Chapter 18 - The Final HeirThe final heir.
The phrase haunted every room they entered.
Vivian refused to take Clara back to any Sterling property, so Reyes placed them in a protected safe house outside the city. Noah came with them. Robert stayed too, sleeping in a chair near Clara’s door like a grandfather determined to lose no more time.
But protection did not feel like safety.
Not with Celeste free.
At midnight, Clara woke to tapping on the window.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Her eyes opened.
The room was dark except for a thin line of moonlight.
Tap.
She sat up.
A white envelope had been taped to the outside of the glass.
Clara did not scream.
That was the saddest part.
She had learned too much.
She climbed out of bed and opened the bedroom door.
Noah was sitting in the hallway, awake.
He saw her face and stood.
“What happened?”
She pointed.
Within minutes, Reyes was there.
The envelope was removed by gloved hands.
Inside was one photograph.
A baby wrapped in a blue blanket.
On the back, Celeste had written:
Ask Vivian what happened the night Clara was born.
Vivian stared at the photograph.
“I don’t know this baby.”
Noah looked closely.
His face went pale.
“That’s me.”
Everyone turned.
He swallowed.
“Helena showed me baby pictures. That blanket was mine.”
Reyes frowned.
“But you would have been twelve when Clara was born.”
Noah shook his head.
“No. Look at the date stamp.”
Reyes examined it.
The date was ten years ago.
Vivian whispered, “That’s impossible.”
Clara’s voice was small.
“Unless it’s not Noah.”
The room went silent.
Noah turned the photograph over again.
There, barely visible in the corner, was another child’s hand holding the blanket.
A hospital bracelet circled the wrist.
Reyes enlarged the image on her tablet.
The bracelet read:
Baby Sterling B.
Vivian sat down hard.
“B?”
Reyes looked at her.
“Mrs. Sterling… did anyone ever tell you there was more than one baby?”
Vivian’s face drained of color.
“No.”
Clara stared at her mother.
“I had a twin?”
No one answered.
Because the answer was already in the room.
Celeste had not meant Noah.
Celeste had not meant Clara.
The final heir was the other baby Arthur had stolen from Vivian’s arms.
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Somewhere in the world, Clara Sterling had a twin.
And Celeste had her.
