Chapter 13 - THE WOMAN LILY CALLED MISS EVE
Lily woke while we were still staring at the photograph.
She came downstairs rubbing her eyes.
“Mommy?”
I immediately closed the laptop halfway.
Too late.
She saw the picture.
Her face brightened.
“Miss Eve.”
Every adult in the room froze.
I crouched.
“You know her?”
Lily nodded.
My heartbeat became painfully loud.
“Where did you meet Miss Eve?”
“At Grandma’s.”
Olivia whispered, “No.”
Lily pointed toward the staircase.
“She fixed my night-light.”
The camera.
“When?”
“My birthday before.”
Four months ago wasn’t Lily’s birthday.
She meant Olivia’s party.
Children anchor time differently.
“What did she say to you?”
Lily thought.
“She said I looked like somebody.”
“Who?”
“You.”
My throat tightened.
“Anything else?”
“She gave me candy.”
“Did Grandma know?”
Lily looked at Olivia.
“Grandma was downstairs.”
That did not prove Olivia knew.
It proved Evelyn—if it was Evelyn—had been inside the house close enough to speak to my daughter.
I showed Lily another photograph.
My mother when she was young.
“Is this Miss Eve?”
Lily frowned.
“Kind of.”
Then I showed her the older woman from the party again.
“Yes.”
Julian looked away.
I stood.
“We need to identify her.”
Vanessa searched the temporary staffing records.
A. Vale had provided identification.
AMELIA VALE.
Age sixty-one.
Address in New York.
Julian checked public information.
Sparse.
No social media.
No recent employment.
Then a property record.
Small house purchased fifteen years ago.
Same year Evelyn supposedly died.
My chest tightened.
Owner:
Amelia Vale.
I remembered my mother’s funeral year.
The timing felt impossible to ignore.
Richard said, “We go there.”
I looked at him.
“You’re not coming.”
“Claire.”
“No.”
He lowered his voice.
“I’m trying.”
“I know.”
That surprised him.
“But this is mine.”
“And Lily?”
“She comes with me only if I know it’s safe.”
Julian interrupted.
“Claire, Thomas expects you to move.”
“I know.”
“He may be directing us toward that address.”
“Also true.”
“So we verify first.”
He called someone he trusted.
Not police.
Not authorities.
A longtime Sterling property administrator who could check legitimate archive records and old family holdings.
While he did, Vanessa recovered another message from Thomas.
A.V. remains cooperative as long as C believes she is dead.
My blood went cold.
C.
Claire.
Me.
Thomas knew A.V. was connected to me.
Another message.
Do not let Evelyn speak to Claire directly.
There it was.
Not Amelia.
Evelyn.
My mother was alive.
Or Thomas wanted Vanessa to believe she was.
I read the date.
Four months ago.
Vanessa whispered, “I never saw this one.”
“Why?”
“It was in Mom’s deleted archive.”
We turned toward Olivia.
She looked genuinely confused.
“I didn’t delete that.”
Someone had been using her accounts repeatedly.
Then another message appeared.
Evelyn still believes the original deal protects Claire.
Julian read it twice.
“What deal?”
Olivia closed her eyes.
“I know.”
I stared.
“What?”
She looked at me.
“After your birth, Thomas made Evelyn choose.”
My stomach tightened.
“Between what?”
“You and Adeline.”
Silence.
I felt suddenly cold.
“Explain.”
“He had Adeline.”
“With him?”
“Yes.”
“And me?”
“With Evelyn.”
“He threatened both?”
Olivia nodded.
“He told Evelyn she could disappear with you if she signed over control of the trust and never contacted the Sterlings.”
“What happened to Adeline?”
“He kept her.”
“Why would my mother leave one daughter?”
“She didn’t want to.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“She believed Thomas would kill you if she fought.”
The room went silent.
I looked at Lily.
Four years old.
The idea of choosing between protecting one child and losing another made me physically ill.
Maybe that was what had broken my mother away from everyone.
But if she was alive—
“Why didn’t she come back after Thomas supposedly died?”
Olivia whispered, “Maybe she knew he wasn’t dead.”
That made sense.
And hurt even more.
Then Julian’s administrator called.
He put it on speaker.
“The Amelia Vale property is real.”
“Who purchased it?”
“A trust.”
“Which?”
There was a pause.
“Claire Hart Protection Trust.”
I stopped breathing.
Another trust in my name.
“Who is trustee?”
The administrator answered.
“Evelyn Sterling.”
Julian closed his eyes.
Proof.
Not absolute proof she was alive.
But the trust had filed an amendment eight months ago.
Electronic signature.
Evelyn Sterling.
Then the administrator added one more detail.
“There is a second authorized resident at the property.”
“Who?”
“Adeline Vale.”
My unknown sister.
Evelyn and Adeline had apparently been living under the same address.
Yet hours ago Adeline had helped Thomas steal from the Sterling archive.
Were they working together?
Against him?
Or had the family divided again?
Then Vanessa’s phone rang.
Thomas.
She didn’t answer.
A voicemail arrived.
We played it.
Thomas’s voice was calm.
“Claire has twenty minutes left.”
Pause.
“After that, I send Richard the video showing what Evelyn did to Lily.”
My entire body went cold.
“What did my mother do to Lily?”
Nobody knew.
May you like
And suddenly the hidden camera above my daughter’s bed looked much more sinister.
📖 Discover what Thomas claimed Evelyn had done to Lily—and why the recovered bedroom footage showed my mother entering after midnight in CHAPTER 14. 👇
