Chapter 4 - Claire’s Warning
Samuel had one more document.
A sealed letter.
My name was written across the front.
Claire’s handwriting.
I stared at it.
“Why didn’t I get this?”
“Claire instructed me to release it only if Victoria made a claim against Lily’s trust.”
I opened it.
Adrian,
If you are reading this, then Victoria has come back into Lily’s life.
My throat tightened.
Please understand something first.
What our father did to Victoria was cruel.
He denied her publicly.
He made her feel like evidence of a mistake instead of his child.
Then:
But Victoria has begun confusing justice with replacement.
I stopped.
Samuel waited.
I continued.
She told me once that if Dad had recognized her properly, everything I inherited would have been partly hers.
She was right.
Then she said Lily should not inherit what Victoria never had the chance to receive.
My hands became cold.
Claire had known.
She had been afraid.
But she had also felt guilty.
The final paragraph broke me.
Protect Lily.
Do not make her pay for what our father did.
But if you ever have the power to correct the part of Victoria’s story that was stolen from her, do it without sacrificing our daughter.
That was Claire.
Even dying, she could hold two truths at once.
Victoria had been wronged.
Victoria had also become dangerous.
The police arrived an hour later.
They reviewed the pool footage.
By sunrise, Victoria was under investigation.
And before noon, she sent me one message.
You think Claire was innocent?
May you like
Then another.
Ask how she really died.
