Chapter 22 - The First OwnerThe first deed to Bellemont Estate was not issued to Evelyn Mason.
It was issued to Elizabeth Mason Price.
No public record identified such a person.
Evelyn explained through tears.
At nineteen, after Julian’s birth and before Clara, she delivered a daughter while still under Beatrice’s control.
The child was removed.
Beatrice named her Elizabeth.
Evelyn later created the Bellemont trust in that daughter’s name, hoping the hidden ownership would protect the estate from Meridian Crown.
When Clara recovered Bellemont, attorneys treated Elizabeth as a dormant charitable entity and transferred beneficial control to Evelyn’s surviving child.
Legally, Clara’s ownership remained valid only if Elizabeth was dead or nonexistent.
Beatrice’s message implied Elizabeth lived.
The hidden daughter Samuel mentioned was not Catherine.
Catherine and Julian were Evelyn’s children with Samuel.
Elizabeth had another father.
Thomas.
She was Clara’s full older sister.
Thomas stared at Evelyn.
“You told me the pregnancy ended.”
“Beatrice threatened Julian. I was seventeen.”
Thomas closed his eyes.
The family tree expanded through theft again.
Elizabeth would be in her early forties.
She may hold the strongest direct claim to Bellemont.
Clara felt fear, then anger at herself.
The estate had become her home, work, and identity. Learning another stolen sister owned it biologically triggered the same possessive instinct she condemned in others.
She forced herself to separate property from personhood.
“If she’s alive, find her.”
The vault contained one file marked E.M.P.—FIRST OWNER.
Empty.
Catherine remembered a woman named Elise supervising Everwhite’s European offices.
She resembled Evelyn.
Beatrice treated her with unusual respect.
Elise Price had disappeared two years earlier after challenging Samuel.
Naomi traced her to a monastery in Portugal.
A photograph confirmed the resemblance.
Elise agreed to speak by secure video.
She knew her name was originally Elizabeth Mason.
She knew Bellemont belonged to her trust.
She had not claimed it because Beatrice used ownership to control her.
“I watched Clara rebuild it,” Elise said. “It became hers through life.”
Legal documents might disagree.
Clara felt unexpected relief at the lack of competition.
“Why hide?”
“I stole Meridian records and tried to expose Samuel. Beatrice threatened my children.”
“You have children?”
Elise’s face tightened.
“Two sons.”
Both were adults raised under Price identities.
One was Reverend Samuel’s public nephew.
The other was Andrew’s best friend Julian.
Julian stopped breathing.
Evelyn stared.
Julian’s DNA had identified her as mother.
Elise claimed she carried him.
Both could not be true biologically unless records or samples were switched again.
Advanced testing showed Julian’s mitochondrial DNA matched Elise, not Evelyn.
He was Elise’s son.
The earlier maternity result had used contaminated samples from Everwhite archives.
Catherine remained Evelyn’s daughter.
Julian was Clara’s nephew, not brother.
Another identity correction shattered a relationship before it could form.
Julian laughed bitterly.
“I have had three mothers in one week.”
Elise apologized.
“I was told you died after birth.”
Beatrice had taken him and presented him to Evelyn years later as her lost son through falsified DNA, hoping to pull Evelyn back into the system.
Every reunion could be weaponized.
Elise’s second son remained unnamed.
She feared he worked willingly for Meridian Crown.
“He believes Beatrice saved us,” she said.
“Who is he?” Naomi asked.
Elise looked toward Andrew.
“Your officiant.”
Samuel Price was not Beatrice’s biological son.
He was Elise’s firstborn.
Beatrice raised her grandson as her son.
Samuel and Julian were brothers.
Both Crown Heirs.
Samuel was older and legally stronger.
His role as officiant placed him at Clara’s altar not only as agent.
He was another replacement groom candidate through the Price line.
The Bridekeeper had surrounded Clara with relatives and potential husbands, each holding part of Bellemont’s trust.
A message arrived from Samuel’s escaped device.
ELIZABETH RETURNS OR BELLEMONT BURNS.
Satellite images showed fires igniting along the estate’s underground ventilation points.
Beatrice’s final retreat had activated demolition charges.
Elise looked toward the burning land on screen.
“I’m coming home.”
Clara answered.
“Not because he ordered you.”
“Because the estate was the only thing our mother built for us both.”
The word both created a fragile bridge.
Then Daniel discovered Julian’s provisional ownership had allowed Samuel remote access to the fire controls.
Julian’s body remained a key even without consent.
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To stop the destruction, he would need to surrender his legal identity permanently.
👉 Clara found the estate’s first owner in her hidden sister Elise, but saving Bellemont required Julian to erase the Price identity that had defined his entire life.
