And if Thomas died before the trust was activated, his share would pass to his children.

I frowned.

"Thomas didn't have children."

"I know."

"So where did the money go?"

Daniel looked at me.

"It went to someone else."

"Who?"

He didn't answer.

Instead, he gave me another photograph.

A young woman.

Maybe twenty years old.

Standing outside the same café.

I didn't recognize her.

"Who is she?"

Daniel said:

"Your daughter."

I almost dropped the photograph.

"My what?"

He shook his head.

"Not your biological daughter."

I stared at him.

"Then whose?"

"Thomas's."

"Thomas never had children."

"He did."

I couldn't breathe.

Daniel explained that Thomas had secretly fathered a child before he died.

The child had been placed for adoption.

Thomas had never told me because he believed the people involved were dangerous.

The girl had grown up under another name.

And according to the trust documents, she was the person entitled to the money.

But there was something else.

She had been looking for me.

The Woman at the Café

Three days later, Daniel and I returned to the café.

I sat at our old table.

My hands were trembling.

Then the bell above the door rang.

A woman walked in.

She was in her late forties.

Dark hair.

Brown eyes.

A familiar smile.

She stopped when she saw me.

Daniel stood.

The woman looked at him.

Then at me.

"Anna?"

I couldn't speak.

She walked toward us.

"My name is Claire."

I knew immediately.

Not because I had ever seen her.

But because she had my brother's eyes.

She sat down.

"I've been looking for you for years."

I whispered:

"Why?"

She reached into her bag.

She pulled out a letter.

It was written by Thomas.

My brother.

The date was one month before his death.

The letter was addressed to me.

This one I had never seen.

Claire said:

"He wanted you to know I existed."

I opened it.

The first line broke me.

Anna, I'm sorry I never told you that you have a niece.

Thomas's Final Choice

Thomas explained that Claire had been born from a relationship he had kept secret.

He loved her.

But he believed his enemies could use her against him.

So he arranged for her to be raised safely elsewhere.

He watched from a distance.

He paid for her education anonymously.