Chapter 9 - The Secret in the BloodlineEmily couldn't think.
The words echoed.
Your grandmother's attorney.
Killed.
Three years ago.
Adrian was there.
“Why?”
Adrian looked at the floor.
“He tried to sell the trust.”
“To Charles?”
“No.”
“To Blake?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Adrian hesitated.
“Someone else.”
Emily's patience snapped.
“Who?”
“Your grandmother's own trustee.”
Emily stared.
Margaret Sloan.
Her attorney.
Her closest legal adviser.
The woman who had sat beside Emily at the divorce table.
Emily's stomach turned.
“Margaret?”
“No.”
Adrian shook his head.
“Not Margaret.”
“Then who?”
He said a name Emily didn't recognize.
“Victor Hale.”
The name meant nothing.
But Charles reacted.
His eyes narrowed.
Emily noticed.
“You know him.”
Charles said nothing.
Adrian continued.
“Victor tried to activate the trust in Charles's favor.”
“Why?”
“Because he had access to the original documents.”
Emily stared at the trust.
“That's why my grandmother said the originals weren't in the house.”
“Yes.”
“Where are they?”
Adrian looked at her.
“Inside the one place nobody would ever search.”
Emily's eyes narrowed.
“Where?”
“Her grave.”
Everyone became silent.
Charles suddenly moved toward the door.
Adrian blocked him.
“Don't.”
Charles stopped.
“You really think you can keep this buried?”
Adrian answered:
“I already did.”
Emily looked at the children.
“Take them somewhere safe.”
Adrian nodded.
Mia refused to let go of Emily.
“No.”
Emily crouched.
“Mia, Mommy has to fix something.”
“Can I come?”
Emily kissed her forehead.
“Soon.”
“Promise?”
Emily smiled through tears.
“Promise.”
For the first time, Mia smiled.
Then she whispered:
“Mommy?”
“Yes?”
“Daddy said you left us.”
Emily froze.
She looked at Blake.
He went pale.
“I never said that,” he whispered.
Mia frowned.
“He did.”
“Who?”
She pointed at Charles.
“He told us you didn't want us.”
Charles smiled faintly.
“Children misunderstand.”
Emily stood.
“No.”
Her voice became cold.
“They don't.”
She looked at Charles.
“You poisoned them against me.”
Charles shrugged.
“I prepared them.”
Emily stepped closer.
“You are never going near them again.”
Charles laughed.
“You think you've won.”
Emily looked at the papers.
“I haven't.”
“Then what are you waiting for?”
Emily smiled.
“The originals.”
That night, Emily and Margaret traveled to the cemetery.
The moon was bright.
Emily stood beside her grandmother's grave.
She touched the stone.
“I know what you did now.”
Margaret Sloan opened her bag.
“We have ten minutes.”
“Why?”
“Because someone followed us.”
Emily turned.
A car stopped near the cemetery gate.
Two men stepped out.
Margaret grabbed Emily's arm.
“Run.”
They moved between the graves.
One of the men shouted.
“Stop!”
Emily refused.
She reached her grandmother's memorial wall.
A bronze plaque contained an inscription.
Emily remembered her grandmother's favorite saying:
“People look where they expect answers.”
She touched the plaque.
Nothing.
Then she noticed a small indentation.
A keyhole.
Margaret handed her a key.
Emily inserted it.
The stone panel opened.
Inside was a metal box.
Emily grabbed it.
Footsteps approached.
She ran.
They escaped through the rear gate.
Inside the car, Emily opened the box.
Original trust documents.
Bank records.
Photographs.
And one envelope.
This one was addressed to:
BLAKE CARSON.
Emily stared.
“Why would she leave him a letter?”
Margaret looked uneasy.
“Open it.”
Emily did.
The letter was only one page.
“Blake,
If you are reading this, then you have failed Emily.
You were given one chance to protect what my family built.
You chose ambition.
Therefore, when Emily activates the trust, the company will not belong to her.
It will belong to her children.
All three of them.
And one day, they will decide what happens to you.”
Emily lowered the paper.
Margaret whispered:
“There is one more page.”
Emily turned it over.
A final sentence.
“Their father must never know the full truth about his own identity.”
Emily stared.
Their father.
Blake.
She looked at Margaret.
“What does that mean?”
Margaret's face had gone pale.
“I don't know.”
But before Emily could ask again, Margaret's phone rang.
She answered.
Her expression changed instantly.
“What happened?”
She listened.
Then hung up.
Emily stared.
“What?”
Margaret whispered:
“The DNA results just came back.”
“Whose?”
“The children's.”
Emily's heart pounded.
Margaret looked directly at her.
May you like
“They are not biologically related to Blake.”
Emily stopped breathing.
Related Stories
