.
Daniel remembered Olivia’s expression during the phone call.
The calculation had been real.
But so had the fear.
“She believes she is avenging her family.”
“Yes.”
“Does Serena believe the same thing?”
Thomas looked toward the photograph.
“Serena knows the truth.”
Noah swore under his breath.
“She was in the bridal suite.”
“She heard the entire phone call,” Daniel said.
“She may have recorded it.”
Thomas nodded.
“And she may be the only person who can prove Richard created the plan.”
Daniel looked at his phone.
“Where is she now?”
Noah opened a tracking application.
“The wedding party returned to the estate.”
Thomas’s expression changed.
“Richard will eliminate Serena before she can speak.”
Daniel moved toward the van.
“I’m going back.”
Margaret caught his arm.
“You can’t walk into that place.”
“It belongs to my family.”
“Mercer’s people control the security.”
Daniel looked at Thomas.
“Do you still have access?”
Thomas removed an electronic key from his coat.
“I built the original system.”
Noah took the key.
“We can enter through the wine cellar.”
Emma stared at her brother.
“What about Olivia?”
Daniel remembered the woman in the wedding gown whispering that his mind and fortune would soon belong to her.
“I need to know whether she chose this.”
Thomas’s voice was quiet.
“She did.”
May you like
Daniel opened the van door.
“Then tonight she chooses again.”
