Chapter 13 - The Last Witness
The Blackwood estate was surrounded by police.
Nobody was allowed to leave.
Everyone became a suspect.
Elara sat in the living room.
Still wearing her wedding dress.
But she no longer looked like a frightened bride.
She looked like someone searching for the truth.
Julian sat across from her.
For the first time…
They were not enemies.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Elara asked quietly.
Julian looked down.
“Because every time I tried…”
“Someone stopped me.”
“Who?”
Julian didn’t answer.
Then the door opened.
A police officer entered.
“We found something.”
Arthur stood.
“What?”
The officer placed a small box on the table.
“It was hidden inside the bridal suite wall.”
Elara opened it.
Inside was a necklace.
Her mother’s necklace.
Eleanor immediately turned pale.
“That’s impossible.”
Elara looked at her.
“Why?”
Eleanor whispered:
“Because I buried that years ago.”
Everyone became silent.
Julian picked up the necklace.
There was something engraved on the back.
A date.
The same date as Elara’s father’s death.
Marcus stared.
“This changes everything.”
Arthur frowned.
“What does it mean?”
Marcus looked at Elara.
“Your father wasn’t the first person who disappeared.”
Elara felt a chill.
“What are you saying?”
Marcus took a deep breath.
“Your real mother…”
“Was not Eleanor.”
The room exploded into silence.
Elara stepped back.
“No.”
“That’s impossible.”
Marcus looked at the necklace.
“This belonged to your birth mother.”
Eleanor started crying.
“I wanted to tell you.”
Elara looked at her.
“Tell me what?”
Eleanor whispered:
“The woman who gave birth to you…”
“She was killed because of the Blackwood family.”
Elara’s world collapsed.
Then Julian noticed something outside the window.
A shadow.
Someone watching the house.
He immediately stood up.
“Everyone get away from the windows.”
A gunshot shattered the silence.
May you like
And the person holding the weapon…
Was someone they thought was dead.
