Chapter 2 - THREE YEARS OF LIES
Alexander reached the underground garage before anyone could stop him.
I followed with two security officers.
Sophie stayed upstairs with my assistant.
The elevator doors opened.
Alexander ran.
“Elena!”
The woman beside the sedan turned.
For three years, Alexander had remembered Elena Whitmore as she had been at thirty-two.
Dark hair.
Bright eyes.
Always laughing.
The woman standing before him looked ten years older.
Her cheeks were hollow.
Her hair had been cut unevenly near her shoulders.
And there was something in her eyes that made Alexander stop several feet away.
Fear.
Not fear of him.
Fear of being found.
“Elena.”
His voice broke.
She stared at him.
Then tears filled her eyes.
“Alex?”
He took one step.
She stepped backward.
Alexander froze.
“It’s me.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you running?”
Elena looked toward Charles’s assistant.
The man had already been restrained by security.
Then she whispered something that changed Alexander’s expression completely.
“Because they told me you wanted me dead.”
Alexander stared at her.
“What?”
“They said you arranged the accident.”
“No.”
“They showed me documents.”
“Elena, no.”
“They showed me your signature.”
Alexander shook his head.
“I never signed anything.”
She started crying.
“They told me you knew I survived.”
“I buried you.”
Elena stopped.
Alexander’s voice cracked.
“I stood beside a coffin.”
“I watched them lower it into the ground.”
“I thought you were inside.”
Elena covered her mouth.
For several seconds neither could speak.
Then Alexander asked the question everyone had been avoiding.
“The ultrasound.”
Elena’s face changed.
Alexander noticed.
“You were pregnant six months ago?”
Elena looked away.
“Were you?”
“Yes.”
Alexander swallowed.
“Where is the baby?”
Elena closed her eyes.
Before she could answer, Charles Whitmore’s voice came from behind us.
“That is enough.”
We turned.
Charles stood near the elevator.
Alexander walked toward him.
“You knew.”
Charles remained silent.
“You knew Elena was alive.”
“I knew circumstances were complicated.”
Alexander grabbed his father’s jacket.
“Three years.”
Security moved forward.
I raised my hand.
Not yet.
Alexander stared into his father’s eyes.
“You let me mourn her for three years.”
Charles spoke quietly.
“I protected this family.”
“From what?”
Charles looked at Elena.
“From her.”
Elena flinched.
Alexander released him.
“What did she do?”
Charles didn’t answer.
Elena did.
“I found the offshore accounts.”
Silence.
Alexander slowly turned.
“What offshore accounts?”
Elena wiped her tears.
“The ones your father used to move money out of Whitmore Holdings.”
Charles’s expression hardened.
Alexander looked between them.
“How much?”
Elena answered.
“Almost eighty million dollars.”
Alexander stared at his father.
Charles said nothing.
May you like
And suddenly the fake pregnancy upstairs was no longer a scheme involving two greedy sisters.
It was part of something much larger.
