LOGINSome lies steal fortunes. Others steal a lifetime. Six years ago, Cassian Vega lost the only woman he ever loved. On the night Isla Marquez disappeared, her car plunged from Raven Bridge into the river below. No body was ever recovered, but time buried the questions everyone eventually stopped asking. Everyone except Cassian. Every year, on the anniversary of her disappearance, he returns to Blackwater Pier, not because he believes she'll come back, but because something about that night has never made sense. Then, someone leaves a photograph beside him. A woman standing alone at another waterfront. A woman who looks exactly like Isla. On the back are four handwritten words. Nothing was washed away. Suddenly, the past Cassian has spent six years trying to survive begins to unravel. The woman he loved wasn't running from him. She was running toward a truth someone else had spent a lifetime trying to bury. Because Isla Marquez was never meant to disappear. She was stolen long before she ever vanished. Now, buried lies, forgotten identities, and a decades-old conspiracy are drawing them back together. But the greatest mystery isn't whether Isla survived. It's why the woman who loved him disappeared without ever saying goodbye.
View MoreA month had passed since Idris found Fabian’s name in the old custody record.One morning, Dominic called Isla from Astera. He kept the conversation brief. Until they knew who had wanted her gone, he avoided discussing sensitive information over the phone.After a few pleasantries, his tone changed. “Isla, there’s something important I need to discuss with you.”She heard the seriousness in his voice. “What is it?”“I’d rather explain it in person.”“Is this about what you found?”“Partly.”“Has something happened?”“Nothing that puts you in immediate danger. I just don’t want to discuss it over the phone.”He paused before adding, “Tristan came to see me.”“What about Tristan?” she asked. “Does he know anything?”“He knows something was hidden. He doesn’t know where you are.”Isla’s expression tightened. “About me?”“About Aniela,” Dominic replied. “And about certain things he discovered concerning your past.”She was silent for a moment. “Did you tell him I’m alive?”“No. He doesn’t
Idris spent most of the morning reviewing the oldest Delacroix records available to him.The newer registry copies did not match. Some details were missing, while others appeared to have been amended over time. Since later copies could have been altered or misfiled, he worked backward through the archive, comparing each version with the one that came before it.Near midday, he found an entry that made him stop.The original registry still listed the Delacroix child as alive and accounted for after the accident that had killed Magnus and Lavinia Delacroix.Idris read the entry twice.The original record had not been erased. However, several later copies contained discrepancies. The archive did not show when the changes had been made or who had authorized them.He followed a reference number to another document concerning the child’s custody.A name appeared in the record: Fabian Marquez.Idris leaned closer to the screen.The document was dated after Magnus and Lavinia’s deaths and aft
A month had passed since Isla’s DNA results changed the direction of the Delacroix case.In Astera, Dominic and Graham met in a private conference room at Delacroix Holdings to review the evidence. Two women had genetic results strongly supporting a biological relationship to Lavinia Delacroix. Only one could be Aniela.Dominic placed the files side by side.“Hazel’s current identity is documented,” he said, “but her early history is largely unverified. Ruth’s account explains some of the gaps, but we haven’t found independent records linking Hazel to the Delacroix family before adulthood.”Graham turned to the second file. “And Isla?”“We have reliable records of her life after she entered the Marquez family, school, identification, employment, and medical records. The problem is what came before.”“Her adoption.”“Exactly.”Graham studied him. “Which history is stronger?”“Isla’s,” Dominic said. “But that doesn’t establish that she is Aniela. It only gives us a more traceable histor
The report was waiting when Dominic arrived at the laboratory.After verifying the case number and signing the release form, he accepted the sealed envelope from the laboratory representative. He did not open it until he was alone in his office.He read the conclusion once, then again.The genetic findings strongly supported a biological mother-daughter relationship between the tested individual and Lavinia Delacroix.Dominic stopped at the final page. “It’s you,” he murmured.The report did not identify Isla as Aniela Delacroix. DNA could establish biological relationships, but it could not, by itself, prove that a person was legally or historically the same individual named in old records.Still, the result was significant. Isla was very likely Lavinia Delacroix’s biological daughter.Her age fit. So did the timing of the child’s disappearance and the limited information surrounding Isla’s adoption. Details he had once considered unrelated now seemed to point in the same direction.


















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