CHAPTER 8 – The Real Mastermind Revealed
Thirty-five minutes remained.
Emily's phone rang again.
Vanessa.
She answered on speaker.
Vanessa laughed softly.
"So..."
"Did Sophia finally tell you?"
Emily's voice shook.
"Who paid you?"
Vanessa smiled.
"You still think I was the villain?"
"I was only the employee."
Jason shouted,
"Who hired you?!"
Vanessa replied with one sentence.
"The person standing closest to Emily."
Everyone instinctively turned toward Richard.
Emily's heart shattered.
"No..."
Richard slowly raised his hands.
"I can explain."
Jason grabbed him by the collar.
"You knew Sophia!"
Richard looked into Emily's eyes.
"I met her once."
"She begged me to protect you."
Emily froze.
"What?"
Richard reached into his wallet and removed an old hospital bracelet.
Tiny pink letters were still visible.
BABY EMILY CARTER.
"I adopted you."
The room fell silent.
Emily couldn't breathe.
"What... did you say?"
Richard's voice cracked.
"You were never my biological daughter."
"I promised your mother I'd keep you hidden."
Jason stared in disbelief.
"Hidden from who?"
Richard whispered,
"From the Carter family."
Emily's world collapsed.
"If I'm not a Carter..."
"Then who am I?"
Just then, every light in the penthouse went dark.
The backup generator failed.
A single slow clap echoed through the room.
Someone stepped out of the shadows.
An elegant elderly woman carrying a silver cane.
Her eyes locked onto Emily.
She smiled.
"There you are..."
"My granddaughter."
Richard closed his eyes in defeat.
"No..."
"You found her."
The woman looked at Jason with icy contempt.
"You've been fighting over the wrong fortune."
Then she turned back to Emily.
"The Carter company is worth five billion dollars."
She paused.
"But the family you were born into..."
"...owns more than one hundred billion."
Jason, Richard, and Emily stood frozen.
Then the old woman delivered the final bombshell.
"Vanessa wasn't trying to steal your company."
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"She was trying to stop you from discovering who you really are."
TO BE CONTINUED...
