Chapter 5 - THE SISTER WHO SHOULDN'T EXIST
The woman was waiting for them at the Volkov house.
Not inside.
On the front steps.
Alone.
She looked about thirty.
Dark hair.
Gray eyes.
A long black coat buttoned to her throat.
Adrian got out of the SUV first.
Sophia followed despite his order to remain inside.
The woman smiled.
“Adrian.”
He aimed his pistol.
“Name.”
“Isabelle.”
“Last name.”
She looked at Sophia.
“Laurent.”
Sophia’s stomach dropped.
“No.”
Isabelle’s smile faded.
“That was my reaction too.”
Adrian moved between them.
“If you came here to play games—”
“I came because our mother is going to kill Charles tonight.”
Sophia pushed around him.
“My father is alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“I’ll tell you when he’s safe.”
Adrian laughed without humor.
“You arrived at my home, attacked my guards, claim to be my sister and hers, and expect cooperation?”
“I didn’t attack your guards.”
“Three men are injured.”
“They attacked me.”
“Because you broke into my house.”
“I knocked.”
“With explosives?”
“They weren’t answering.”
Sophia almost laughed.
Adrian did not.
“Explain.”
Isabelle looked toward the security cameras.
“Not outside.”
Ten minutes later, they sat in Adrian’s library.
Nikolai remained under guard.
Damian had been taken to a doctor Adrian trusted.
Roman stood by the door.
Isabelle placed a photograph on the desk.
Charles Laurent.
Elena Kane.
And a baby.
Sophia stared.
“Who is that?”
“Me.”
Isabelle folded her arms.
“Elena disappeared after Mikhail’s murder. Charles found her six months later.”
Adrian’s face hardened.
“My father’s wife and Sophia’s father?”
“It wasn’t romantic.”
“Convenient.”
“She was pregnant before Mikhail died.”
Adrian went still.
Isabelle met his eyes.
“Mikhail was my father.”
Adrian stared at her.
“My sister.”
“Yes.”
Sophia exhaled.
“Then why did you call yourself Laurent?”
“Because Charles raised me.”
Silence.
Sophia sat down.
“What?”
“He hid Elena. When I was born, she left me with Charles.”
“Why?”
“Because Victor was looking for her. So were the Volkovs. Charles gave me a new identity and raised me away from Bellhaven.”
Sophia shook her head.
“My father raised another daughter and never told me?”
“He visited me four times a year.”
“That isn’t raising you.”
“It was more than Elena did.”
Sophia looked at the photograph again.
“So we aren’t biological sisters.”
“No.”
“Then why did you say we were?”
Isabelle’s expression softened.
“Because Charles called you my sister.”
That hurt in a completely different way.
Sophia looked away.
Adrian remained focused.
“Where is Charles?”
“Victor has him.”
Sophia stood.
“You said Elena was going to kill him.”
“She is.”
“Victor and Elena are working together?”
“No.”
Isabelle shook her head.
“That’s what none of you understand. Victor has been searching for Elena for years.”
“Why?”
“Because she stole the ledger.”
Adrian frowned.
“The ledger is here.”
“No.”
Isabelle looked toward the leather book on the table.
“That is a copy.”
Adrian opened it.
“How do you know?”
“Because the real ledger contains one page Charles removed before copying it.”
“What page?”
“The ownership records.”
Sophia felt dread return.
“Ownership of what?”
“Laurent International.”
The room went silent.
Isabelle continued.
“Your company wasn’t founded entirely by the Laurent family.”
Sophia stared.
“Of course it was.”
“No. Charles and Mikhail built the shipping division together. Mikhail provided half the original capital through shell companies.”
Adrian’s eyes narrowed.
“My father owned part of Laurent International?”
“Forty-nine percent.”
Sophia stood.
“That’s impossible.”
“Charles hid the arrangement after Mikhail died because exposing it would have connected Laurent International to organized crime.”
“Who inherited Mikhail’s shares?”
Isabelle looked at Adrian.
“You.”
Adrian said nothing.
Sophia almost laughed at the absurdity.
“So the man I hired to help me keep my company secretly owns half of it?”
“Technically.”
“Wonderful.”
Adrian glanced at her.
