Chapter 7 - Blood Is Not Family
I laughed.
I couldn't help it.
It was too absurd.
“You?”
Cassandra’s face tightened.
“Don't look at me like that.”
“You just whipped me in front of two hundred people.”
“I didn't know until six months ago.”
“You investigated me seven months ago.”
Her jaw clenched.
“Fine. Seven.”
Dominic stepped between us.
“You are Sophia?”
Cassandra looked at him.
“According to Victor.”
Victor shook his head.
“According to records.”
Marcus spoke from the hallway.
“Boss, don't believe her.”
The man behind him shoved him forward.
Cassandra raised the pistol.
“Quiet.”
I stared at her.
“You knew I was your twin and you hired me as a maid?”
Her eyes flashed.
“Do you have any idea what it felt like?”
“No. Explain it.”
“I grew up as Cassandra Vance.”
“So?”
“My entire life was built on a lie.”
“And that gave you permission to treat me like garbage?”
“You had the locket.”
I almost couldn't believe what I was hearing.
“That is your explanation?”
“You had proof.”
“I had a necklace.”
“You had the key to the East Wing. The trust documents. The family evidence.”
“So you thought hitting me would help?”
“I wanted you gone before Dominic saw you.”
There it was.
The truth.
Small.
Ugly.
Human.
Cassandra wasn't some genius mastermind.
She was terrified.
She had built her entire identity around becoming Dominic Sterling's wife.
Then she discovered she might actually be his sister.
The engagement couldn't survive that.
Neither could her place in the family.
Dominic seemed to reach the same conclusion.
“You knew we might be related.”
Cassandra looked at him.
“Dominic—”
“You knew.”
“I didn't know for certain.”
“And you continued our engagement?”
Her face broke.
“I was going to fix it.”
I stared at her.
“How exactly do you fix being someone's sister?”
She screamed, “You don't understand!”
The sound echoed through the burned nursery.
She pointed the gun at me.
“I had everything until they found you.”
“You had everything?”
I stepped toward her.
“You lived in houses like this.”
“Elena.”
Dominic tried to stop me.
I kept moving.
“You had private schools. Cars. Clothes. People who opened doors for you.”
Cassandra’s hand shook.
“You know what Lucia and I had?”
“Stop.”
“One bedroom.”
“Stop.”
“She cleaned offices at night.”
“Shut up.”
“She came home with swollen hands and still made me breakfast.”
Cassandra’s eyes filled with tears.
“She loved you.”
“Yes.”
“She was supposed to love me.”
That stopped me.
For one second, I saw the child underneath Cassandra Vance.
A frightened girl who had learned she belonged somewhere else.
Then she raised the gun again.
“But she chose you.”
“No,” Victor said.
Everyone turned.
He looked at Cassandra.
“Lucia didn't choose Elena.”
“What?”
“Your mother did.”
Cassandra stared at him.
Victor continued.
“Margaret Vance demanded Sophia.”
“Why?”
“She knew exactly what Arthur Sterling planned.”
Dominic asked, “Which was?”
“To keep one twin and eliminate the other from the trust forever.”
Victor’s voice dropped.
“Margaret offered to hide Sophia.”
Cassandra whispered, “My mother saved me.”
Victor’s face filled with disgust.
“No.”
He looked at her.
“She sold you.”
Cassandra went white.
Victor reached inside his coat.
Her gun snapped toward him.
“Don't.”
He pulled out a folded document.
“My mother kept everything,” he said.
Cassandra stared at the paper.
Victor handed it to Dominic.
It was a receipt.
A private agreement.
Arthur Sterling had paid Margaret Vance five million dollars.
Purpose:
Permanent relocation and concealment of Child B.
Cassandra looked at the date.
The night of the fire.
Her gun slowly lowered.
“My mother…”
Victor finished the sentence.
“Didn't rescue you.”
May you like
He looked directly at her.
“She bought you.”
