CHAPTER 2: THE ROOM BENEATH THE MANSION
Emma did not run away.
She should have.
Any smart woman would have taken the bus, disappeared into the city, and never looked back at the Ashford mansion again.
But Emma wasn’t just scared anymore.
She was angry.
At midnight, when the mansion lights finally dimmed, she returned through the servants’ entrance with the old blueprint pressed against her chest.
The red circle led her to the west wing—the only hallway every employee had been forbidden to enter.
At the end stood a locked library.
Emma lifted the antique gold key Richard had accused her of stealing.
Her breath stopped.
It fit perfectly.
Inside, the room smelled of dust, whiskey, and secrets.
She moved the rug aside and found a trapdoor hidden beneath the floorboards.
Her hands shook as she pulled it open.
A narrow staircase led into darkness.
At the bottom was a small room filled with old files, photographs, and videotapes.
Then Emma saw a name written on one box:
MARGARET ASHFORD.
Her mother’s name.
Emma opened it.
Inside was a birth certificate.
Her birth certificate.
But under “Father,” the name was not blank like her mother had always claimed.
It read:
Richard Ashford.
Emma covered her mouth, tears burning her eyes.
The man who had humiliated her...
The man who had thrown her out like trash...
Was her father.
Suddenly, footsteps creaked above.
Someone was coming.
Emma grabbed the birth certificate and hid behind a shelf.
The door opened.
Richard Ashford stepped into the room.
But he wasn’t alone.
Beside him stood the housekeeper.
Richard’s voice was cold.
“Find the girl. If she saw this room, she can never leave alive.”
Emma froze.
Then the housekeeper whispered something that made her blood turn ice-cold.
“Sir... she already has your mother’s eyes.”
Richard turned pale.
And for the first time in his life...
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The billionaire looked terrified.
TO BE CONTINUED...
