CHAPTER 4 — The Receptionist's Secret
The receptionist's necklace slipped from beneath her uniform.
A tiny silver locket swung into the light.
Walter's eyes widened.
His hands began to shake.
"No..."
"It can't be..."
The young woman instinctively covered the necklace.
She had worn it since childhood.
The only thing left by the orphanage that raised her.
Her name was Emily Carter.
Twenty-eight.
Quiet.
Invisible.
The first employee to offer Walter a bottle of water that morning.
The only person who had treated him with kindness.
Walter slowly approached her.
"May I... see your locket?"
Emily hesitated.
Then nodded.
Inside were two faded photographs.
One showed a beautiful young woman holding a baby.
The other...
showed Walter himself, thirty years younger.
The room exploded with gasps.
Walter fell to his knees.
"My little girl..."
Emily stared at him in disbelief.
"I've... never met my father."
Walter couldn't stop crying.
"I've searched every orphanage in the country."
"They told me you died."
Adrian looked from Walter to Emily.
Then at the photographs.
The resemblance was undeniable.
The same eyes.
The same smile.
His voice barely came out.
"You're..."
"My sister?"
Emily burst into tears.
The siblings embraced for the first time in nearly three decades.
Employees who had mocked Walter only hours earlier now stood in stunned silence.
But across the room...
Board Chairman Richard Blake quietly pulled out his phone.
He sent one short message.
"Destroy the warehouse. Tonight."
No one noticed.
May you like
Except one person.
The elderly security guard near the exit.
