Chapter 13 - The DaughterMy world shattered.
I stared at Jonathan.
“What did you say?”
He held up a document.
“Your father never completed the adoption.”
“Then who am I?”
“Legally?”
He smiled.
“No one.”
Ryan stepped beside me.
“Don’t listen to him.”
Jonathan ignored him.
“Your father forged records so Patricia couldn’t reclaim you.”
I turned toward Patricia.
“Is this true?”
For once, Patricia didn’t smile.
She whispered:
“Yes.”
My throat tightened.
“You let me believe my mother was someone else.”
“I was protecting you.”
“You humiliated me.”
“I was trying to keep you away from the company.”
“You made me marry your son.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“I thought Ryan could protect you.”
“You used us both.”
She looked down.
“Yes.”
I felt something harden inside me.
“No more secrets.”
Jonathan laughed.
“You still don’t understand.”
“What?”
“You are worthless to the trust.”
He handed me another document.
I read it.
The trust required one thing.
A biological descendant.
I wasn’t legally recognized.
That meant the entire inheritance could be challenged.
But then Ryan spoke.
“There’s a second clause.”
Jonathan froze.
Ryan continued.
“Your father created a contingency.”
“What contingency?” I asked.
Ryan looked at Patricia.
“If Emily dies, the assets go to her surviving biological relatives.”
Patricia’s eyes widened.
“I see,” I whispered.
That was it.
They didn’t need my signature.
They needed me alive long enough to transfer control.
And then dead.
I looked at Jonathan.
“Who inherits if I die?”
He said nothing.
Ryan answered.
“Patricia.”
Silence.
Patricia looked horrified.
“No.”
Ryan stared at her.
“You knew?”
She shook her head.
“I never knew about that clause.”
Jonathan suddenly stepped backward.
Daniel raised a gun.
“Jonathan.”
Jonathan froze.
Daniel’s voice was cold.
“You've lied long enough.”
I stared at Daniel.
“What happens now?”
He lowered his weapon.
“Now we find your real birth certificate.”
“Where?”
Jonathan laughed nervously.
“You’ll never find it.”
I looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because your father hid it in the one place you would never search.”
“Where?”
Jonathan’s smile disappeared.
“In the cemetery.”
He turned and ran.
Daniel chased him.
Ryan grabbed my arm.
“Emily, don’t.”
“Why?”
“Because I think he wants you to go there.”
“Why?”
Ryan looked at the photograph from the hotel.
The old image of my father and Patricia.
Then at me.
“Because your father didn’t bury the truth.”
May you like
I waited.
“He buried someone.”
