She was frightened.
Victoria took one step forward.
"Let her go."
Briggs smiled.
"You always were impatient."
"You kidnapped a child."
"I brought her somewhere safe."
"She was safer than with you."
Briggs's smile disappeared.
"Your father would disagree."
Victoria's blood ran cold.
"My father is dead."
"His decisions aren't."
Edward stepped forward.
"You can't keep doing this."
Briggs looked at him.
"You've kept quiet for twenty-six years."
Edward's face hardened.
"I was wrong."
"Too late."
Victoria looked at Lucy.
"Are you hurt?"
Lucy shook her head.
"Did he touch you?"
"No."
Victoria looked at Briggs.
"Why did you bring her here?"
Briggs held out his hand.
"The letters."
Victoria lifted the leather bag.
"You first."
Briggs laughed.
"You haven't changed."
"Neither have you."
He nodded toward Lucy.
"Her mother knew the truth."
"What truth?"
"That Hale House was never your father's property."
Victoria stared.
Briggs continued.
"Your mother inherited the estate from her family. The property was placed in trust for both daughters."
Victoria looked at Edward.
He nodded.
"Half belonged to Anna."
Briggs continued.
"When Anna disappeared, your father forged documents transferring control of her share."
Victoria understood.
"If Anna were dead, the trust could eventually be absorbed."
"And if she had a child," Edward said, "that child inherited her rights."
Everyone looked at Lucy.
Briggs smiled.
"Exactly."
Victoria's anger became ice.
"This was never about protecting the family."
"No."
"It was about money."
"Money keeps families alive."
"No."
Victoria shook her head.
"Love does."
Briggs looked toward the police lights appearing in the distance.
His expression changed.
"You brought them."
Victoria smiled.
"I told you I wasn't coming alone."
Briggs reached toward Lucy.
Victoria shouted,
"Now!"
Detective Lane and two officers rushed from the trees.
Briggs tried to run.
He made it three steps.
Then an officer tackled him into the grass.
Lucy ran toward Victoria.
Victoria dropped to her knees and caught her.
"It's okay."
Lucy clung to her.
"I was scared."
"I know."
"I thought he was going to take me away."
"He won't."
Victoria looked over Lucy's shoulder.
Briggs was being handcuffed.
Edward stood nearby.
For the first time, Victoria saw him not as the cousin who had betrayed her, but as a man who finally understood the cost of his silence.
Still, forgiveness would come later.
Much later.
The investigation lasted months.
Old records were reopened.
Financial documents were recovered.
False statements were uncovered.
Walter Briggs had helped Victoria's father create a false version of Anna's disappearance.
The blood found near the river had belonged to a deer.
The jacket had been planted.
The police had never found a body because there had never been one.
Anna had been taken to North Carolina.
She had lived under another surname for years.
She had tried to contact Victoria repeatedly.
Every attempt had been blocked.
Letters disappeared.
Telephone messages vanished.
Money was sent to Anna with warnings.
People told Anna that Victoria wanted nothing to do with her.
At the same time, Victoria had been told Anna was dead.
Two sisters had spent twenty-eight years believing the other had chosen to leave.
Neither had.
That was the cruelty of the secret.
They had both been victims.
When Lucy finally received the last letter her mother had written, Victoria read it beside her.
The letter was simple.
My sweet Lucy,
If you are reading this, I am no longer there to answer your questions.
You will be angry.
You should be.
You may think I abandoned you by sending you to find a woman you have never met.
I did not.
I am sending you to Victoria because she is the only person who knew me before the world changed.
She was my sister.
She was my best friend.
And despite everything that happened, she was the person I trusted most.
You may wonder why I waited so long.
The truth is that I was afraid.
I was afraid she would hate me.
I was afraid she would believe the lies.
I was afraid that if I opened the door to the past, the people who hurt us would come back.
But fear is not the same as safety.
Remember that.
If you find Victoria, give her the locket.
She will understand.
She has the other half.
Tell her I never stopped loving her.
Not for one day.
Victoria stopped reading.
Lucy was crying.
"Mom wrote that?"
Victoria nodded.
Lucy looked at her.
"Did you love her?"
Victoria smiled through tears.
"More than anyone."
"Then why didn't you find her?"
Victoria closed her eyes.
"Because I believed a lie."
Lucy moved closer.
"Do you hate her?"
"No."
"Do you hate me?"
Victoria looked at her immediately.
"No."
"Even though I'm part of all this?"
Victoria took Lucy's hand.
"You are not part of the lie."
She squeezed her fingers.
"You are what survived it."
Lucy began to cry.
Victoria pulled her into her arms.
For the first time in twenty-eight years, Victoria allowed herself to grieve Anna not as the twelve-year-old girl she remembered, but as the woman she had become.
A mother.
A survivor.
A woman who had carried love and fear for decades.
And suddenly Victoria realized that mourning someone was not always about losing them.
Sometimes it was about finally discovering everything you had lost.
Lucy moved into Hale House.
The transition was difficult.
She woke from nightmares.
She hid food beneath her bed.
She checked the locks before sleeping.
She often asked Victoria the same question.
"Are you going to be here tomorrow?"
Victoria always answered,
"Yes."
The first time Lucy asked, Victoria thought she was asking about the next day.
Eventually she understood.
Lucy was asking whether Victoria would disappear.
So Victoria began leaving notes.
I'm here.
Then:
I'm still here.
Then:
I'll see you at breakfast.
Lucy kept every one.
The house changed.
It became louder.
There were schoolbooks on the dining table.
Shoes in the hallway.
A bicycle beside the fountain.
Drawings on the refrigerator.
Victoria discovered that Lucy hated broccoli.
She discovered Lucy loved astronomy.
She discovered the girl could identify planets faster than Victoria could remember their names.
One evening, Lucy stood in the garden.
"That's Venus."
Victoria looked up.
"I thought Venus was a star."
"It's a planet."
"Then why does it look like a star?"
Lucy sighed.
"You really need me."
Victoria laughed.
"Apparently."
Lucy smiled.
The sound reminded Victoria of Anna.
Not exactly.
But enough.
Enough to hurt.
Enough to heal.
Edward eventually testified against Briggs.
He admitted everything.
He told investigators what their uncle had told him.
He provided financial records.
He surrendered documents.
He resigned from the Hale family business.
Victoria did not forgive him immediately.
She couldn't.
One afternoon, he came to Hale House.
He stood at the gate.
Victoria walked outside.
"I know you don't want me here."
"I don't."
He nodded.
"I understand."
He handed her a box.
"What is this?"
"Something I should have given you years ago."
Victoria opened it.
Inside was an old photograph.
Anna and Victoria were children.
They were sitting beneath an oak tree.
Both were wearing half of the same locket.
Victoria stared at it.
"I thought this was lost."
"I found it in your father's office."
Victoria looked at Edward.
"Why are you giving it to me?"
"Because it belongs to you."
She studied him.
"You know I may never forgive you."
"I know."
"You stole years from me."