The Hidden heir’s revenge

Chapter 61 — The Two Daughters

“Don’t move!”

Helena’s voice cut through the room.

Naomi froze beside her laptop. The woman calling herself Isabella stood behind Helena, holding a photograph.

Evelyn slowly raised her hands.

“Why are you pointing a gun at Naomi?”

Helena ignored the question.

“Where is the original register?”

Naomi swallowed.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Helena stepped closer.

“Don’t insult me. You have been digging through records that were buried for twenty-five years. I know you found it.”

Evelyn moved slightly between them.

“Leave her alone.”

Helena looked at her.

“You still don’t understand, do you?”

“Understand what?”

“Your entire life was built on a lie.”

Evelyn’s eyes narrowed.

“Matthew already told us about the switched babies.”

“Matthew doesn’t know everything.”

The young woman behind Helena finally spoke.

“She is telling the truth.”

Evelyn turned toward her.

“Isabella, why are you here?”

The young woman raised the photograph.

“Because I want you to see what they did to us.”

She placed it on the table.

It showed two newborn girls lying beside each other.

One wore a bracelet marked Evelyn.

The other wore a bracelet marked Isabella.

But there was something else written on the back.

ONE CHILD BELONGS TO THE THORNE FAMILY. THE OTHER BELONGS TO THE VALE FAMILY.

Evelyn stared at it.

“Which one am I?”

Helena lowered the gun slightly.

“You were supposed to be my daughter.”

Evelyn looked at her.

“And Isabella?”

Helena’s expression hardened.

“She was supposed to be Isabel’s daughter.”

Isabella laughed bitterly.

“That’s what you were told.”

Helena turned sharply.

“Be quiet.”

“No. I’ve been quiet for twenty years. I’m tired of people deciding who I am.”

She looked at Evelyn.

“They told me you were my sister. They told me Grace was my mother. They told me Mara raised me because my real mother died.”

Evelyn shook her head.

“But Grace raised me too.”

“Exactly.”

Isabella stepped closer.

“Why would two different families raise two girls who were supposedly sisters? Why were our records changed? Why did they give us the same necklace?”

Naomi glanced at the necklace hanging around Isabella’s neck.

Two connected circles.

Evelyn touched the small necklace beneath her blouse.

She was wearing the same one.

Naomi noticed.

“Take them off.”

Both women looked at her.

“Why?” Evelyn asked.

“Just do it.”

They removed their necklaces and placed them beside the photograph.

Naomi examined the back of each pendant.

There were tiny engraved numbers.

Evelyn’s necklace carried the number 04.

Isabella’s carried 05.

Naomi’s expression changed.

“These aren’t ordinary necklaces.”

Helena raised the gun again.

“Don’t touch them.”

Naomi looked up.

“Why?”

Helena said nothing.

Naomi turned the pendants over.

Inside each was a tiny folded strip of metal.

She carefully opened Evelyn’s.

A short code was engraved on it.

Then she opened Isabella’s.

The two codes matched when placed together.

Naomi stared at them.

“They’re access keys.”

Helena’s face went pale.

⸻

At the Thorne estate, Varek was still watching the dead screen.

“Call Naomi again,” he ordered Victor.

Victor tried.

No answer.

“Something is wrong.”

Varek paced the corridor.

Matthew had deliberately sent them to the estate while Helena went after Naomi and Evelyn.

It was a coordinated move.

“He’s separating us,” Victor said.

Varek nodded.

“He’s trying to keep Evelyn away from the original register.”

Victor looked toward the open room.

“Then why does he want her?”

“Because she remembers something.”

“What?”

Varek looked at the photograph of the newborn girls.

“Something that happened before she could even speak.”

He called Adrian.

The call connected after two rings.

“Varek?”

“Where is Daniel?”

“With me. What’s happening?”

“Is Evelyn safe?”

Adrian glanced around the room.

“She was with Naomi.”

“Not anymore. Helena has entered the building with Isabella.”

Adrian immediately stood.

“What?”

“Get Daniel somewhere secure. Don’t leave him alone.”

“Where are you?”

“At the old estate.”

Adrian’s expression tightened.

“I’m coming.”

“No. Stay with Daniel. That’s an order.”

“Varek—”

“Adrian, listen to me. They have been moving children around for years. I won’t let them use Daniel again.”

Adrian fell silent.

Then he said, “Find out who I really am.”

Varek looked at the hospital records in his hand.

“I will.”

He ended the call.

Victor approached him.

“There is another room.”

Varek turned.

“What room?”

Victor pointed to the far end of the corridor.

“I remember a door behind that wall. I was brought here when I was little. There was a woman inside who kept asking me to remember my name.”

They moved toward it.

The door was locked.

Varek inserted the key Isabel had given him.

It opened.

Inside was a small archive room.

Unlike the other rooms, this one had been maintained.

There were files arranged in metal cabinets, photographs pinned to the walls, and a computer that was still running.

Victor walked toward the photographs.

He stopped at one.

“Varek.”

Varek joined him.

The photograph showed a young woman holding three children.

One was a baby.

One was a little boy.

The third was another baby.

The woman’s face was partly hidden, but Varek recognized the necklace around her neck.

Two connected circles.

It was the same design worn by Evelyn and Isabella.

Beneath the photograph was a name.

ISABEL THORNE — ORIGINAL MATERNITY WITNESS.

Varek opened the cabinet.

A file marked SUBJECT FOUR sat on top.

Inside was a birth record.

The child’s name was Evelyn Cross.

But the biological mother section had been deliberately removed.

A second page showed a different name.

