A woman was sitting in a dimly lit room.
Her dark hair was tied back.
A small scar marked his eyebrow.
She was wearing a pale blue hospital gown.
Emma recognized her immediately.
“Mom?”
Grace Carter was looking directly at the camera.
“If you look at this, my dear, it means that your father has finally decided that the time is right.”
Emma put a hand to her mouth.
She hadn’t heard her mother’s voice for eighteen years.
Grace smiled sadly.
“I don’t know how old you’ll be when you see this video.”
She paused.
“But I hope you’ve grown into the brave girl I always knew you would be.”
Emma began to cry.
Grace glanced at a closed door.
His expression changed.
“It’s possible that your father told you that I was dead.”
She lowered her voice.
“Please don’t hate him.”
Emma shook her head.
“He did what I asked him to do, because I thought it was the only way to protect you.”
Grace inhaled with difficulty.
“Jonathan Sterling ordered the destruction of the plant.”
Emma leaned over to the screen.
“But Jonathan wasn’t acting alone.”
The video crackled.
Grace looked at the door again.
“Someone within the Moretti family helped him.”
Emma held her breath.
“Someone everyone trusts.”
A noise was heard behind the door.
Grace moved closer to the camera.
“Emma, remember the blue bird.”
The door began to open.
Fear invades Grace’s face.
“And no matter what, don’t let them separate the girls again.”
The screen went black.
Emma remains motionless.
The girls?
She had only one sister.
Lily.
But Lily was born several years after Grace’s alleged death.
Daniel had always claimed that Lily’s mother was a woman who had abandoned them shortly after giving birth.
Emma opened the last folder.
A letter appeared.
MY DEAR EMMA,
If Lily and I disappear, look for Catherine Hale.
Don’t trust Jonathan Sterling.
Don’t give the watch to anyone.
Isabella Moretti knows more than she admitted, but she’s not the one who scares me the most.
The truth about your mother is hidden in the Bluebird archives.
And there’s something you need to understand about Lily.
She was not born alone.
Emma stared at the screen.
She reread the last sentence.
Once.
Then another.
Suddenly, someone knocked on the door.
« Emma ? »
It was Isabella.
Emma closed the computer.
“Yes?”
“I have something that belonged to your mother.”
Emma cautiously opened the door.
Isabella was sitting in her wheelchair, holding a small velvet box.
Inside was a delicate gold necklace.
A tiny blue bird hung at the end of the chain.
Emma felt her breath take away.
She remembered seeing her mother wearing it.
Isabella handed him the box.
“Grace had asked me to keep it.”
Emma took the necklace.
On the back of the pendant, two initials were engraved.
G. C.
She pressed a small clasp.
The pendant opened.
Inside was a tiny folded piece of paper.
Emma unfolded it carefully.
Three words appeared.
THEY EXCHANGED IT FOR ANOTHER.
Emma regarda Isabella.
“Who?”
The old lady’s face decomposed.
« Emma… »
“Who did they exchange?”
Isabella se mit à pleurer.
Then she whispered the answer.
“Your sister.”
