Anna pursed her lips when she noticed the defeated look on Kathrine’s face.
Kathrine rarely looked like that—she was always the one with answers, the one who chased truths until they had nowhere left to hide. Seeing her this uncertain made the situation feel heavier than it already was.
Anna knew her sister was genuinely trying her best to trace the family, digging through fragnts of forgotten records and unreliable sources. And as much as it burned inside her to interfere, she kept her promise.
She wouldn’t ddle in their investigation.
Not yet.
For soone who was already convinced that her mories had been altered, that there was sothing crucial missing from her past, Anna wanted to do this the right way. Slowly. Carefully. She wanted to give the truth a fair chance to surface—unlike her parents, who had never once tried to repent for anything they had done.
They hadn’t questioned themselves. They hadn’t searched for the truth. They had simply buried it and moved on.
Anna didn’t want to beco like them.
Silence settled over the room, thick and uncomfortable. Kathrine stared at the floor, clearly frustrated with the lack of progress. Ethan stood a little apart, his phone still in his hand, his brows drawn together as if he were debating sothing.
Then he spoke.
"There is... one thing."
Both sisters looked up at him instantly.
Ethan hesitated for a second before continuing. "It’s not a major lead. Honestly, it’s barely even solid. But it might help us try."
Kathrine straightened imdiately. "Anything is better than nothing. What did you find?"
Ethan exhaled slowly. "When I was going through old financial trails connected to Gorge, I noticed a small offshore account that was never fully closed. It didn’t belong directly to him—but to soone who acted as a proxy."
Anna’s heart skipped. "A proxy for who?"
"Probably his sister," Ethan replied.
Kathrine frowned. "But if they disappeared completely, why would an account still be active?"
"Maybe she needed the savings to start fresh," Ethan said. "It had been used an year after his demise. But there was a tiny transaction. Barely noticeable. Almost like soone wanted to check if it was still accessible."
Anna held her breath.
She hadn’t realized Ethan was that ticulous—but watching him now, so focused and quietly passionate about helping Kathrine, she couldn’t help the small surge of pride that ward her chest.
For the first ti in a long while, her sister had found soone she could truly rely on. Soone who would stand beside her without hidden motives. Soone who wouldn’t betray her.
That alone felt like a miracle.
Kathrine might have wronged her in her past life, but as Anna looked at her now, calr, determined, no longer reckless, she found herself questioning everything she had once believed.
Had Kathrine really been cruel by nature?
Or had she simply been easy to manipulate... shaped by their parents, twisted slowly into soone she never chose to beco?
The thought unsettled her more than she expected.
’Just what happened to her after she died?’
The three of them continued talking for a while, exchanging theories and half-ford possibilities, until Anna finally decided to leave. Her head felt too heavy, her thoughts too loud.
She stepped out of the building only to stop at the sight of sothing familiar.
Her gaze locked onto a familiar black sedan parked across the street and her heart skipped.
"Isn’t that... Mom’s car?" she whispered under her breath. "What is she doing here?"
Her brows drew close as her intinct alert.
Without thinking, Anna quickly stepped back and pressed herself against a concrete pillar, hiding behind it as her pulse thundered in her ears. She peeked through the narrow gap, her eyes fixed on the vehicle.
Her fingers clenched into her coat. She couldn’t risk being seen. Not now. Not after what Kathrine had done last night.
But one thing was certain—her mother was alert, just as Anna had expected. And now, she was clearly making sure she wasn’t losing control over the situation.
"I need to alert Kathrine," she murmured.
Without wasting another second, Anna pulled out her phone and typed a quick ssage.
Hitting the send button she then slipped the phone back into her pocket. After a brief hesitation, she scrolled to Roseline’s number and pressed call.
***
Roseline sat in the backseat of the car, her posture straight, her expression calm—but her fingers drumd lightly against the leather armrest.
Too calm.
The building across the street reflected faintly in the tinted window. She had been watching the entrance for over twenty minutes now, pretending to scroll through her phone while actually waiting for a single na to light up her screen.
Kathrine.
Roseline was certain of it. Kathrine had been with Ethan all this ti—digging, questioning, pulling at threads that were better left untouched. And if Kathrine was here, then it ant they were closer to sothing. Sothing Roseline had worked very hard to bury.
Her phone remained silent.
Roseline’s lips pressed into a thin line.
What is taking her so long?
Just as she was about to text Ethan instead, her phone vibrated.
She glanced down.
Anna.
Roseline frowned instantly.
Of all people—why now?
She stared at the na for a few seconds longer than necessary, suspicion stirring at the back of her mind. Anna rarely called without a reason. And certainly not at a ti like this.
Slowly, Roseline answered.
"Anna?" she said coolly. "Is sothing wrong?"
On the other end, Anna’s voice ca out a little too fast. "Mom! I was just about to call you. Actually—good timing. I’m on my way to et you."
Roseline’s brows knit together. "et ? For what?"
"I... uh," Anna hesitated, and Roseline caught it imdiately. "I wanted to talk to you about sothing important. In person. I didn’t want to text."
Roseline leaned back in her seat, eyes narrowing slightly.
"Where are you right now?" she asked.
Anna swallowed, panic flaring silently in her chest. She forced her voice to stay steady. "Near the studio. I just wrapped up. I thought I’d surprise you."
A lie. And not a very good one.
Roseline glanced toward the building again. The timing was too perfect. Too convenient.
"So you just happened to call out of nowhere," Roseline said slowly, "while I’m already outside your area?"
There was a brief pause as she lied too.
Anna’s heart started racing. She’s onto it. Her mother was so smooth in lying that even now despite waiting outside she lied to her throw her teeth.
"Wait—outside?" Anna said quickly. "You’re near ? That’s even better. I’ll co straight to you then. Just stay where you are, okay?"
Roseline’s grip on the phone tightened.
"Why are you in such a hurry?" she asked.
"Because I miss you?" Anna blurted out, then imdiately cursed herself. "I an—because I really need your advice. It’s about Daniel."
That worked.
Roseline’s expression shifted almost imperceptibly. "Daniel?"
"Yes," Anna said, seizing the opening. "Sothing ca up and I don’t know what to do. I feel... confused. I thought you’d understand."
Roseline fell silent.
For a mont, she studied her words. The desperation in Anna’s voice told her she wasn’t lying and if it was truly related to Daniel then it was her chance to know what it was.
"Fine," Roseline said at last. "Co. I’ll wait."
Anna let out a shaky breath of relief on the other end.
"Thank you, Mom. I’m on my way."
The call ended.
Inside the car, Roseline’s gaze hardened. However she quickly instructed the driver to leave.
Anna who watched the car drove away breathed a sigh of relief. However soon she realized what she had asked for and without wasting another second she got into the car and drove away.
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