The Sister's Story

"Sarah Kovac," Mary said, touching the face in the photograph. "She was the oldest. The beautiful one. The one who wanted to be an actress."

"An actress?" Claire asked, her mind racing. "But Silas said she was a kidnapping victim. He said her son was taken."

"He was," Mary said. "But Sarah wasn't just a mother. She was... complicated. She met Arthur in New York in the late 80s. She was auditioning for commercials. He was the investor."

Mary looked at Aris.

"He didn't just meet her. He obsessed over her. He said she looked like a queen. Like royalty."

"Like Evelyn," Claire whispered.

"No," Mary said. "Like the woman he *wanted* Evelyn to be. The real Evelyn... she was quiet. Shy. She hated the parties. She hated the attention. But Sarah? Sarah loved it."

She took a sip of her coffee, her hand trembling.

"Arthur had an affair with Sarah. For years. While he was married to Evelyn. While he was trying to have a child with Evelyn."

"And Michael?" Claire asked. "Whose son was he?"

Mary looked at the table.

"He was Arthur's," she said. "Sarah got pregnant. Arthur set her up in an apartment in Columbus. He paid for everything. But he wouldn't leave his wife."

"Because of the money," Aris said. "The Trust."

"Yes. The Trust required a legitimate heir. A child born in wedlock. Michael was a bastard. He couldn't inherit."

"So Arthur stole him," Claire said. "He stole his own illegitimate son to pass him off as legitimate."

"He stole him," Mary agreed. "And when Sarah threatened to go to the press... he took her too."

"He didn't kill her?"

"No," Mary said. "He made her an offer. She could live. She could be with her son. She could have the life of luxury she always wanted. All she had to do was become Evelyn Vance."

"But Evelyn was still alive," Claire said.

"Not for long," Mary said darkly. "Evelyn found out. About the affair. About the baby. She tried to leave with David—the baby Arthur bought to replace Michael when he thought Michael was lost. And that night... Arthur killed her."

"And Sarah?"

"Sarah stepped into her shoes," Mary said. "Literally. She moved into the house the next day. She wore Evelyn's clothes. She raised Evelyn's stolen baby. And she let the world believe that Evelyn Vance had simply recovered from a long illness."

"But what about Michael?" Claire asked. "What happened to him?"

"He died," Mary whispered. "In the basement. Arthur brought him there, but he was... damaged. The trauma of the kidnapping. He screamed. He wouldn't stop screaming."

She looked at Claire, her eyes full of tears.

"So Arthur got rid of him. And he made Sarah watch."

Claire felt sick. Sarah Kovac—the woman she had known as her mother-in-law, the woman who had welcomed her into the family, the woman she had buried—had lived a life of unimaginable horror. She was a prisoner in a golden cage, forced to play the role of the woman her lover had murdered, forced to raise a stranger's child while her own son lay dead beneath the floorboards.

"She wanted to leave," Mary said. "A thousand times. She wrote to me. Secret letters, hidden in books she donated to the library. She told me she was saving money. She told me she had a plan."

"The box," Claire said. "The safe deposit box."

"Yes. She put everything in there. The birth certificate. The diary. The proof."

Mary reached across the table and took Claire's hand.

"She didn't want to stay forever," she said. "She wanted to escape. But she couldn't."

"Why?" Claire asked.

"Because he took her passport," Mary said. "And he told her that if she ever tried to leave again, he would do to David what he did to Michael."