Chapter 9 - THE AUNT WHO NEVER DIED|
The voice on the phone was old but unmistakably steady.
Graham immediately activated the recording system.
"Who is this?"
A pause.
"Margaret."
Tabitha grabbed the phone.
"Aunt Margaret?"
The woman inhaled sharply.
"Elizabeth's little girl."
Tabitha's eyes filled.
"You're alive?"
"I've been alive longer than anyone wanted me to be."
"Where are you?"
"That doesn't matter. What matters is that you stop trusting the people around you."
Graham stepped closer.
"Why should we believe you?"
"Because I know what happened to your mother."
Tabitha pressed the phone to her ear.
"Please. Tell me."
Margaret began explaining.
Twenty-three years earlier, Isabella had discovered that her husband had been selling confidential medical records and using private clinics to conceal criminal activity.
She wanted to leave him.
She also wanted to protect Graham.
Elizabeth and Margaret helped her collect evidence.
But someone inside the family betrayed them.
The night Isabella died, she had arranged to meet Elizabeth at a hotel.
Instead, Margaret arrived.
She found Isabella unconscious.
Simon Hale was standing beside her.
And Anthony Russo's father was waiting outside.
"Why didn't you tell the police?" Tabitha asked.
"Because the police were already being paid."
Margaret continued.
"Your mother escaped with you. I stayed behind to protect the evidence. When I tried to contact her, I was told she had died."
Tabitha began crying.
"She died believing she was alone."
Margaret's voice softened.
"She wasn't. I watched over you from a distance."
Graham's jaw tightened.
"Who killed Isabella?"
"Her husband ordered the cover-up. But he didn't act alone."
"Who helped him?"
"Anthony's father."
Graham looked toward the security monitors.
"Then why is Anthony still alive?"
Margaret fell silent.
Then she spoke a sentence that changed everything.
"Because Anthony isn't the only Russo who betrayed your family."
Graham's expression hardened.
"Who else?"
"Your own mother had a second child."
Silence.
Tabitha looked at Graham.
"What?"
Margaret continued.
"Isabella gave birth to a little girl before you were born. Your father told everyone the baby died. But she survived."
Graham felt as if the floor had disappeared beneath him.
"Where is she?"
"She's closer than you think."
Before Margaret could continue, the call disconnected.
Graham immediately traced the number.
It led to a public telephone in Brooklyn.
He sent security to investigate.
Meanwhile, Tabitha sat beside him in the study.
"Do you think she was telling the truth?"
"I don't know."
"Could you have a sister?"
Graham looked at the photograph of his mother.
"Apparently, I could."
He stood and walked to the fireplace.
"My father told me I was his only child."
"Perhaps he was protecting her."
"Or hiding her."
A knock interrupted them.
A young security officer entered.
"Boss, we found the woman."
Graham turned.
"Where?"
"An apartment in Brooklyn. But there's something else."
"What?"
The officer hesitated.
"She was found dead."
Tabitha covered her mouth.
The officer continued.
"Her apartment was searched. Everything was destroyed except one photograph."
He handed it to Graham.
It showed a baby wrapped in a white blanket.
On the back was a handwritten name.
CATHERINE COSTA.
Graham stared at the photograph.
Then he noticed the tiny hospital bracelet around the baby's wrist.
It carried the same date as a hospital record he had discovered in his father's library.
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And the bracelet listed a second name.
TABITHA ELIZABETH HAYES.
