Underneath the result, the system displayed her birthmark registry.

A small, crescent-shaped scar on the left collarbone.

I looked at the live feed of Vanessa in Lily’s room.

The collar of her silk robe was slightly parted, revealing the faint white line of a crescent scar just below her neck.

It was her.

Vanessa Vance was Hector’s younger sister.

This was not a random affair.

Grant had not simply met a beautiful woman in Denver and decided to ruin our marriage.

Vanessa had targeted him.

She had used his greed to strip away my assets, to take my home, and to capture my daughter.

It was a calculated, slow-burning act of vengeance for putting her brother in a federal penitentiary.

And Lily was paying the price.

“She thought she took everything from us,” Vanessa said to Lily, her fingers tightening on the girl’s chin. “She has no idea what is coming.”

Lily let out a tiny, stifled whimper, but she did not cry out.

She had been trained to stay silent.

The realization made a cold knot form in my stomach.

I had to get into that house.