Chapter 24: The Sister No One Mentioned
They escaped through an underground passage connecting the hospital to an old maintenance building.
Behind them, armed men searched the west wing.
Celia guided them through the darkness without hesitation.
“You’ve been here before,” Leah said.
“I lived here for eleven years.”
“As a patient?”
“As a prisoner.”
They reached the maintenance building and blocked the door.
Adrian contacted a federal agent he trusted from the Caldwell investigation.
The signal failed before he could provide the full location.
Celia sat beside Grace.
Leah stood in front of them.
“Eleanor has a sister?”
“Had,” Celia replied. “Her name was Margaret Ashford.”
Adrian looked confused.
“My grandfather had only one daughter.”
“That is what the family records say.”
Margaret was born six years before Eleanor.
She was intelligent, rebellious, and unwilling to accept the Stewardship Council’s authority.
At twenty-three, she discovered the Archer-Ashford Covenant.
Margaret also learned that Evelyn Archer had been forced into a relationship with Julian to produce an heir carrying both bloodlines.
Margaret helped Evelyn escape.
Months later, Margaret gave birth to a child.
Leah.
“Who was the father?” Leah asked.
Celia looked toward Adrian.
“Julian Ashford.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
Leah stepped backward.
Julian had fathered children with Evelyn Archer and Eleanor’s sister.
“He was married to Eleanor?”
“Not yet,” Celia said. “The council later arranged the marriage to stabilize the company.”
“What happened to Margaret?”
“She tried to expose Julian.”
The council declared Margaret mentally unstable.
Her child was taken from her.
Margaret disappeared.
Celia, Grace, and several nurses created false records to hide the baby.
They used the identity of a child who had died from illness days earlier.
Leah Bennett.
“That means the name was never mine,” Leah whispered.
“It became yours,” Grace said.
Leah looked at her.
“You knew Margaret was my mother?”
“No. Celia never told me.”
Celia nodded.
“The fewer people who knew, the safer Leah remained.”
Daniel turned toward Celia.
“What happened to the twins?”
“One survived the fire.”
“Which one?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect us to believe that?”
“The children were moved during the smoke. Their bracelets had been switched before I reached them.”
Celia explained that she took Leah through the tunnel while Eleanor tried to rescue the twins.
Silas Ward found them outside.
Celia escaped with one child.
Eleanor escaped with another.
The third disappeared.
“Then why did Eleanor think Leah died?” Adrian asked.
“Because I sent her a false report.”
Leah stared at Celia.
“You let her believe I was dead.”
“To stop her from searching. Every Ashford investigator was being monitored.”
Outside, an engine approached.
Headlights moved across the boarded windows.
Celia looked terrified.
“That isn’t Julian.”
“How do you know?” Nina asked.
“Julian wants Leah alive.”
“Who doesn’t?”
Celia looked directly at Leah.
May you like
“Your mother.”
The front door exploded inward.
