Chapter 12 - THE SECOND JADE PENDANT
The second pendant created a new mystery.
Evelyn had never seen it before.
Neither had Miriam.
Samuel’s confession explained that the jade lotus had been created as a pair.
One pendant belonged to Evelyn’s future child.
The other belonged to Helena’s.
Samuel intended the pendants to represent two branches of the Ashford family inheriting the company together.
But Helena never publicly had a child.
At least, that was what everyone believed.
Daniel examined the pendant.
“The letter may not stand for a name.”
Julian looked at it differently.
“It stands for me.”
Clara turned toward him.
“Your birth name began with J?”
“My records say Julian was chosen by Evelyn.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“Helena suggested it.”
Miriam closed her eyes.
“There is something I never told Victor.”
Everyone looked toward her.
Miriam explained that Anna Mercer had not arrived at the clinic alone on the night she died.
She brought a letter.
In it, Anna claimed Helena had visited her during pregnancy.
Helena offered money in exchange for the baby after birth.
Anna refused.
Weeks later, Anna’s hospital access was canceled.
After she died, Warren took the child.
“Why would Helena want Julian?” Clara asked.
Miriam looked at Victor.
“Because Anna believed Victor was the father.”
Victor’s face tightened.
“She was right.”
“But Helena may have believed something else.”
Miriam handed Daniel a photocopy of Anna’s letter.
One line had been underlined.
Helena said my son carries Ashford blood, whether I understand it or not.
Julian looked toward Evelyn.
Richard had employed Anna.
Rumors had followed them.
Yet Anna repeatedly denied an affair.
Daniel requested sealed medical samples preserved from Richard’s autopsy.
The results arrived two days later.
Richard was not Julian’s father.
Victor was.
The news brought relief but did not explain the pendant.
The answer came from Helena herself.
During questioning, Daniel placed the second jade lotus before her.
Helena stopped speaking.
“That pendant belonged to your child,” he said.
Helena’s eyes remained fixed on the table.
“You gave birth before Rose was born.”
“No.”
“Your father’s confession says otherwise.”
For the first time, Helena lost control.
“My father knew nothing.”
“He knew you had a daughter.”
Helena stood so quickly that the chair struck the wall.
“She was not his to discuss.”
Daniel waited.
Silence often revealed more than pressure.
Helena eventually sat again.
At nineteen, she had fallen in love with a young mechanic named Joseph Mercer.
Anna Mercer’s older brother.
Samuel Ashford considered him unsuitable.
When Helena became pregnant, Samuel sent her to a private home in another state.
After the birth, he told Helena the baby had died.
In reality, he arranged for the child to be adopted.
“Anna was your daughter,” Daniel said.
Helena began trembling.
She had learned the truth years later.
By then, Anna was an adult and pregnant with Julian.
Helena approached her, but Anna rejected her.
She blamed Helena for never searching.
“I did search,” Helena whispered.
“My father made sure I found nothing.”
Clara began to understand.
Helena had lost a daughter.
Then she helped steal Evelyn’s daughter.
Not because she did not understand the pain.
Because she understood it perfectly and wanted Evelyn to suffer too.
Julian looked through the interrogation room glass at the woman who was his biological grandmother.
Helena had manipulated his entire life.
She had also been the mother of the woman he never knew.
The second jade pendant belonged to Anna.
Samuel had hidden it with his confession.
Julian closed his fingers around it.
Clara stood beside him.
Their pendants had been created for two cousins.
Now those cousins’ children had found each other.
Not as brother and sister.
Not by blood close enough to forbid their love.
But as the final survivors of two daughters destroyed by the same family.
Julian looked at Clara.
“We need the complete medical records.”
Clara understood his concern.
They would confirm every biological connection before considering marriage again.
She nodded.
“No more assumptions.”
“No more family lies.”
Behind the glass, Helena raised her head.
“There is one more lie,” she said.
May you like
Everyone turned toward her.
“Evelyn knew Anna existed.”
