LOGINShare
Chapter 12: The Box From The Past
publish date:
2026-07-08 20:19:22The name written on the box made Sophia's heart stop.
Isabella Carter. Her mother's name. The mansion that was usually filled with silence suddenly felt suffocating. Everyone in the room stared at the small black box sitting on the table. Nobody moved. Nobody spoke. Until Alexander finally stepped forward. "Where exactly was this found?" The security guard answered quickly. "In the west wing. Inside the old storage room." Alexander frowned. "The west wing is locked." "Yes, Mr. Black." "Only a few people have access." The guard nodded. Sophia looked at Alexander. "So whoever entered this house was not a random person." Alexander's expression became cold. "No." He looked at the box. "They wanted us to find this." --- Sophia reached toward the box. But Alexander stopped her. "Wait." She looked at him. "What?" "We don't know what's inside." Sophia stared at him. "My mother's name is on it." "I know." "Then I need to see." Alexander hesitated. He understood. If it was something connected to Isabella, Sophia deserved answers. Slowly, he nodded. "Open it." Sophia carefully lifted the lid. Inside were several items. An old diary. A small USB drive. And a letter. Her hands trembled when she saw the handwriting. It was her mother's. She picked up the letter. The first words immediately brought tears to her eyes. "To my daughter, Sophia." She stopped breathing. Her mother had written something for her. Something she never received. Alexander quietly stood beside her. "Do you want me to leave?" Sophia shook her head. "No." She opened the letter. --- "My dear Sophia, If you are reading this, then something happened and I was not able to tell you everything myself." Sophia's vision became blurry. "First, I want you to know that everything I did was to protect you. I never wanted you to grow up surrounded by fear or secrets." She swallowed. "But there are things you must know. The Carter and Blackwood families were never enemies. Someone wanted us to believe that." Sophia looked at Alexander. He was listening carefully. She continued reading. "The person responsible for everything is someone who knows both families very well. Someone who has been hiding behind trust and power." Her fingers tightened around the paper. "Do not trust anyone who tries to make you hate the Blackwood family. Hatred is exactly what they wanted." Sophia paused. Her mother's words were changing everything. She continued. "Your father made mistakes, but he was trying to fix them. He loved you more than anything." A tear fell down Sophia's face. Her mother wasn't accusing her father. She was defending him. Then she reached the final lines. "Sophia, there is one person who can help you find the truth. Look for the man who kept my secret." The letter ended there. Sophia looked confused. "The man who kept her secret?" Alexander took the letter carefully. "Who could that be?" Before Sophia could answer, the USB drive caught their attention. --- They moved to Alexander's office. The security team checked the USB drive first. "No viruses or tracking devices," Daniel confirmed. Alexander looked at Sophia. "Are you ready?" She nodded. The computer screen turned on. A video file appeared. Created twenty years ago. Sophia held her breath. Alexander clicked play. A woman appeared on the screen. Isabella Carter. Sophia covered her mouth. Seeing her mother alive again after so many years was overwhelming. "Hello, Sophia." Her mother's voice filled the room. "If you are watching this, then I failed to tell you the truth myself." Sophia couldn't stop the tears. Isabella continued. "I don't know how old you are now, but I hope you grew up happy." She smiled sadly. "I need you to listen carefully." The video became serious. "The person who caused everything is not who you think." Alexander leaned closer. "Who?" Isabella looked directly into the camera. "The person who destroyed both families..." She paused. "...was my closest friend." Sophia froze. "My closest friend?" The video continued. "I trusted her with everything. My family. My secrets. My fears." Isabella's expression became painful. "But she betrayed me." The screen suddenly flickered. Then a name appeared. Sophia and Alexander both stared. Because they knew the name. Victoria Blackwood. --- The room became silent. Sophia looked at Alexander. "Victoria..." Alexander didn't answer. He looked shocked. But something was wrong. The video did not prove everything. It only showed Isabella's belief. Daniel spoke carefully. "Mr. Black, we need to verify this." Alexander nodded. "Yes." Sophia looked at the screen. "My mother trusted her." "And she was betrayed," Alexander said. Sophia turned toward him. "Do you believe Victoria did it?" Alexander was quiet. Finally he answered. "I believe we need to know the full truth." --- Later that night, Victoria returned to the mansion. She entered the living room and immediately noticed something. Everyone was silent. Alexander was standing there. Sophia beside him. And on the table was the old box. Victoria stopped. "You found it." Alexander looked at her. "You knew about this box?" Victoria's face changed. Only slightly. But enough. Sophia noticed. "You knew my mother left something behind." Victoria looked at her. "I knew she was prepared." "Prepared for what?" Victoria sighed. "You don't understand what you are dealing with." Alexander stepped forward. "Then explain." Victoria looked at him. "I can't." "Why?" "Because Isabella's death was not the end." A cold feeling filled the room. "What does that mean?" Sophia asked. Victoria looked at her. "It means the person who killed your mother..." She paused. "...is still trying to finish what they started." At midnight, someone entered an abandoned building outside the city. The person removed a phone and made a call. "They found Isabella's message." A voice answered. "Then it's time." "What about Sophia?" A cold laugh came from the other side. "Let her discover the truth." "Won't that be dangerous?" The person looked at a picture of Sophia. "No." They smiled. "Because when Sophia learns who really betrayed her..." "She will never trust Alexander again.
