Chapter 3: The Father Who Was Never Supposed to Exist
Charlotte couldn't breathe.
For years, she had lived with one certainty.
Her father was dead.
That was what her mother had told her.
A car accident.
A rainy highway.
A sudden loss when Charlotte was only five.
There had never been a funeral she could remember.
There had never been photographs.
There had never been stories.
Whenever Charlotte asked questions, her mother always gave the same answer.
“Your father loved you.”
Nothing more.
Now Victor Vale stood across the underground archive and smiled as though he had just opened a door Charlotte had spent her entire life trying to find.
“Who was my father?”
Victor didn't answer.
Charlotte stepped toward him.
“I asked you a question.”
Victor looked at Richard.
“She's inherited her mother's temper.”
Richard remained silent.
Charlotte's voice sharpened.
“Who was my father?”
Victor finally looked back at her.
“You've spent twenty years believing he died in an accident.”
Charlotte's jaw tightened.
“Yes.”
“He didn't.”
Her heart stopped.
Victor continued.
“Your father was alive when your mother died.”
Charlotte shook her head.
“No.”
“He was alive when you were born.”
“No.”
“He was alive five years ago.”
Charlotte took a step backward.
The room seemed to tilt.
Richard suddenly whispered:
“Victor…”
Victor raised one hand.
“Let her hear it.”
Charlotte stared at him.
“Where is he?”
Victor smiled.
“That is the wrong question.”
“What?”
“The right question is…”
He pointed toward the wall of photographs.
“…why did your mother spend twenty years hiding him from you?”
Charlotte turned.
Her mother's photographs covered the wall.
There were hundreds.
Some showed her mother at business meetings.
Others showed her meeting politicians.
Others showed her entering private aircraft.
But one photograph was different.
It showed her mother standing outside a small hospital.
In her arms was a newborn baby.
Charlotte.
Beside her stood a man whose face had been deliberately scratched out.
Charlotte walked toward it.
Her fingers touched the damaged photograph.
“Who did this?”
Victor said nothing.
Charlotte turned.
“Who scratched his face out?”
Richard answered quietly.
“Your mother.”
Charlotte's eyes widened.
“She destroyed his photograph?”
“No.”
Richard shook his head.
“She destroyed his identity.”
Charlotte looked at him.
“Why?”
Richard lowered his gaze.
“Because she was trying to protect you.”
Victor laughed.
“Protection.”
He walked toward the photograph.
“That was always her excuse.”
Charlotte stared at him.
“What happened between them?”
Victor's expression changed.
For the first time, his smile vanished.
“Your father discovered something.”
“What?”
“The Solmere Empire wasn't built the way your mother told you.”
Charlotte frowned.
Victor continued.
“There was another owner.”
“Who?”
Victor looked directly at her.
“Your father.”
Charlotte's breath caught.
“That makes no sense.”
“It does if you understand the original company structure.”
He pointed toward an old document inside a glass cabinet.
Charlotte approached it.
The document was yellowed with age.
At the top was the original Solmere Holdings emblem.
Below it were two names.
EDWARD VALE
ELENA VALE
Charlotte stared.
Her mother's name.
And another name.
Edward.
Her father.
Both listed as equal founders.
She shook her head.
“My mother told me she built Solmere.”
“She rebuilt it,” Victor corrected.
“What happened to Edward?”
Victor's eyes hardened.
“He discovered that someone had been stealing from the company.”
“Who?”
“Your mother's closest advisers.”
Charlotte looked at Richard.
Richard didn't deny it.
Her stomach tightened.
“How much?”
Richard whispered:
“Billions.”
Charlotte stared at him.
“How?”
“Shell companies. Offshore accounts. False acquisitions.”
Richard's voice became lower.
“Over twelve years, they moved billions out of Solmere.”
Charlotte looked back at Victor.
“And my father found them.”
“Yes.”
“What did he do?”
“He planned to expose them.”
Charlotte's heart pounded.
“And then?”
Victor said nothing.
Richard finally spoke.
“Your father disappeared.”
Charlotte stared at him.
“My mother said he died.”
“She lied.”
“Why?”
Richard looked toward Victor.
Victor answered.
“Because she was forced to.”
Charlotte froze.
“By whom?”
Victor stepped closer.
“By the same people who are trying to take the company from you now.”
Suddenly, a loud metallic sound echoed from behind the steel door.
BANG.
Charlotte turned.
Someone was trying to get inside.
Richard looked alarmed.
“They found us.”
Victor remained strangely calm.
“Of course they did.”
Charlotte looked at him.
“You knew this would happen.”
Victor smiled.
“I was counting on it.”
The steel door shook again.
BANG.
Charlotte stepped backward.
“Who is outside?”
Victor looked at her.
“The people who killed your mother.”
The words hit her like a physical blow.
Charlotte's eyes filled with anger.
“You're lying.”
Victor shook his head.
“Your mother didn't die naturally.”
