Chapter 16: The Cost Of The Truth

Walking out of the hospital felt like walking through deep water. Every step was heavy. Serena was quiet beside me, holding my hand so tight her knuckles were white. Maya, the woman the world knew as Eleanor Sterling, was gone. The "Golden Girl" had died in a hospital room that smelled like bleach. She left behind secrets that were tearing our lives apart.

"We need to see my father," Serena said when we reached the parking lot. Her voice was flat. It did not have the warmth I loved. It was the voice of someone who had hit their limit.

"Serena, you’ve had a long night. We both have. Maybe we should—"

"No," she cut me off, turning to face me. The morning sun hit her eyes, making her tears look like glass. "He lied to me for ten years, Edward. He sold my sister to your mother so we could have a 'better life.' I won’t sleep until I look him in the eye."

I didn't argue. I couldn't. I lived for the truth, even when the truth was awful.

We drove to the small house in Oaktown, the one my mother’s dirty money had paid for. It looked different now. The neat fence and the flowers didn’t look like success anymore. They looked like a payoff.

Serena didn't knock. She pushed the door open and walked into the kitchen. Her father, Thomas Blake, was sitting at the table with a cup of coffee. He looked up and started to smile, but his smile died when he saw Serena’s face.

"Serena? What are you doing here so late? And Edward—"

"Maya is dead," Serena said.

The coffee cup slipped from Thomas’s hand and broke on the floor. The brown liquid spread on the floor, but he didn't move. His face turned gray, and he suddenly looked twenty years older.

"What... what did you say?" he asked in shock.

"Eleanor Sterling died an hour ago," I said, stepping forward. "Or should I call her Maya? The daughter you gave away so Lily Vance wouldn't send you to prison for messing with my father’s car."

Thomas fell back into his chair, breathing hard. "I had no choice, Serena. She was going to take everything. She said Maya would have the best school, the best life... I thought I was saving her."

"You sold her!" Serena screamed, her voice echoing through the small house. "You let me believe my sister was adopted while she was a prisoner in a mansion! She stayed away to keep us safe from the woman you helped! Do you know what she went through? Do you know that the man I married was the man she loved?"

"Gabriel Bennet... he told me it would be a simple fix. Just a loose bolt. No one was supposed to die. But Lily... she changed the plan. She wanted your father gone, Edward. I was trapped."

Serena looked at him with anger and disgust. "I don't care about the money anymore, Dad. I don't care about this house. You took my sister away from me, and now she's gone forever."

She turned and walked out. I looked at Thomas one last time. He was a man who traded his soul for comfort, only to find that comfort tasted like ashes. I followed Serena to the car.

The funeral for Eleanor Sterling, Maya Blake, was held three days later. It was a cold event. The Sterling family, the people who "bought" her, wanted a big ceremony at the church to look good.

Serena and I stood in the back. Michael was there too, standing by the casket, looking heartbroken. He was the only one who truly knew the girl behind the name.

As the priest talked about a woman who didn't really exist, my phone buzzed in my pocket. I stepped into the shadows to check it.

It was a text from Evelyn, my assistant. Edward, check the news. Lily Vance was released an hour ago. All charges dropped because of "not enough evidence" and a witness taking back their story. She’s headed to the estate.

I felt pure rage. My mother had done it. She used her money and connections to buy her way out of jail before the paperwork was even dry. She was a monster who couldn’t be locked up with just handcuffs.

But there was a second message under it. Also, strange activity near the hospital records. The Bennet family lawyers are filing an emergency order. They’re trying to erase the French records. Edward, they’re panicking.

I walked back to Serena and whispered in her ear. "My mother is out. And the Bennets are moving to hide their tracks."

Serena looked at the casket, then at me. Her sadness turned into something hard and dark. "They think they can just erase the past? They think because Maya is dead, the proof is gone?"

"We need to get your father to a safe house," I said. "If Lily is out and the Bennets are panicking, your father is the only living person who can link them to the murder. He’s a loose end they’ll want to get rid of."

We drove back toward Oaktown. The sun was setting, casting long, orange shadows across the road. I called Michael and told him to meet us at Thomas’s house.

"I’m already halfway there," Michael said. "Eleanor told me if anything happened to her, I had to protect the Blakes. I’m not losing anyone else."

As we pulled onto Serena’s street, I saw a black car parked at the corner. It had no license plate. My lawyer instincts told me it was trouble.

"Serena, stay in the car," I asked.

"No way," she snapped, already opening the door.

We ran toward the front door just as a loud CRACK rang out. It was a gunshot.

"DAD!" Serena screamed.

We burst into the house. In the living room, Thomas was on the floor, crawling toward the hallway. Standing over him was a man in a dark suit, the same kind Michael described at the hospital. He had a pistol with a silencer pointed at Thomas’s head.

"Hey!" I shouted, running forward.

The shooter turned, but before he could fire, the front window broke. Michael had arrived, driving his SUV onto the front lawn and jumping through the broken glass with a tire iron.

The man in the suit panicked. He fired a wild shot that hit a lamp and then ran out the back kitchen door. I started to chase him, but Serena’s scream stopped me.