CHAPTER 7 – THE LETTER MEANT ONLY FOR DANIEL
CHAPTER 7 – THE LETTER MEANT ONLY FOR DANIEL
Daniel opened his father's letter at the nursery window.
The paper had yellowed, but the handwriting was unmistakable.
My son,
Everything you were told about your sisters was false.
Sophia was not kidnapped by a stranger.
Someone we trusted took her.
The Ashford fortune was collapsing, and a man connected to Blackwood offered to save the family in exchange for control over one child.
Richard Caldwell tried to protect both girls.
He died because of it.
Sarah Bennett escaped with one child, but the girls wore identical dresses and their bracelets had been changed during play.
Sarah may have taken the wrong twin without knowing it.
Blackwood will return for the survivor.
Daniel lowered the letter.
Margaret could barely stand.
"William never told me about the bracelets being switched."
Emily opened a small drawer in the music box.
Inside lay a silver locket engraved with the letter S.
It contained a photograph of William Ashford, Richard Caldwell, and a young dark-haired woman.
The woman looked remarkably like Vanessa.
On the back, someone had written:
The new identity begins today.
Thomas compared the woman with Vanessa's passport photographs.
"The resemblance is too strong to be accidental."
A hidden speaker crackled above them.
Vanessa's voice whispered through the nursery.
"You have discovered my first lie."
The room lights went out.
A child's voice played from somewhere inside the walls.
"Emily, don't run."
Then the speaker went silent.
Daniel stared at the photograph.
"Vanessa is not Vanessa."
May you like
Emily closed the locket.
"Then we find out whose face she stole."
