Chapter 3 - The Sister in the Photograph

Elena sat on the concrete barrier.

Still in the dark red gown.

Still staring at Daniel’s phone.

Sofia Voss.

Her older sister.

Supposedly dead at seven.

Elena had been four.

Matteo stood in front of her.

“You never questioned it?”

“I was a child.”

“Later?”

“My father said there had been an accident.”

“What accident?”

“A house fire.”

Daniel shook his head.

“Sofia has no burn scars.”

Elena looked up.

“You saw her arms?”

“She rolled up her sleeves.”

George asked:

“What did she want from you?”

Daniel answered:

“Proof Richard was using the foundation.”

Matteo looked at him.

“Why?”

“She said she wanted Victor out.”

Elena went still.

“My father?”

“Yes.”

“She wanted him out of the merger?”

“Out of everything.”

Elena stood.

“That doesn’t make sense.”

Daniel replied:

“She said Victor helped hide her.”

Elena stared.

“Hide her?”

“Yes.”

“From whom?”

Daniel looked at Matteo.

“Richard.”

Matteo exhaled slowly.

Of course.

Again.

His uncle.

Elena shook her head.

“No. My father would have told me.”

Matteo looked at her.

“Would he?”

That hurt.

Because tonight had already proven no one told anyone anything.

Daniel opened the box in the car.

Beneath the letters was a file.

Inside:

A birth certificate.

SOFIA MARIE VOSS.

Alive.

No death certificate.

A school enrollment record from Montreal.

Different surname.

A passport issued six years earlier.

Matteo looked at Victor’s signature on an old guardianship form.

“He knew.”

Elena’s face collapsed.

“My father knew she was alive.”

“Yes.”

“All this time.”

Daniel nodded.

Elena turned away.

Matteo watched her.

For once, he did not accuse her.

He understood the expression.

It was the same one he had worn ten minutes earlier.

George said:

“There is more.”

Everyone looked at him.

He removed another envelope.

A photograph.

Daniel.

Victor.

Sofia.

And Richard.

Taken at the Vermont hotel.

Three weeks ago.

Matteo stared.

“My uncle was there?”

Daniel nodded.

“He arrived unexpectedly.”

“Why didn’t you tell me upstairs?”

“I wanted to get you out first.”

Matteo looked at the picture.

Richard appeared calm.

Too calm.

“What happened?”

Daniel answered:

“Richard offered me a deal.”

“What deal?”

“Disappear again.”

“In exchange for?”

“He leaves you alone.”

Matteo laughed.

“He threatened me?”

Daniel nodded.

Elena whispered:

“And Sofia?”

“She told Richard to go to hell.”

That sounded almost like Elena.

Matteo noticed.

Daniel continued:

“Then Victor asked everyone to calm down.”

Elena looked at him.

“My father?”

“Yes.”

“He sided with Richard?”

“No.”

“He was terrified of Sofia.”

Elena frowned.

“Why?”

Daniel opened another recording.

Victor’s voice.

Low.

Angry.

“Sofia, if Matteo learns what happened twelve years ago, both families collapse.”

Matteo’s face hardened.

Sofia replied:

“Then let them.”

Victor:

“You don’t understand.”

Sofia:

“I understand perfectly. Daniel survived because you moved him. Richard survived because you lied. And Matteo paid for both of you.”

The recording ended.

Matteo stared at Elena.

She was crying silently.

Daniel said:

“Victor knows what really happened the night of the boating accident.”

Matteo looked at him.

“Do you?”

Daniel did not answer immediately.

That was enough.

Matteo stepped closer.

“What happened?”

Daniel stared at the floor.

“The boat did not sink by accident.”

“I know that.”

“No.”

Daniel looked up.

“You know Richard sabotaged it.”

“Yes.”

“That was only part.”

“What part am I missing?”

Daniel’s voice dropped.

“Your mother was on the boat.”

Matteo froze.

“No.”

Elena looked at him.

Daniel continued.

“She was with me.”

“My mother told me she was home.”

“She lied.”

“Why?”

“Because she was the reason Richard wanted us both dead.”

Matteo stared.

Daniel reached into the file.

One final page.

A financial authorization signed by Matteo’s mother.

LUCIA RINALDI.

She had transferred thirty-two million dollars out of Richard’s control.

Two days before the boating accident.

Matteo whispered:

“She knew about the money.”

“Yes.”

“She helped you.”

“Yes.”

“What happened to her on the boat?”

Daniel closed his eyes.

“She escaped with me.”

Matteo went pale.

“She survived too?”

“No.”

Daniel looked at him.

“She died eight months later.”

Matteo’s eyes narrowed.

“That is not what I was told.”

“No.”

“You said she died two years later.”

“That was the official story.”

Matteo stepped back.

Another death.

Another false date.

He whispered:

“What killed her?”

Daniel looked toward George.

George lowered his head.

Then Daniel said:

“Poison.”

Silence.

Matteo looked at Richard’s photograph.

“Richard?”

Daniel shook his head.

“No.”

Matteo’s voice became colder.

“Then who?”

Daniel looked toward Elena.

Not at her.

Past her.

Toward the elevator.

Victor Voss stood there.

He had followed her down.

Daniel answered.

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“Her father.”

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