Chapter 9 - The Sister
Jessi's mother had died when Jessi was eleven.
At least, that was what she had been told.
The new evidence changed everything.
Her mother's maiden name connected to a small trust account in another state.
The beneficiary was a woman named Claire Bennett.
Claire was forty-three.
Jessi was twenty-nine.
And according to the birth records, Claire was her half-sister.
Phoebe sat beside Jessi as they studied the file.
“Your mother had another child before she met your father.”
Jessi shook her head.
“She never told me.”
“She may have been protecting Claire.”
Jessi found Claire's address.
It took two days to locate her.
Claire lived in a modest house outside the city.
When Jessi knocked, a woman with familiar blue eyes opened the door.
They stared at each other.
Neither spoke.
Finally Claire whispered:
“You look like her.”
Jessi's throat tightened.
“So do you.”
Claire invited her inside.
She explained that their mother had visited her secretly for years.
She had never told Jessi because she feared Jessi's father would discover the relationship.
Then Claire revealed the final secret.
Their mother had known about Marcus.
She had helped Jessi's father hide evidence against him.
Before she died, she gave Claire a sealed letter.
Claire handed it to Jessi.
Inside was one sentence:
Marcus didn't kill your father. He only made sure the person who did could never be found.
Jessi looked up.
“Who?”
Claire shook her head.
“I don't know.”
But there was something else in the envelope.
A photograph.
Jessi's father stood beside a woman.
The woman was pregnant.
Claire recognized her immediately.
It was their mother.
And standing behind them was—
Luca's father.
Jessi stared at the photograph.
May you like
Her entire understanding of the family shifted again.
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