Chapter 10 – THE FINAL SECRET
I immediately called Sebastian into the library.
He walked in, looking relaxed in a casual sweater, carrying a cup of coffee.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
Anna handed him the locket.
He looked at the picture.
His face hardened instantly. The relaxed brother vanished, replaced by the boss.
“Where did you get this?”
“Arthur sent it,” Anna said. “Why is your father holding me with Camille’s mother?”
Sebastian closed his eyes.
He took a deep breath.
“Because Arthur Sterling wasn’t just a rival. He was a cuckold.”
I gasped.
“Are you saying… Anna…?”
“You’re my half-sister,” Sebastian told Anna, looking at her with a sad smile. “My father had an affair with Arthur’s wife. You were the result.”
Anna sat back in her chair, completely stunned.
“Camille and I… we share a mother?”
“Yes,” Sebastian said. “That’s why Camille’s mother hated you. You were living proof of her infidelity. When my father was killed, she wanted you gone to protect her reputation.”
“She started the fire at the orphanage,” I realized out loud. “Not Marcus. Marcus just wanted the throne. But Camille’s mother wanted Anna dead to hide the affair.”
Sebastian nodded.
“Arthur knew. That’s why he saved you from the fire. He knew his wife was trying to kill you. He hid you to protect you from his own wife, while pretending he was holding you hostage for the money.”
Tears spilled down Anna’s cheeks.
“He wasn’t a monster. He was just a broken man trying to save a little girl.”
It all made sense now.
Why Arthur had paid for her school.
Why he had visited her on birthdays.
He couldn’t claim her as his own, but he couldn’t let his wife murder an innocent child.
He had carried the secret of his wife’s affair, and Anna’s true parentage, to his grave to protect his family’s honor.
Suddenly, the library door swung open.
Margaret stood there, holding Leo by the hand.
“Dinner is ready, you three,” she smiled.
Sebastian looked at the locket one last time.
He closed it with a sharp click.
He walked over to the fireplace and tossed the gold locket into the flames.
Anna gasped. “What are you doing?”
“Ending it,” Sebastian said firmly. “That secret belongs in the ashes. The past is dead. Arthur is dead. Marcus is locked away. Camille is gone. We are moving forward.”
He turned and looked at his sister.
“You are a Blackwood. You are my sister. And this is your home. That’s the only truth that matters anymore.”
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