ORIGINAL SUBJECT: ISABELLA THORNE.

Victor frowned.

“Does that mean Evelyn was originally Isabella?”

“Maybe.”

Varek turned another page.

It contained a handwritten statement.

THE TWO GIRLS MUST NEVER BE PLACED IN THE SAME ROOM. WHEN THEIR IDENTITIES ARE REUNITED, THE ORIGINAL HEIR WILL BE REVEALED.

Victor looked at him.

“What does that mean?”

Before Varek could answer, the computer screen flickered.

A video file opened automatically.

A woman appeared.

She looked older than the woman standing with them in the photograph.

It was Isabel.

“If you are watching this, the two girls have finally found each other.”

Varek leaned toward the screen.

“Who is the original heir?” he whispered.

The woman continued.

“Do not believe the records. The firstborn was never the child Alistair chose. The firstborn was the child he tried to erase.”

The video paused.

Then a second voice came through.

A man’s voice.

“That child was not Matthew.”

Varek turned.

The voice continued.

“It was Adrian.”

⸻

At Naomi’s location, Helena was growing impatient.

“Give me the original register.”

Naomi kept her hands visible.

“I don’t have it.”

“Then tell me where it is.”

Evelyn stepped forward.

“Why are you so afraid of two pieces of metal?”

Helena looked at her.

“Because you don’t understand what those keys unlock.”

“Then explain.”

Helena’s eyes moved between the two girls.

“They unlock the original Black Ledger.”

Naomi frowned.

“I thought the Black Ledger was already accessible.”

“Not the original one. Alistair created a second system after the first was sealed.”

Isabella looked at her.

“Who sealed it?”

Helena’s face changed.

“Your mother.”

Isabella went still.

“Isabel?”

Helena nodded.

“She discovered that the children had been assigned false identities. She tried to reverse the transfers. But she couldn’t do it without both keys.”

Evelyn looked down at her necklace.

“Why were we given the keys?”

“Because you were the only two children whose identities had not been completely erased.”

Naomi looked at Helena.

“Then why did you keep Evelyn away from Isabella?”

“Because if the original ledger is opened, every false identity will be exposed.”

“That sounds like exactly what we need,” Evelyn replied.

Helena’s expression became cold.

“Not if the person controlling the ledger decides who lives and who disappears.”

Suddenly, the young woman calling herself Isabella moved behind Helena.

She grabbed the hand holding the gun.

A struggle followed.

The gun fired.

Naomi dropped to the floor.

Evelyn screamed.

Helena struck Isabella across the face and pushed her against the wall.

But before she could regain control, Naomi reached beneath the table and pressed a hidden security switch.

The room’s emergency shutters began closing.

Helena rushed toward the exit.

Isabella grabbed her coat.

“You’re not leaving!”

Helena turned and struck her again.

Then she escaped through the narrowing doorway just before the shutter slammed shut.

The gun remained on the floor.

Evelyn rushed toward Naomi.

“Are you hurt?”

Naomi shook her head.

“No. But she got away.”

Isabella slowly sat against the wall.

Evelyn looked at her.

“Why did you help us?”

The young woman wiped blood from her lip.

“Because I finally remembered something.”

“What?”

Isabella stared at Evelyn.

“When we were children, you used to call me by another name.”

Evelyn frowned.

“What name?”

Isabella’s eyes filled with tears.

“Not Isabella.”

She leaned closer.

“You called me your twin.”

⸻

Varek replayed the video.

The words remained on the screen.

THE FIRSTBORN WAS ADRIAN.

He called Naomi again.

This time she answered.

“Varek, Helena escaped.”

“Are you safe?”

“Yes. Evelyn and Isabella are with me.”

“Did you open the keys?”

Naomi hesitated.

“We discovered they unlock the original Black Ledger.”

“Then get somewhere secure.”

“There’s something you need to know.”

“What?”

“The two girls are twins.”

Varek closed his eyes.

“That doesn’t surprise me anymore.”

“There’s more. I found another page in the original register. It says Adrian was the firstborn, but the birth date is different from the one we have.”

Varek looked at Victor.

“How different?”

“Adrian was born three days before the twins.”

Varek stared at the screen.

“Then he wasn’t born on the same night as us.”

“No. And the record lists a different mother.”

“Who?”

Naomi took a breath.

“Grace Cross.”

Varek slowly turned toward the door.

Grace had disappeared.

Again.

And this time, she had left behind a message on the archive computer.

THE FIRSTBORN IS NOT THE OLDEST CHILD. THE FIRSTBORN IS THE ONE WHO WAS BORN FIRST INTO THE FAMILY.

Beneath it was a final line.

ASK ADRIAN WHO HIS REAL FATHER IS.

Varek’s phone rang.

Adrian.

He answered.

“What’s happening?”

Adrian’s voice was unusually quiet.

“Varek, I just found something in Daniel’s medical file.”

“What?”

“It contains a photograph of my mother.”

Varek waited.

Adrian continued.

“She’s standing beside a man I have never seen before.”

“Who is he?”

Adrian swallowed.

“Richard Thorne.”

Varek’s expression hardened.

“Richard?”

“Yes. And there’s a note beneath the photograph.”

“What does it say?”

Adrian’s voice broke.

“It says I was not born to Grace. I was born to Richard and a woman named Miriam Cole.”

Varek froze.

Before he could respond, Adrian added:

“But the man in the photograph isn’t Richard’s only secret.”

A pause.

“He’s holding a newborn baby.”

“Whose baby?”

Adrian whispered:

“Mine.”

And then the call disconnected.