Chapter 3 - The Sister Victoria Never Knew

Victoria stared at her grandmother.

“Anna?”

Eleanor nodded.

“Your mother’s first child.”

“My mother never had another child.”

“She did.”

“How old?”

“She would be thirty-six now.”

Victoria looked at Nico.

Then back at Eleanor.

“Where is she?”

Eleanor lowered her eyes.

“I don’t know.”

Victoria stepped closer.

“You just said my grandfather was threatened because of her.”

“Yes.”

“Then you knew where she was.”

“At the time.”

“When?”

“Twenty-five years ago.”

Samuel whispered:

“That was when the ledgers were buried.”

Eleanor nodded.

Nico looked at her.

“Start from the beginning.”

She did.

Victoria’s grandfather, Henry Hale, had been working with Nico’s uncle, Carlo Romano.

Money moved through land companies.

Fake estate projects.

Charitable trusts.

The gardens were used because no one searched flower beds for accounting books.

Samuel found one ledger.

He told Nico’s father.

Nico’s parents planned to leave.

Eleanor helped Isabella escape.

Then Carlo discovered Henry had another vulnerability.

Anna.

Victoria’s half-sister.

Born before Victoria’s mother married Henry.

Raised by relatives under another surname.

Carlo threatened to expose her.

Then threatened worse.

Eleanor said:

“He told us Anna would disappear if Henry did not cooperate.”

Victoria looked sick.

“So Grandpa kept helping him.”

“Yes.”

“And you lied to Nico’s father.”

“Yes.”

Nico asked:

“Why tell him Isabella did not want him?”

“Because Carlo wanted them separated.”

“Why?”

“Your father had copies of the records.”

Samuel frowned.

“I thought he lost them.”

Eleanor looked at him.

“He hid them.”

“Where?”

“I don’t know.”

Nico asked:

“And my father believed you?”

Eleanor cried.

“He was desperate.”

Isabella stared at her old friend.

“You watched me wait.”

Eleanor nodded.

“You watched me think he abandoned us.”

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t you tell me after?”

“Because Carlo said Anna would pay.”

Victoria whispered:

“And did she?”

Silence.

Eleanor looked away.

Victoria’s face changed.

“What happened?”

“We lost contact.”

“That is not an answer.”

Eleanor said:

“Two years later, the family raising Anna vanished.”

Samuel stood.

“Vanished?”

“Yes.”

“Carlo?”

“I believed so.”

Nico looked at Samuel.

“Did my uncle traffic people?”

“No.”

Samuel shook his head.

“Not that I ever saw.”

Eleanor said:

“He moved people when they became dangerous.”

Nico’s eyes hardened.

“Like my mother.”

“Yes.”

“Like my father.”

“Yes.”

“And maybe Anna.”

“Yes.”

Victoria sat down.

Everything she knew about her family had shifted.

Then Isabella spoke.

“I saw Anna.”

Everyone turned.

Eleanor stared.

“When?”

“Seventeen years ago.”

Victoria whispered:

“What?”

Isabella continued.

“She came to New Orleans looking for you.”

“For me?”

“Yes.”

“You knew who she was?”

“She had Eleanor’s locket.”

Eleanor touched her throat.

Empty.

“She found it.”

Isabella nodded.

Victoria asked:

“What did she want?”

“To know whether Henry Hale was her father.”

Victoria froze.

“My grandfather?”

Eleanor closed her eyes.

“No.”

Everyone looked at her.

Eleanor whispered:

“Henry was not Anna’s father.”

Victoria stared.

“Then who was?”

Eleanor looked at Samuel.

The gardener’s face changed.

“No.”

Nico looked between them.

Samuel stepped back.

Eleanor said the name.

“Samuel Greene.”

Silence.

Victoria looked at him.

The missing gardener.

Seventy-six.

The man who had returned with the locket.

Samuel whispered:

“I was told the baby died.”

Eleanor cried.

“She didn’t.”

Victoria stared.

“Anna is your daughter.”

Samuel sat down.

His hands shook.

“Why?”

Eleanor answered:

“Because my daughter was seventeen.”

Victoria’s mother.

A teenager.

Samuel had been twenty-three.

A young estate worker.

The family separated them.

The baby was sent away.

Everyone was told she died.

Samuel looked broken.

“All these years.”

Nico said quietly:

“That seems to be the family tradition.”

No one argued.

Victoria asked Isabella:

“What happened when Anna came to you?”

“She said someone had been following her.”

“Who?”

“I never knew.”

“Did she find Samuel?”

“No.”

Samuel looked devastated.

Isabella continued.

“She left me a photograph.”

“Of what?”

“A building.”

Nico frowned.

“What building?”

Isabella went inside.

Returned with an old envelope.

One photograph.

A brick warehouse.

Faded sign:

HALE AGRICULTURAL SUPPLY.

Samuel stood.

“That place burned down twenty years ago.”

Eleanor shook her head.

“No.”

“What?”

“Only the front building burned.”

She looked at Victoria.

“There is a basement.”

Nico’s expression changed.

“The records.”

Eleanor nodded.

“Henry moved everything there after Samuel found the garden ledger.”

Victoria whispered:

“And Anna knew.”

“Yes.”

Nico looked at the photograph.

Then at Samuel.

“If Anna was followed there…”

Samuel finished the thought.

“She may have found more than records.”

Isabella looked at Nico.

“There was writing on the back.”

He turned the photograph over.

One sentence.

IF I DISAPPEAR, ASK WHY CARLO ROMANO VISITS THIS PLACE EVERY OCTOBER.

Nico stared.

October.

Every year.

His uncle had one ritual.

A three-day hunting trip.

Always in October.

Always alone.

Nico looked at Samuel.

“He wasn’t hunting.”

Samuel nodded.

“No.”

Victoria whispered:

“What was he doing?”

Nico folded the photograph.

May you like

[COMPLETED] “GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY DRESS! YOU’RE NOTHING BUT AN OLD SEAM...

[COMPLETED] At the Mafia Boss's Engagement Party, I Served His Hungry So...

[COMPLETED] The Mafia Boss’s Fiancée Tried to Dismiss His Father’s Loyal...

“We’re going to find out.”

========================================================================