Eliza stared at the young woman.

Same brown eyes.

Same delicate nose.

Same small crescent-shaped scar near the chin.

It was like looking into a mirror that showed a life she had never lived.

“Amelia?” Margaret whispered.

The young woman frowned.

“My name is Catherine Vale.”

Thomas placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Go upstairs, Catherine.”

But she didn’t move.

She was staring at Eliza.

“Who is she?”

Thomas’s smile disappeared.

“Nobody you need to concern yourself with.”

Margaret stepped forward.

“She’s your sister.”

Silence filled the room.

Catherine looked at Thomas.

“That’s impossible.”

Margaret began explaining.

Seventeen years earlier, Thomas had separated the three children after discovering that Margaret possessed evidence capable of destroying his fortune.

He had kept Amelia, renamed her Catherine, and raised her as his daughter.

Benjamin had been sent away.

Eleanor, now Eliza, had been placed with distant relatives under Thomas’s supervision.

He had deliberately kept the sisters apart.

“Why?” Catherine whispered.

Thomas answered coldly.

“Because your mother was determined to ruin everything I’d built.”

Margaret shook her head.

“You built it by taking children from their families.”

Thomas ignored her.

Instead, he turned to Caleb.

“Take the key.”

Caleb approached Eliza.

She backed away.

“You knew?”

He said nothing.

“You knew I had a sister?”

Caleb’s silence answered her.

Then he raised his pistol.

Rowan stepped between them.

“Put it down.”

Caleb laughed.

“Or what, old man?”

Rowan didn’t reach for his rifle.

He simply said, “Your father would be ashamed.”

Caleb froze.

Eliza looked from one man to the other.

“What did you say?”

Rowan’s face darkened.

“Caleb isn’t who he claims to be.”

Thomas suddenly shouted, “Enough!”

But Rowan continued.

“His real name is Benjamin Vale.”

Eliza felt the air leave her lungs.

Benjamin.

Her brother.

The man she had married.

For several horrible seconds, nobody moved.

Then Margaret spoke.

“No.”

Her voice was steady.

“That is not Benjamin.”

Rowan turned toward her.

Margaret stepped closer to Caleb.

“Benjamin had a scar across his right shoulder from a childhood fall. Show me yours.”

Caleb didn’t move.

“Show me.”

Thomas reached for the pistol.

Catherine struck his arm with a heavy ledger.

The weapon clattered across the floor.

Rowan seized Thomas.

Caleb fled through the corridor.

Eliza stood trembling.

“Mother, tell me the truth.”

Margaret took her hands.

“Caleb was given Benjamin’s identity when he was fifteen. Thomas arranged it to conceal another boy’s disappearance.”

“Then who is he?”

“A former employee’s son. Thomas trained him to watch you.”

Eliza nearly collapsed with relief.

But another question remained.

“Where is Benjamin?”

Margaret looked toward Rowan.

“Ask him.”

The mountain man lowered his eyes.

For seventeen years, Rowan had carried a secret even Margaret did not fully understand.

He finally spoke.

“I found a little boy wandering near the burned chapel. He couldn’t remember his name. He was injured and terrified.”

Eliza stared at him.

“You found my brother?”

Rowan nodded.

“I raised him.”

“Where is he now?”

Rowan’s voice broke.

“Three months ago, he disappeared while investigating Thomas’s business.”

Margaret covered her mouth.

“Benjamin was here?”

“He came looking for proof,” Rowan answered. “And I believe Thomas’s men captured him.”

Suddenly, a bell rang from the upper floor.

Then another.

Catherine hurried to the window.

Flames were spreading across the eastern wing.

Caleb had set the house on fire.

Smoke poured beneath the cellar door.

Thomas struggled against Rowan.

“You fools! The records!”

Margaret pointed toward a narrow passage behind the shelves.

“There’s another exit!”

They rushed toward it.

But Eliza stopped.

Through the smoke, she heard someone pounding from behind a locked wall.

Three knocks.

A pause.

Three more.

Then a man’s voice.

“Help!”

Rowan went pale.

He knew that voice.

“Benjamin.”

The passage was filling with smoke.

The ceiling began to crack.

And Eliza realized she had only seconds to choose.

Escape with her mother.

Or risk everything to save the brother she had never known.

Part 5: Click here