Chapter 36 - THE WOMAN IN THE PHOTOGRAPH
Nobody moved.
The lights beneath the house had gone completely dark.
The only thing illuminating the hallway was the glow from Michael's phone.
I looked at Evelyn.
She was staring at the photograph in her hand.
"Who is she?"
Evelyn didn't answer.
Sarah stepped closer.
"Mom?"
Evelyn slowly shook her head.
"Don't call me that."
Sarah froze.
"What?"
Evelyn looked at her.
"I haven't been your mother for a very long time."
I felt a chill.
"Then who are you?"
She looked at me.
"My name is Evelyn Hart."
"Not Whitmore?"
"No."
"Then why did everyone call you Evelyn Whitmore?"
"Because your grandfather gave me the name."
I frowned.
"Why?"
"Because the original Evelyn Whitmore died."
Silence.
My father stepped forward.
"What are you saying?"
She looked at him.
"The woman you knew as my mother wasn't my biological mother."
My father went pale.
"Then who was she?"
Evelyn pointed toward the photograph.
"That woman."
I looked again.
The photograph showed a young woman standing beside an older man.
The older man was my great-grandfather.
The young woman was Evelyn.
But she looked barely twenty.
"Who was the older man?"
Evelyn whispered:
"My father."
I stared at her.
"Then your father was..."
"The founder."
My stomach tightened.
"Of the entire system?"
She nodded.
"Before Arthur."
"Before the foundation."
"Before any of the accounts."
"The system existed as a private network."
"What kind of network?"
"Families protecting families."
"Money moving quietly."
"Secrets disappearing."
"People being bought."
She looked ashamed.
"At first, it was supposed to protect people."
"Then?"
"Power changed everything."
Sarah stepped forward.
"And you inherited it."
Evelyn nodded.
"Yes."
"But you tried to destroy it."
"I did."
"Why?"
She looked at Leah.
"Because of her."
Leah held my hand.
Evelyn continued.
"Your father and I realized the system could never be destroyed from the outside."
"So we created someone who could expose it from within."
I stared at her.
"Who?"
Evelyn looked at me.
"You."
I shook my head.
"No."
"Yes."
"Why me?"
"Because you were the only Whitmore who had never taken money from it."
My father looked down.
"I wanted to tell you."
"But you didn't."
"I was afraid."
"Of what?"
"That you would become like us."
I looked at Leah.
"I didn't."
"No."
My father smiled sadly.
"That's why we chose you."
Then Michael interrupted.
"Guys."
We all turned.
He was standing beside the hidden doorway.
"It's open."
A cold draft came from beneath the floor.
Evelyn looked toward it.
Her expression changed.
"The ledger room."
I looked at Leah.
"Stay with Sarah."
Leah shook her head.
"No."
"Leah."
"I know the way."
Everyone went silent.
"What?"
May you like
She looked at the darkness.
"I've been here before."
