When She Rose From the Ashes (Natalie and Jensen) novel Chapter 513

Chapter 513: The Missing Link

430 Fige Coins

Though the video shed light on Xenon’s death, Yvonne’s identity swap, and hinted that Natalie’s own switch might be tied to the mysterious masked man, it offered little else to go on.

Yvonne gave a slow nod. “The driver who witnessed my parents’ deaths was too terrified to come forward. He kept this DV hidden and lived under a false name until my uncle adopted Aiden, ensuring my father’s bloodline continued. After that, the driver tried reaching out to Aiden, but sadly, Aiden was under Logan’s control and wasn’t free to respond.”

Her voice carried a heavy sigh. “Aiden’s life has been tragic. Since childhood, Logan has kept him locked away in the basement, and his health has deteriorated. When the driver handed him this item, Aiden clung to life just to protect it. He believed I was still alive and told the driver to wait until I returned to the Stone family before revealing it.”

Baron’s brow furrowed deeply upon hearing this.

“The Stone family’s secrets run far and deep. We haven’t even uncovered a single lead on the masked man, and now there’s this Logan figure. Whatever Logan has been doing at the ancestral home must have had powerful backing. If we could identify who’s behind him, maybe we could trace the whole tangled web and uncover more truths.”

Natalie nodded thoughtfully. “I wonder how my father is doing in all this. When I was kidnapped, they said it was meant for my elder brother. But neither the child swap from twenty years ago nor Logan’s schemes seem directly connected to him, do they?”

Baron rubbed his temple, feeling the weight of the mystery pressing down on him.

“Right now, it doesn’t look like there’s a connection, but who can say for sure? We have to take this one step at a time. Our immediate focus should be on the Logan situation—and finding Rachel.”

At that moment, Baron’s expression shifted, a faint smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

“What’s so funny?” Natalie and Yvonne asked in unison, curious.

Baron chuckled softly. “Turns out, Jensen is Rachel’s son—not a child of the Luke family at all. No wonder Loretta reached out to Rachel. But on that ship in international waters, Rachel seemed like she was about to tell Jensen something important. Then Jensen shot her, wounding her. I can’t imagine what Rachel must have felt in that instant. And since then… Rachel has completely disappeared. She didn’t return to Ocean City, nor did she stay out in international waters. It’s like she vanished into thin air. Isn’t that strange?”

Baron took a breath, steadying himself, then looked at Natalie and Yvonne with a serious gaze.

Natalie wasn’t surprised by his response. She glanced over at Baron and then noticed Ruby sitting quietly nearby, her eyes fixed intensely on the screen. Her hands gripped the edge of her clothing so tightly her knuckles were white, and her face was alarmingly pale.

“Mom, are you okay?” Natalie asked gently.

Ruby hadn’t spoken since she entered the room and had taken the innermost seat, so Natalie and the others hadn’t noticed her presence until now.

Seeing Ruby in such a fragile state made Natalie realize that, in many ways, Ruby was the central figure in this entire story.

Before, Ruby’s emotional turmoil had been so overwhelming that she hadn’t been able to fully process everything. But now, watching her from the outside, Natalie understood just how deeply shaken Ruby must be.

The room was heavy with unspoken tension, the flickering light from the screen casting shadows across their faces as they sat in quiet contemplation, each lost in their own thoughts about the tangled web of secrets still waiting to be unraveled.