I quickly read the following letters. They were letters sent from abroad, from France and Switzerland. Adrian told my mother about her new life, her loneliness, the torment of having had to leave her home. She always asked about Liam and me. And she always sent us expensive gifts, gifts that my mother probably never told us we had.
The last letter was dated about 5 years ago, and the handwriting was a bit shakier.
«Sister Catherine. I believe my time is short. This illness has tormented me for too long. My only regret is that I never came back to take care of my two children. I know I don’t deserve to. I abandoned them. But please, Sister. Love them for me. Tell them that wherever I am, their mother will always be watching over them and loving them. I am sending you this key. It is the key to a personal safe deposit box in a Swiss bank. Inside is all the fortune I have amassed. Please give it to my children when they are older. Consider it the final compensation from a sinful mother. Goodbye, my sister, my friend, and my savior. Adrian.»
The letter fell from my hands, my whole body was shaking. Children? Mother? The whole truth, an incredible truth, was slowly revealing itself before my eyes. This woman, Adrian, she was… No, it couldn’t be. My mother was Catherine Miller, and she was dead. There had to be a mistake.
But this stack of letters, this key, and the familiar handwriting…
I sat there, stunned, in the middle of the dusty attic, my mind filled with confusion. The past I knew, the identity I believed in, everything suddenly felt blurry and strange. A huge family secret, a secret buried for over twenty years, was about to be opened, and it was directly related to me.
That night, I couldn’t sleep a minute. The stack of Adrian’s letters and the small key lay silently on the desk, but my mind was a whirlwind. Her mother, two children. Those phrases repeated over and over, stabbing deep into my heart.
I tried to dismiss the crazy idea that Liam and I were not the biological children of the woman we always called «Mom.» But everything fit together in a terrifying way: the handwriting, the expensive gifts, and the term «grandmother» for Ava.
The next morning I couldn’t wait any longer. I had to find Liam; he had to know too. He was my brother, my only family. He had a right to know the truth about our roots.
I drove hastily back to the city. I went straight to my brother’s office. Seeing my haggard look and sunken eyes, he questioned me with concern. I said nothing. I just silently closed the office door and placed the stack of letters and the key on his desk.
«Read it,» I said in a hoarse voice.
Liam, surprised, picked up the first letter. As he read, his expression changed from surprise to astonishment and shock. He read every letter, and the hand holding the paper began to tremble. When he finished the last letter, he collapsed into his chair, staring into space with lost eyes.
«No, it can’t be,» he muttered, shaking his head over and over. «Our mother is Catherine. Who is this Adrian?»
«I thought so too,» I said bitterly, «but brother, look at this handwriting. It’s identical to the one on Ava’s birthday card.» I showed him the photo of the card I had taken with my phone.
Liam stared at both handwritings. The last shred of doubt in his eyes vanished. He covered his face with his hands, and his broad shoulders shook. For the first time in my life, I saw my always strong and steady brother so fragile and helpless.
We sat in silence for a long time, each lost in our own confused thoughts. The past we knew, the mother we loved, had all suddenly become a big question mark.
«So, Mom Catherine?» Liam lifted his head, his voice hoarse. «Wasn’t our biological mother? She raised us, she loved us… why did she hide this from us?»
«I don’t know,» I shook my head. «But I think she had her reasons. Mom Adrian said she had to leave, that she couldn’t stay. Something terrible must have happened. A car accident.» That clue came back to my mind. «Mom Adrian said Mom Catherine saved her.»
«Yes, the secret must be in that car accident, Liam.» I looked my brother straight in the eye. «We have to find out the truth, not just for us, but for both our mothers.»
Liam nodded, his gaze becoming much more determined. «You’re right. We have to find out what exactly happened 25 years ago.»
Our investigation began with the vague clues from the letters: the car accident, the date, and the name «Adrian.» Thanks to Liam’s social standing and David’s police contacts, it wasn’t too difficult to reopen the old case files, covered in the dust of time.
A few days later we got the accident report. It was a terrible crash in the Rocky Mountains. A luxury car lost control and plunged off a cliff, exploding. According to the report, four people were in the car: the CEO of the Rivas Jewelers Group and his wife, and the driver and his wife. It was concluded that all four had died.
Rivas Jewelers. That name stunned Liam and me. It was an empire that once dominated the American jewelry industry, but mysteriously collapsed shortly after its CEO’s death.
«Wait a minute,» said Liam. «Rivas. I remember. Our father worked at Rivas before founding the Miller Corporation. He was the CFO there.»
Another coincidence. Everything seemed to be connected. «But the report says all four died,» I said, puzzled. «So who is Mom Adrian, and why did she say Mom Catherine saved her?»
«That’s the key,» intervened David, who was sitting with us. He pointed to a part of the autopsy report. «Of the four bodies found, one was so badly burned, it was unrecognizable. Based on some bone fragments, they could only confirm it was a woman, and people assumed it was the wife of the Rivas CEO, Mrs. Adrian.»
«That means…» I held my breath.
«That it’s very likely that woman was not Mrs. Adrian,» David concluded. «Mrs. Adrian survived the accident, and it’s possible that the person who saved her was our mother, Catherine. But for some reason, she chose to become a ‘dead’ person in everyone’s eyes and live another life abroad.»
But why? Why would a woman with status, money, and everything else abandon it all, even her two children?
«This accident,» Liam mused, «was it really an accident, or was it murder?»
My brother’s question silenced the room. If it was murder, who was the mastermind, and why did Mom Adrian have to flee?
At that moment, David’s phone rang. It was an old colleague from New York. He stepped out to answer and came back with a very serious expression.
