Chapter 3 - The Unburied TruthBy late afternoon, the Beverly Hills mansion was locked down like a fortress. Private security personnel stationed themselves at the front gates, and the staff moved through the hallways in absolute, terrified silence.
I stayed inside the guest suite, feeding Ethan lunch and trying to process the impossible reality of my heritage. Around four o'clock, a soft knock sounded at the double doors.
I opened it to find Sebastian. He had showered, changed into a crisp dark blue button-down shirt, and shaved the rough stubble that had covered his face for weeks. Though his face was still slightly pale from the lingering effects of the fever, his eyes were sharp, alert, and intensely focused.
Behind his wheelchair stood a tall, silver-haired man in a tailored gray suit holding a thick leather briefcase.
“Mary,” Sebastian said quietly. “This is Marcus Vance. He has been my personal attorney and my father’s corporate counsel for thirty years.”
Marcus bowed his head respectfully. “Miss Flores. It is a profound honor to finally meet you.”
I stepped aside, allowing them to enter the suite. Sebastian rolled his chair toward the small sitting area near the window, gesturing for me to sit on the sofa across from him. Marcus set his briefcase on the glass coffee table and opened it, pulling out a series of yellowed, bound legal folders.
“I’ll get straight to the point, Mary,” Marcus began, his voice professional yet warm. “Twenty years ago, when your father, Arthur Reed, tragically died in the car accident, I was the only person besides Arthur who knew about his second family in Ohio.”
I sat back, my hands resting on my lap, my chest tightening. “So it’s true? I am Arthur’s daughter?”
“You are Arthur Reed’s legitimate daughter,” Marcus corrected firmly.
I blinked. “Legitimate?”
Marcus pulled a official document from the top folder and slid it across the table toward me. It was a certified marriage certificate from a small county clerk’s office in Nevada, dated thirty-one years ago—two years before Arthur Reed ever married Evelyn.
“Arthur married your mother, Sarah, in secret when they were both young,” Marcus explained. “When Arthur’s family forced him into an arrangement with Evelyn to merge two massive construction dynasties in California, Arthur attempted to dissolve the marriage. But due to a clerical error and your mother’s sudden disappearance to Ohio, the divorce was never legally finalized. Technically, Arthur’s marriage to Evelyn was bigamous, making Sarah his legal wife under California law at the time of his death.”
I stared at the marriage certificate, my mind spinning. “Does Evelyn know this?”
“Evelyn suspected it,” Sebastian answered, his voice deep and gravelly. He reached out, resting his hand over the police report sitting on the table. “That’s why she kept me isolated. That’s why she spent twenty years convincing me I was a murderer. She knew that if I ever recovered, if I ever took full control of Reed Construction and audited the family trusts, I would discover the hidden payments Arthur had set aside for you.”
Sebastian looked at me, a mixture of profound regret and fierce determination in his dark eyes.
“My mother didn't just sabotage my life, Mary,” Sebastian said softly. “She sabotaged yours. After the crash, Arthur’s will explicitly stated that fifty percent of his private estate was to be placed in an irrevocable trust for Sarah and her children. Evelyn suppressed the second page of that will with the help of a corrupt probate judge. She stole your inheritance, forced your mother to live in poverty, and let you grow up cleaning houses just to survive.”
Tears burned the backs of my eyes. All those years of watching my mother work two jobs, watching her skip meals so I could have new school shoes, watching her suffer in a cold, leaky house in Ohio—it hadn't been a tragic twist of bad luck. It had been a calculated theft by the woman currently residing in the master wing of this estate.
“Why are you telling me this now, Sebastian?” I asked, my voice cracking slightly. “According to this, I could sue your family. I could take half of everything you own.”
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Sebastian leaned forward, placing his calloused hands flat on the glass table.
“I don't care about the money, Mary,” Sebastian said, his eyes burning with absolute sincerity. “Reed Construction is worth billions, but I would burn every cent of it to the ground if it meant giving you what you were robbed of. You saved my life last night. You sat beside my bed, held my hand, and gave me back my soul when I was drowning in a fever. You are my sister. And as long as I draw breath, no one will ever make you feel invisible again.”
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