“I saw the medical report.”
“A fabricated report.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
Victor walked toward a locked drawer.
He entered a code.
The drawer opened.
Inside was a small black envelope.
He handed it to Charlotte.
“This was recovered from your mother's private office.”
Charlotte stared at the envelope.
Her name was written across it.
CHARLOTTE.
Her mother's handwriting.
Charlotte's fingers trembled.
She opened it.
Inside was a single letter.
She unfolded it.
The first line made her heart break.
My dearest Charlotte,
She swallowed.
If you're reading this, then I failed to protect you.
Charlotte covered her mouth.
Her vision blurred.
She continued.
There is something I should have told you years ago.
Your father is alive.
Her hands began shaking violently.
Richard looked away.
Victor watched her carefully.
Charlotte read the next line.
His name is Edward Vale.
He did not abandon us.
He was taken from us.
Charlotte's tears fell onto the paper.
Then she reached the final paragraph.
And the person responsible is someone you trust.
Charlotte stopped.
Her breathing became uneven.
Someone she trusted.
Someone close to her.
Someone she had known for years.
The letter continued.
Do not trust Victor.
Charlotte slowly raised her eyes.
Victor was standing directly in front of her.
His expression was unreadable.
She looked back at the letter.
He knows where your father is.
Charlotte's heart slammed against her ribs.
She looked at Victor.
“You knew.”
Victor didn't answer.
“You knew where my father was.”
Silence.
“WHERE IS HE?”
Victor's face hardened.
Then the steel door suddenly exploded inward.
Security personnel stormed into the room.
Weapons raised.
“GET DOWN!”
Charlotte screamed.
Richard dropped behind a desk.
Victor grabbed Charlotte and pulled her backward.
A bullet struck the wall.
Another shattered the glass cabinet.
Charlotte ducked.
“What is happening?”
Victor shouted:
“They aren't here to arrest us!”
“Then why are they shooting?”
Victor looked at her.
“They're here to kill you.”
A guard raised his weapon.
Victor pulled Charlotte behind a steel shelf.
Bullets tore through the archive.
Boxes crashed down.
Smoke filled the room.
Charlotte coughed.
“Why would anyone want me dead?”
Victor shouted over the gunfire.
“Because you're not just the heir!”
“What?”
“You're the only person who can legally recover the original Solmere assets!”
Charlotte froze.
Victor continued:
“And your father left you something.”
“What?”
“Control.”
Another gunshot.
Victor grabbed Charlotte's hand.
“Come with me!”
They ran through a hidden passage behind the archive wall.
Charlotte stumbled after him.
Richard followed.
They entered a narrow tunnel.
Victor slammed a metal lever.
The wall closed behind them.
The gunfire faded.
Charlotte pressed her back against the wall.
Her chest heaved.
She looked at Victor.
“You're coming with me.”
Victor shook his head.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because this tunnel only has one exit.”
He looked toward Richard.
“And someone has to stay behind.”
Richard's eyes widened.
“Victor…”
Victor pushed him toward the opposite passage.
“Go.”
Richard hesitated.
Then he disappeared.
Charlotte stared after him.
“What is going on?”
Victor looked at her.
“Your mother left one final message.”
“What message?”
Victor reached inside his jacket.
He removed a tiny key.
He placed it in Charlotte's hand.
“Find the old Vale mansion.”
Charlotte frowned.
“My mother sold it.”
“No.”
Victor shook his head.
“She pretended to.”
“Why?”
“Because your father is there.”
Charlotte stared at the key.
“Alive?”
Victor nodded.
“Alive.”
Her heart nearly stopped.
“But there's something you need to know.”
Charlotte looked up.
Victor's expression was grim.
“Your father isn't alone.”
“Who is with him?”
Victor whispered:
“The man who ordered your mother's death.”
Charlotte's blood turned cold.
“Who?”
Victor looked directly into her eyes.
“Your fiancé.”
Charlotte froze.
“I don't have a fiancé.”
Victor's face went pale.
“You did.”
He stepped closer.
“Before your mother erased you from the family records…”
Victor whispered:
“you were engaged to the son of the man who destroyed your family.”
And somewhere above them, inside the hotel lobby, Victoria Sterling was already making a phone call.
She held the phone against her ear.
“Yes.”
A pause.
Her eyes moved toward the elevator Charlotte had disappeared into.
“She knows.”
Another pause.
Victoria's voice dropped.
“She knows she's the heir.”
She smiled.
“But she doesn't know what happened to her father.”
Then she heard the voice on the other end.
Victoria's smile vanished.
“What?”
Her eyes widened.
“She's going to the old mansion?”
Silence.
Then Victoria whispered:
“Then we have to get there first.”
She hung up.
And for the first time that night, Victoria looked genuinely terrified.
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Because the old Vale mansion contained a secret that could destroy the entire Solmere Empire.
And Charlotte was already on her way there.