«New information,» he said. «I asked them to check the list of top executives at Rivas Jewelers from that time. Guess who was appointed acting CEO, right after the death of CEO Rivas and his wife.»
«Who?» Liam and I asked in unison.
«It was him,» David’s voice became firm. «The CEO of Aurelian Holdings, Mr. Caldwell.»
That name appeared once again. Our family’s old enemy, the man who drove our father to his death. A wave of nausea and anger rose in my throat.
«This can’t be a coincidence,» Liam slammed the table. «Caldwell, our father, Rivas Jewelers, and that car accident… there has to be a connection.»
A dark and terrible picture was beginning to take shape. A conspiracy hidden for 25 years. A crime that not only claimed several lives but also shattered a family. And now, by chance, we seem to be getting closer to the heart of that secret.
The search for our roots had unexpectedly turned into the pursuit of the truth of a serial murder case. And the most likely suspect was our family’s arch-nemesis.
The name Mr. Caldwell was like the key that opened a dark door to the terrible secrets of the past. All the events now came together in a terrifying hypothesis. Mr. Caldwell had not only driven our father to his death to take over the Miller Corporation, but it was very likely that 25 years earlier, he was behind that terrible accident to devour the entire Rivas Jewelers group.
«If that’s true,» Liam gritted his teeth, «he’s not human, he’s a demon.»
«But all of this is just conjecture for now,» said David, trying to maintain the calm of a law professional. «We don’t have concrete evidence to charge him. The case is too old, and almost all traces have likely been erased.»
«And Mom Adrian,» I intervened. «If she’s alive, she’s the most important witness. She’ll know exactly what happened. But why did she flee? Why didn’t she come forward to report it?»
«She was probably scared,» Liam replied. «The enemy was too powerful. She had to worry not only about herself but also about her two children. Perhaps becoming a ‘dead’ person was the only way to protect us.»
I felt a lump in my throat. My biological mother’s departure was not an abandonment, but a silent sacrifice. She had to give up everything for the safety of her two children, living in loneliness and torment in a foreign country. And our mother, Catherine, who raised us, was also part of that sacrifice. She lived her whole life with that secret locked in her heart.
«What do we do now?» I asked, looking alternately at David and Liam. «Go to Switzerland to find Mom Adrian?»
«No,» David and Liam opposed, almost in unison.
«It’s too dangerous,» David explained. «Mr. Caldwell is a cunning old fox; his information network is everywhere. If he finds out we’re investigating, he won’t hesitate to use any means to silence us, just like he did with your father. Besides, we’re not sure Mom Adrian wants to see us. The last letter was written five years ago, and no one knows what situation she’s in now.»
«David is right,» Liam continued. «What we need to do now is look for evidence here first. The safe deposit box key is the most important clue. It’s very likely that the fortune Mom Adrian left not only contains money, but also something that can expose Mr. Caldwell’s crimes.»
«But that’s a Swiss bank,» I said worriedly. «Their bank secrecy laws are the strictest in the world. Even if we have the key, I don’t think I can just go and open it myself.»
«Leave it to me,» Liam said with a determined look. «I have a lawyer friend who specializes in international law. I’ll ask him to find a solution. It might take time, but it’s not impossible.»
While Liam handled the Switzerland issue, David and I decided to start from another angle: looking for former witnesses who worked at Rivas Jewelers at the time of the accident. 25 years is a long time, but surely there were still people who knew what happened, people who had to keep silent due to Mr. Caldwell’s oppression, bribery, or threats.
Our search was very difficult. Many people had moved, many had passed away. Those who remained, upon mentioning the names Rivas Jewelers and Mr. Caldwell, all shook their heads in fear and refused to talk. Mr. Caldwell’s power and cruelty had cast such a large shadow that it had oppressed them for decades.
After several days of desperate searching, we finally had a stroke of luck. We found Mr. Paul, the retired former chauffeur of the Rivas CEO’s family. He was now a frail old man living alone in a small house in the suburbs. When we arrived, he was sitting on his porch, looking into the distance with sad eyes.
At first, he also refused to talk, but when I showed him the photo of Mom Adrian and told him my identity, his old eyes filled with tears. «Miss… are you Miss Chloe?» he asked in a trembling voice.
When I nodded, Mr. Paul burst into tears. «My God, you’re alive. I… I thought the whole CEO’s family…»
He invited us into his house. After calming down, he began to tell the story of 25 years ago, a story he had kept in his heart like a nightmare.
«The day of the accident,» Mr. Paul said in a trembling voice, «I was supposed to drive that car. But that morning, the then vice president, Mr. Caldwell, suddenly sent me to another state on an errand. He said it was urgent and sent another driver in my place. He was a young kid who had just started. I didn’t know him well.»
«When I heard the news of the accident, I felt something was wrong,» he continued. «That car was the CEO’s. I checked it every day; it was impossible for the brakes to fail. I tried to tell the police, but no one believed me. They said I was rambling from grief. And a few days later, Mr. Caldwell sent someone to give me a large sum of money and threatened that if I kept talking, my family would not be safe.»
«Out of fear… for my children…» Mr. Paul hung his head, his voice filled with regret. «I had to keep silent. I took the money and left the job. For these 25 years, I haven’t slept a single night in peace. Remorse and guilt have constantly tormented me.»
Mr. Paul’s testimony was living proof that the accident was not a coincidence but a meticulously planned conspiracy.
«Mr. Caldwell,» Mr. Paul added, «was not only cruel but also very distrustful. He always had a small recorder installed in the CEO’s office to monitor all his conversations. I once accidentally saw him secretly changing the batteries.»
A flash of insight struck me. A recorder. If it was still there, it was very likely that it had recorded important conversations, evidence that could expose Mr. Caldwell’s crimes.