Chapter 7 - THE HOUSE THAT NEVER SOLD
The moment Logan left, Rachel stepped from behind the curtain.
She was shaking.
“He knows,” she whispered.
I stared at her.
“Knows what?”
“That you're awake.”
My heart pounded.
“How?”
Rachel shook her head.
“I don't know.”
Daniel arrived twenty minutes later.
When I told him about my father's house, he immediately pulled out his phone.
He searched the property records.
Then his expression changed.
“Maya…”
“What?”
“The house was never sold.”
I stared at him.
“That’s impossible.”
“No,” Daniel said quietly. “What's impossible is who owns it.”
He turned the phone toward me.
The property was registered under a private holding company.
A company called Sterling Meridian Holdings.
My father's company.
But that wasn't the worst part.
Daniel opened the corporate records.
The controlling trustee was listed as—
Logan Vance.
My hands went numb.
“He owns my father's house?”
“No,” Daniel said.
“He controls the trust that owns it.”
“What's inside?”
Daniel looked at me.
“I don't know.”
Rachel stepped forward.
“I do.”
We both turned.
Rachel's eyes filled with tears.
“I've been there.”
“When?”
“Three months ago.”
“Why?”
She hesitated.
“Because Logan took me there.”
Daniel stood.
“What did you see?”
Rachel looked at me.
“A woman.”
My breath stopped.
“Who?”
“She was sitting in the upstairs bedroom.”
Rachel's voice broke.
“She was older. Thin. Her hair was gray.”
She looked directly at me.
“And she had the same eyes as you.”
I couldn't breathe.
“My mother.”
Rachel nodded.
But then she said something that changed everything.
“She wasn't alone.”
“Who was with her?”
Rachel looked toward the hospital door.
“Your father.”
The room went silent.
Daniel slowly closed his briefcase.
“Then we need to leave.”
I looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because if your parents are alive…”
May you like
He paused.
“…then someone has been pretending they are dead for fifteen years.”