Latest chapter
The Billionaire's Contract Wife Chapter 44: The Truth He Cannot Burn
The dawn light was grey and thin, barely strong enough to cut through the mist settling over the estate grounds. It turned the grass silver and the old stone paths into pale rivers leading nowhere good.Sophia stood at the mouth of the tunnel exit, the cold earth still crumbling behind her, and stared at the man who had destroyed her mother.Stephen Vale.He looked exactly like the architect of two decades of pain should look: unremarkable in a way that was terrifying. No theatrical scar, no obvious madness in his eyes. Just a tall, gaunt man in an expensive coat, standing with the relaxed posture of someone who believed he had already won.Beside him, Simon held Emily with one hand clamped around her upper arm. Her face was bruised along the cheekbone, her lip split, her eyes wide and wet above the gag. But she was alive. Standing. Fighting to keep her knees from buckling.Sophia took one step forward.Alexander's hand shot out, catching her wrist."Don't," he said low.She didn't pu
The Billionaire's Contract Wife Chapter 43: The Heir Returns
The drive to the Blackwood Estate was the longest twenty minutes of Sophia's life.She sat in the back of the SUV with Clara, while Alexander rode ahead with Daniel in the lead vehicle. The sky had turned from black to a bruised grey at the horizon, rain finally stopped, leaving the air heavy and sharp.Every breath felt borrowed.Every heartbeat louder than the one before.Clara sat very still, her coat pulled tight around her thin frame, eyes fixed on nothing.Sophia watched her for a moment."You said you worked for Stephen for years."Clara nodded faintly. "I thought I worked for a law firm. Then a financial consultancy. Then a private security company. Every few years, the name changed. The work didn't.""And the work was hiding Edward's marriage.""Archiving it. Protecting it. Suppressing every record that could surface." She looked at her hands. "I didn't know what I was really protecting. Not until three days ago when Marcus sent me the message about the wedding."Sophia frown
The Billionaire's Contract Wife Chapter 42: The Man They Buried Alive
The world stopped existing outside that concrete room.Sophia stood frozen in the doorway of unit 71, the brass key still clutched in her trembling hand. The flashlight from Daniel's phone cut across the small space, illuminating the old man bound to the wooden chair.Her grandfather.Edward Carter.Twenty years.Twenty years of believing he had died in a car accident on a rain-slicked highway. Twenty years of grief that had shaped her father into a silent, guarded man. Twenty years of birthdays, holidays, milestones—all marked by absence.And he had been here the whole time.Alive.Trapped.Forgotten by everyone except the people who wanted him dead.Edward blinked slowly against the light, his eyes adjusting after what must have been hours of darkness. His voice came out cracked, barely above a whisper."Sophia..."She couldn't move.Alexander stepped forward first, his hand still steadying her arm. "Daniel, cut the restraints."Daniel moved immediately, pulling a knife from his bel
The Billionaire's Contract Wife Chapter 41: Before Dawn
The text message burned into the room like a brand.**If you open 71 before dawn, she dies.**Sophia stared at the words until they blurred. Around her, the room had gone silent in that terrible way silence falls after a grenade lands but before it explodes.William was the first to speak."Unknown number?"Daniel nodded, already typing. "Burner. Already dead. I'll trace the relay anyway, but don't expect results."Alexander's voice cut through like ice. "There's always a choice attached to messages like this."Emily looked up from the floor where she still sat. "Meaning?""Meaning they want us to stop. To wait. To hesitate long enough for them to move whatever's inside that unit somewhere we can never reach it."William crossed to the window, staring out at the rain. "Or they want us to go anyway, and the threat is real."Sophia felt the weight of that choice pressing down on all of them.Elizabeth spoke quietly from the bed where she had finally sat down heavily. "Stephen doesn't bl
The Billionaire's Contract Wife Chapter 40: The Chapel Wing
Sophia ran.The corridor blurred past in streaks of lamplight and shadow, her pulse pounding louder than her footsteps. Behind her came Alexander, Daniel, and William, with two security men moving fast at their sides.Somewhere deeper in the house, the alarm had finally fallen silent.That made everything worse.Because now every sound stood out sharply—the slap of shoes against polished wood,the clipped voices through earpieces,the creak of old walls settling,the ragged pull of Sophia's breath.Simon was inside.Not outside giving orders.Not waiting in a car.Not speaking through walls like some polished ghost.Inside.Close to Emily.Sophia turned the corner toward the old chapel wing and nearly slipped on the runner rug. Alexander's hand caught her elbow for half a second, steadying her without breaking stride."This way," William snapped, taking the narrower passage left of the gallery hall.The old Carter house had too many corridors, too many hidden sections, too many gener
The Billionaire's Contract Wife Chapter 39: The File He Burned
The passage to the carriage shed felt endless.Narrow stone walls closed in around them. The air was damp and cold, thick with the smell of age and dust and earth. Behind them, somewhere beyond the hidden panel, came the muffled sound of wood cracking and men moving.Simon and his people were still in the house.Still close.Still speaking poison into every silence they touched.Sophia moved quickly beside Emily, but her mind had stopped obeying the urgency of her body.There was only one sentence echoing now.There was an old contingency file. I found it after we married. I destroyed it.Her pulse would not settle.Not because she thought Alexander had planned to use it.Not because she thought he had lied about destroying it.But because he had known.He had known there had once been a plan involving her—a document where she existed as leverage—and he had never told her.Another secret.Another buried truth offered only when forced into the light.Sophia hated how much that hurt.
You may also like
A Ruling Passion: Mr Tremont's Priceless Little Bride
Lemon Flavored Cat1.5M viewsMr. Ford Is Jealous
Boat of Peaches775.7K viewsCEO Husband's Crazy Love For His Little Wife
TSI1.5M viewsOn Her Daddy’s Bed!
Xee write676.7K viewsThe Dead Bride's Revenge
Nyra Vale60 viewsAddicted to Mr. Wrong
Ollie29 viewsLeft Before You Looked Back
Blackseed133 viewsContracted to the wrong twin
Enny's pen 50 views
