The Rose He Killed novel Chapter 226

Chapter 204: Her Background

Caleb pov

I sat down across from her as she looked at me with full attention.

It seems she had already decided to face this directly. “All of it,” she said. “Don’t hold anything back.”

“Your mother,” I said, “had a younger sister named Elaine Voss. She was four years younger than Margaret, every account says she was quieter and more artistic than her sister.”

Bella folded her hands in her lap and said nothing.

“Years ago, Elaine won a four-month arts fellowship in Geneva and she went. According to a cousin my investigator found, she came back changed. She was happier, but a different kind of quiet.” I paused then continued. “Some months after she returned, she gave birth to a daughter. The birth certificate listed the

father as unknown.”

Bella looked down at the desk between us.

“When the baby was six months old,” I said, “Elaine died from an undetected heart defect. She was only twenty-four.”

The room became completely quiet.

“The baby, Bella said.

“The baby was placed with Richard and Margaret Hart through a private financial arrangement. It was not a formal adoption. A large amount of money changed hands through a law firm named Ashworth and Cole and the money came from Elaine’s estate.” I looked into her eyes. “The child was then registered as Isabella Hart.”

Bella did not move.

“Margaret’s maiden name was Voss,” I said. “Bella, she was Elaine’s sister. She was your birth aunt. She took money from her dead sister’s estate, raised her dead sister’s daughter, and never said a word.”

The silence stretched between us.

“And my father?” Bella asked.

“The birth certificate lists him as unknown,” I said. “But Elaine filed a separate, private note with the law firm. It was witnessed and signed. I think she wanted a record to exist, just in case you ever looked.”

Something moved across Bella’s face, but it disappeared before I could read it.

“His name,” she said.

“Sebastien Marchetti,” I said. “He lives in Lyon and is sixty-five years old now. He was one of the twelve fellows on that Geneva program. He and Elaine were in the same city for those four months. He is the chairman of Marchetti Group. It is one of the largest private conglomerates in Europe, covering banking, real estate, and fashion.”

< Chapter 204 Her Background

“Does he know?” she asked.

Clam

“There is no indication he knows you exist,” I said. “No contact in any record, no acknowledgement anywhere.” I paused then continued. “Elaine filed that note privately with the law firm. She didn’t contact him. I don’t know why.”

“She was twenty-four,” Bella said quietly. “And she was dying.”

I didn’t answer that because there was no answer that would add to it.

Bella looked at the desk for a long moment. Then she looked up at me.

“Margaret watched her sister’s daughter clean her house and call her mother,” she said. “Every single day. Knowing.”

“Yes.”

“And Richard?”

“The arrangement was financial,” I said. “He was part of it. Whether he knew the full details of Elaine or whether Margaret managed that separately – I don’t know yet.”

Bella nodded slowly.

“Say something,” I said. “Whatever it is.”

She looked at me for a long moment.

“I want to find him,” she said. “Marchetti, I want to know who he is before I decide anything else.”

“Okay,” I said.

“And Elaine.” Her voice dropped slightly. “I want to know who she was.”

“We’ll find out,” I said. “Both.”

She looked at her hands in her lap.

“She kept a record,” Bella said quietly. “She knew she might not make it and she kept a record so I could find him if I wanted to.” She pressed her lips together briefly. “That matters.”

“Yes,” I said. “It does.”

“So Margaret was not my mother, and Richard was not my father.” She let out a painful laugh. “They watched her sister’s daughter clean her house and call her mother. And they never said a word.”

It was not a question. She was just turning the facts over in her mind.

“No,” I said. “They never did.”

“That is why they all hated me because I was not their daughter,” Bella said.

I didn’t answer because she wasn’t asking.

“Richard took money for me,” she said. “Like livestock.”

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Chapter 203 +fer Background

“Yes,” I said.

“Thank you,” she said.

“Bella”

“Not tonight,” she said. “I just need you here”

I nodded and stood up. She looked up at me with an expression I didn’t have an immediate name for.

Claim

As I walked around the desk, Bella stood up. She stepped directly into my arms, wrapping herself around me, and began to sob.

“Just why?” she cried against my chest. “If they knew they wouldn’t treat me well, they should have just let me die with my mother.”

“Shhh, Bella, don’t say that,” I muttered, holding her tightly. “Don’t say that because you are alive, and that is why you are here. I couldn’t imagine my life without you, or our smart kids. So no what-ifs.”

I pulled back slightly and kissed her tears away.

She looked up at me, a small smile breaking through her wet face. “So you can be romantic.”

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