Chapter 4 - THE SECRET DAUGHTER
I couldn't sleep.
For hours, I sat in my grandfather's study staring at the birth certificate.
Evelyn was my biological mother.
But why had she given me away?
Why had my father adopted me?
Why had she spent years treating me like an enemy?
At dawn, I confronted her.
She was sitting in the kitchen.
For once, she looked old.
Not powerful.
Not cruel.
Just tired.
I placed the birth certificate on the table.
She looked at it.
Her eyes filled with tears.
“You found out.”
“You knew I was your daughter.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because your father begged me not to.”
“Why?”
She looked toward the window.
“Because your father was trying to save you.”
I sat down.
“From your family?”
She nodded.
“I was twenty-two when I had you.”
Her voice trembled.
“My father was already planning the Harrison merger. Your father was the only person who treated me like I mattered.”
“You loved him.”
“Yes.”
“And then?”
“My father found out I was pregnant.”
She wiped her eyes.
“He told me the baby would never belong to me.”
I stared.
“What did he mean?”
“He threatened to take you.”
“So you gave me to my father?”
“Yes.”
“But you were still around.”
“I watched you grow from a distance.”
“Why?”
“Because every time I tried to get close, my father threatened your life.”
I couldn't breathe.
Then she said:
“Your father wanted to expose him.”
“And that's why he died.”
She nodded.
“But there is something you don't know.”
“What?”
“Caleb's father wasn't the mastermind.”
“Then who was?”
She looked at me.
“Your grandfather.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
“He controlled everything.”
“Why would he hurt my father?”
“Because your father discovered that your grandfather had been stealing from Harrison Holdings.”
I stared.
The family history became more complicated by the second.
“So my grandfather wasn't protecting me.”
“No.”
“He was protecting his empire.”
Evelyn nodded.
“Your father wanted to expose him. Your grandfather arranged for him to be silenced.”
“And Caleb's father?”
“He helped.”
“And you?”
“I tried to stop them.”
“Then why did you stay?”
“Because they threatened you.”
I looked away.
For years, I had imagined my grandfather as the hero of my childhood.
The man who taught me to ride a bicycle.
The man who held my hand at the hospital.
The man who told me never to surrender.
Now I didn't know what was real.
Evelyn reached for my hand.
I pulled away.
“I don't know whether to believe you.”
“You shouldn't.”
She looked at me.
“Not yet.”
That answer surprised me.
She continued.
“Believe documents.”
She stood.
“Your grandfather kept a second ledger.”
“Where?”
“In the chapel.”
“What chapel?”
“The old family chapel outside the city.”
Daniel arrived thirty minutes later.
We drove there with Thomas.
The chapel had been abandoned for years.
Inside, the air smelled like dust.
Behind the altar was a wooden compartment.
Inside was another ledger.
Daniel opened it.
The pages contained payments.
Names.
Dates.
And one recurring recipient.
RICHARD VALE.
I stared.
“My grandfather's lawyer?”
Daniel nodded.
But then he found something worse.
A final payment.
Made three days before my father's death.
Recipient:
CALeb Harrison.
I stared at the name.
“No.”
Thomas looked at me.
“How old was Caleb then?”
Daniel checked.
“Twenty-one.”
I felt sick.
Caleb had been involved.
Maybe he knew more than he admitted.
Maybe the entire marriage had been a setup.
Maybe he hadn't married me for love.
Maybe he had married me because of the trust.
The six million dollars.
The house.
The company.
The inheritance.
I suddenly remembered something Caleb had said on our honeymoon.
“You're the key to everything.”
At the time, I thought he was talking about our future.
Now I realized what he meant.
I wasn't his wife.
I was an asset.
And then my phone rang.
A message appeared.
From Caleb.
You finally know.
Another message followed.
But you still don't know why I married you.
Then a photograph appeared.
It showed me as a child.
Standing beside my father.
And behind us stood Caleb.
He was only twenty-one.
Watching.
The final message arrived.
Ask yourself who introduced us.
I stared at the photograph.
Because I suddenly remembered.
I hadn't met Caleb at a business event.
I hadn't met him through friends.
May you like
He had been introduced to me by one person.
My grandfather.