Chapter 20 - The Donna's Final Secret|
The letter contained only three paragraphs.
Gabriel,
If this reaches you, then the council has finally discovered the truth about the trust. Do not assume that the people who confessed have told you everything. Some secrets were buried to protect the guilty. Others were buried to protect the innocent.
Your sister must never be allowed to meet the woman who holds the original title.
Gabriel read the final line twice.
Vivien took the letter from him.
"What original title?"
He shook his head.
"I don't know."
Beneath the signature was a small symbol: a dark oval surrounded by seven points.
Vivien recognized it from the journal.
It appeared on the earliest records of the Donna council, long before the necklace had been created.
She opened the journal and searched the final pages.
There, in her mother's handwriting, was a reference to a document called the First Covenant.
The document had never been included in the trust records.
According to the note, it contained the names of the seven women who had founded the council and the identity of the person entrusted with its original authority.
The final sentence had been underlined.
The title was never transferred. Only the necklace was.
Vivien looked at Gabriel.
"Where is the First Covenant?"
He turned the letter over.
A location had been written on the back.
A small island off the coast of Maine.
The same island where their father had reportedly died.
The same place where Gabriel's boat had supposedly gone down.
Vivien felt a chill.
"Both of you disappeared there."
Gabriel nodded.
"I thought I had been sent to retrieve the documents. When I arrived, the boat was gone. Someone had already removed everything from the house."
"Who sent you?"
"I never knew. The instructions came through a private attorney."
"Thomas?"
"I thought so. But now I'm not certain."
Vivien closed the journal.
She had restored the council, exposed the conspiracy, and ended Damian's claim to the trust.
Yet the original authority remained unaccounted for.
The next morning, she and Gabriel traveled to Maine under discreet protection. The island's old residence had been abandoned for years, its windows boarded and its gardens swallowed by weeds.
Inside, they found a small room beneath the staircase.
A steel cabinet stood against the far wall.
The lock opened with the brass key Kanti had given Vivien.
Inside was the First Covenant.
The document listed the founding families and described the original rules governing the Donna title.
But the final page had been removed.
In its place was a photograph.
Vivien stared at it.
The image showed a woman standing beside the sea, wearing a simple black dress and a necklace with the familiar dark stone.
The woman's face was older, but unmistakable.
It was Seline.
On the back of the photograph was a handwritten message.
The heir has been found.
Gabriel stepped closer.
"That can't be right. Seline was born decades after the original covenant."
Vivien looked at the photograph again.
Then she noticed the date.
It had been taken only six days earlier.
A phone rang inside the cabinet.
Neither of them had seen it.
Vivien answered.
A woman's voice spoke calmly.
"Congratulations, Donna. You've restored the council exactly as I wanted."
"Who is this?"
"You have been asking the wrong question about the necklace."
"Then tell me the right one."
The woman laughed softly.
"Ask yourself why every family knelt before you when the necklace was returned."
Vivien tightened her grip on the phone.
"Because the council recognized my authority."
"No," the woman replied. "Because they recognized your blood."
The line went dead.
Gabriel stared at Vivien.
Her phone vibrated.
A new message had arrived from an unknown number.
It contained a photograph of Damian standing outside a hospital, holding a newborn child.
The date on the photograph was twenty-three years earlier.
Beneath it were seven words.
Your husband was never the rightful heir.
Vivien looked out toward the sea.
A black boat was approaching the island.
Someone stood at the bow, watching the house.
Then her phone rang again.
This time, the caller ID displayed a name she had never expected to see.
MARGARET ASHCROFT.
Vivien answered.
Her mother's voice was barely a whisper.
"Darling, listen carefully. Do not trust Gabriel."
The call ended.
Behind Vivien, the door to the hidden room slowly began to close.
And from somewhere inside the darkened house, a familiar voice spoke.
May you like
"Welcome home, Donna."
TO BE CONTINUED...
