A few hours after their wedding, Dante led Sofía to an old room in the castle. He asked her to remain silent and lifted a sheet covering a body dressed in his clothes

Behind us, down in the grand ballroom, we could hear the muffled commotion of the federal auditors and board members entering the estate. Eleanor and Sterling were down there, delaying them, buying us precious time.

We reached the top of the tower—a circular room filled with ancient maps, dusty brass telescopes, and a massive, reinforced iron door set into the far stone wall.

In the center of the iron door was a circular bronze lock mechanism with a deep, rectangular indentation shaped exactly like the emerald pendant on my necklace.

I reached behind my neck, unclasped the heavy gold chain, and held the glowing green pendant in my hand.

"Are you sure about this, Arthur?" I asked, looking up at him in the dim moonlight filtering through the high windows. "Once we open this vault and burn the ledgers, there's no going back. We will be tied to this secret forever."

Arthur took my face in his hands, pressing his forehead gently against mine. "The moment I fell in love with you, Sofía, my fate was tied to yours. We destroy their lies tonight so we can build our own truth tomorrow."

I took a deep breath, lined up the emerald pendant with the bronze lock, and pressed it firmly into the center of the door.

A sharp, metallic CLICK-CLACK echoed through the circular room.

Heavy iron gears inside the wall began to turn, grinding against ancient stone. The massive iron door slowly slid back, revealing a pitch-black walk-in vault lined with rows of steel filing cabinets and old leather-bound books.

Arthur pulled a flashlight from his coat, shining the bright white beam inside the vault.

In the center of the room stood a metal table, on which sat three thick, red leather ledgers stamped with the Vance and DeMarco family crests.

Arthur walked in, grabbing the ledgers, while I grabbed a canister of lighter fluid from a wall emergency shelf.

"Pour it over the whole table," Arthur instructed, opening the heavy books.

As I uncapped the lighter fluid and began pouring the clear liquid over the yellowed pages, my eyes caught a photograph taped to the inside cover of the primary 1995 ledger.

It was an old, black-and-white photo of four young people standing together on a sailboat in Italy: a young Eleanor, a young Leopold, my real father Victor... and a fourth person I had never seen before.

A young woman with dark, striking eyes and a distinct birthmark on her left cheek—the exact same birthmark I carried on my shoulder.

"Arthur... look at this photo," I called out, my voice trembling.

Arthur walked over, shining his flashlight on the black-and-white picture. His eyes widened in absolute astonishment.

"That's my aunt, Victoria DeMarco," Arthur whispered, his voice shaking with sudden disbelief. "She vanished in 1994. My father told everyone she died at sea."

I looked down at the handwritten text beneath the photograph:

Victor Vance & Victoria DeMarco — Married in Secret, Naples, 1994.

My chest seized. The room spun around me.

"My real father... married Victoria DeMarco?" I choked out, tears stinging my eyes. "Then... who was the woman who raised me as my mother?!"

Arthur looked at the photograph, then at me, the terrifying truth dawning on him like a thunderclap.

"The woman who raised you... was Eleanor's younger sister, Beatrice," Arthur revealed, his voice barely a breath. "She took Victoria's place after Victoria died giving birth to you."

Identity Number Six: My raised 'mother' was actually an aunt taking the place of my real, deceased mother.

Identity Number Seven: My true biological mother was Victoria DeMarco, making me a direct blood child of both the Vance and DeMarco bloodlines simultaneously.

Seven faked identities woven into a single, terrifying family tree.