“You’re taking this well.”
“I’m deciding whether murder would improve my week.”
Isabelle almost smiled.
Then her phone vibrated.
She looked down.
Her expression vanished.
“What?”
Sophia asked.
Isabelle turned the screen toward them.
A live video.
Charles Laurent sat tied to a chair.
Sophia stopped breathing.
“Dad.”
He was alive.
Older.
Bruised.
But alive.
A figure entered behind him.
A woman.
Elena.
Adrian stood slowly.
His mother looked directly into the camera.
“My children.”
Adrian’s face became stone.
Elena smiled.
“I wondered how long Charles could keep you apart.”
Sophia moved closer to the screen.
“Where is he?”
Elena ignored her.
“Adrian, your father tried to destroy everything my family built. Charles helped him. Victor spent twenty years believing I betrayed him for love.”
She laughed softly.
“Men always prefer romantic explanations.”
“What do you want?” Adrian asked.
“The ledger.”
“You already had it.”
“I want the original page.”
Isabelle’s face tightened.
“You told me it was destroyed.”
Elena smiled.
“My darling Isabelle. I told you many things.”
Isabelle looked wounded.
Sophia understood immediately.
“You’ve been working for her.”
Isabelle said nothing.
Adrian raised his gun.
Sophia stepped between them.
“No.”
“She brought us here.”
“She also warned us.”
“You don’t know why.”
Elena watched them through the screen.
“Midnight tomorrow. Pier Seventeen. Bring the ledger and Charles lives.”
Adrian leaned toward the phone.
“And if I refuse?”
Elena smiled.
“Then Sophia watches her father die.”
The screen went dark.
Nobody moved.
Finally Sophia turned toward Isabelle.
“How long?”
Isabelle looked at her.
“How long have you worked for Elena?”
“Eleven years.”
Adrian’s weapon rose again.
Isabelle did not flinch.
“But I stopped working for her six months ago.”
“Why?”
“Because I discovered what she was really building.”
“What?”
Isabelle walked to the window.
“A war.”
“Between Victor and me?”
“No.”
She turned.
“Between every major organization in Bellhaven.”
Adrian frowned.
“Why?”
“Because when everyone is dead, Elena inherits what remains.”
Sophia thought of the convoy attack.
The Laurent mansion.
The attacks on Adrian’s properties.
“All of it was her.”
“Yes.”
“Damian?”
“Manipulated.”
“Victor?”
“Manipulated.”
“Adrian?”
Isabelle looked at him.
“Manipulated.”
Adrian did not enjoy the word.
Sophia asked the only question that mattered.
“How do we stop her?”
Isabelle reached inside her coat.
Roman raised his weapon.
She slowly removed a folded map.
“There’s a private tunnel beneath Pier Seventeen. Charles helped build it.”
She placed the map on the table.
“If we enter here, we can reach him without Elena knowing.”
Adrian studied it.
“Too easy.”
“It is.”
Sophia looked at Isabelle.
“What aren’t you telling us?”
Isabelle’s eyes met hers.
“Elena doesn’t actually want the ledger.”
“Then what does she want?”
Isabelle looked toward Adrian.
“She wants him to kill Victor.”
Adrian smiled coldly.
“That can be arranged.”
“No.”
Isabelle stepped closer.
“You still don’t understand.”
Her voice dropped.
“If Victor Kane dies, every criminal organization in Bellhaven has orders to blame you.”
Adrian’s smile disappeared.
“And if Adrian dies,” Isabelle continued, “the Volkov organization has orders to blame Victor.”
Sophia understood.
Either way, war.
Thousands of people dragged into it.
“Then neither dies,” she said.
Adrian looked at her.
Sophia took the map.
“We get my father. We expose Elena. We end this without giving her what she wants.”
Adrian stared at her for several seconds.
Then he nodded.
But across the room, Roman’s phone vibrated.
He looked at the message.
His face drained of color.
“Boss.”
Adrian turned.
Roman held out the phone.
A photograph showed Damian Laurent walking into Victor Kane’s headquarters.
Timestamp:
Two minutes ago.
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Beneath it was another message.
HE BROUGHT THE ORIGINAL LEDGER.
