Chapter 1: The Sister No One Knew Existed
Chapter 1: The Sister No One Knew Existed
The ballroom remained frozen.
No one dared to breathe.
Ethan's words echoed beneath the crystal chandeliers.
"She's my sister."
Vanessa stumbled backward, her champagne glass slipping from her fingers and exploding against the marble floor.
"That's impossible," she whispered.
"You don't have a sister."
Ethan never looked at her.
His eyes stayed on the frightened little girl.
He slowly knelt before her.
"What is your name?"
The child hesitated.
"My name is Lily."
"And your mother's name?"
The little girl's lips trembled.
"Rose."
The name struck Ethan like lightning.
Rose.
The youngest daughter of the Ashford family.
The aunt everyone had been told died in a car accident twenty-six years earlier.
Except...
Rose had never died.
His grandfather had lied.
Ethan helped Lily to her feet and gently brushed the dust from her white dress.
"Who brought you here?"
"A lady at the church said this family was mine."
She reached into her tiny pocket and pulled out a faded photograph.
It showed a young woman holding a newborn baby.
Standing beside them...
...was Ethan's grandfather.
The guests gasped.
Vanessa's face turned ghostly pale.
She recognized the photograph.
Because years ago...
...her own father had ordered every copy of it destroyed.