Chapter 7
Emily surrendered voluntarily.
She told Detective Collins she had spent years gathering evidence.
When I finally met her, the resemblance to Evelyn was unmistakable.
Same sharp cheekbones.
Same gray eyes.
But Emily looked frightened rather than cruel.
David stared at her.
“You’re my sister.”
“Half-sister.”
Natalie began crying.
Emily hugged her first.
Then she looked at David.
“I watched you grow up from photographs.”
He swallowed.
“Why didn’t you contact us?”
“Mom threatened you.”
His expression hardened.
“How?”
“She said if I returned, she would destroy your family the way she destroyed mine.”
Emily opened a bag.
Inside were copies of letters from Robert.
My father.
He had documented years of suspicious activity.
One letter described Evelyn visiting him after Henry’s death.
She demanded silence.
Robert refused.
Then she threatened to expose the biological-parentage secret.
I looked at David.
“Our fathers agreed to raise each other’s sons.”
Emily nodded.
“Why?”
She explained.
Years earlier, Robert had an affair with Evelyn.
Henry had an affair with my mother, Catherine.
Both women became pregnant within months.
David was Robert and Evelyn’s biological son.
Michael was Henry and Catherine’s.
The men discovered the truth.
Instead of destroying both families, they made a terrible agreement.
They would raise the children already inside their homes.
No scandal.
No custody fight.
No public war.
Then I asked the question that had haunted me.
“Who was my biological father?”
Emily reached into the bag.
“Robert.”
I stared at her.
“But the report excluded him.”
“Forged.”
“Why?”
“Evelyn wanted you uncertain.”
Of course.
Another manipulation.
That meant David and I—
Emily immediately shook her head.
“Wait.”
My stomach tightened.
She pulled out another report.
“Evelyn was not David’s biological mother.”
David stared at her.
“What?”
Emily explained that Evelyn had suffered a stillbirth shortly before David was born.
Robert’s girlfriend at the time had delivered David but disappeared after struggling with addiction.
Evelyn and Henry quietly adopted him.
“So Robert was David’s biological father,” I said.
“Yes.”
“And Robert was mine.”
Emily shook her head again.
“The later test proved Robert was not your father either.”
I almost screamed.
“Then who was?”
She looked at me.
“Henry.”
Silence.
Michael and I shared Henry as our biological father.
David was Robert’s biological son.
That meant Lily was Robert’s biological granddaughter through David.
Everything matched.
The trust truly belonged to her.
David rubbed his face.
“My entire life is a filing cabinet of lies.”
Emily gave a sad smile.
“That’s our mother’s specialty.”
Then Collins entered.
“We received the toxicology reanalysis on Robert Mitchell.”
My heart stopped.
“What did you find?”
“A medication in his preserved blood sample that should not have been present.”
I gripped David’s hand.
“What medication?”
“A heart-rhythm drug.”
“My father didn’t take that.”
“We know.”
“Could it kill him?”
“At a high enough dose.”
The room went quiet.
Emily nodded slowly.
“She did it.”
Collins continued.
“We also obtained pharmacy records.”
“Evelyn?”
“No.”
He looked at Michael.
“The prescription was issued under your brother’s name.”
I stared at him.
Michael had claimed Evelyn murdered Robert.
Now evidence suggested he had supplied the drug.
My phone suddenly rang from the jail.
Michael.
I answered.
His voice was shaking.
“Sarah, Evelyn is lying about Dad.”
“Which dad?”
“Robert.”
“What did you do?”
“I didn’t kill him.”
“The medication was prescribed to you.”
“I gave it to someone.”
“Who?”
May you like
Michael began crying.
“You.”
