CHAPTER 4 — "THE MAID WAS THE TRUE HEIR."
Grace stood frozen in the doorway.
Rainwater dripped from her old coat onto the marble floor.
Every servant stared.
Every guard remained perfectly still.
Nathan slowly walked toward her.
"You've worked here..."
"...without knowing who you really are."
Grace looked terrified.
"I only came because Detective Brooks said there had been a mistake."
Nathan gently took the DNA report from the detective.
His eyes scanned every page.
Blood samples.
Hospital records.
Birth certificates.
Hidden bank transfers.
Witness statements.
Every missing piece fit together.
Twenty-six years ago...
Nathan's father had secretly fathered another child.
Margaret discovered the affair while pregnant with Nathan herself.
Consumed by jealousy...
She bribed hospital staff.
She made the newborn disappear.
She convinced everyone the infant had died shortly after birth.
The baby was abandoned anonymously at a church-run orphanage.
Grace never knew her real name.
Never knew why she had been abandoned.
Never knew she belonged to one of the wealthiest families in America.
Emily slowly approached her.
"You've been living under the same roof as your own family."
Grace's eyes filled with tears.
"And they hated me."
Emily quietly nodded.
Margaret suddenly rushed forward.
"Don't believe any of this!"
Grace instinctively stepped backward.
Nathan raised his arm, stopping his mother.
"No."
His voice echoed through the mansion.
"You've hurt enough people."
Margaret's composure shattered.
"I did everything for this family!"
"You did everything for yourself," Nathan replied.
"You stole a child's life."
"You stole my father's daughter."
"You tried to destroy my wife."
"And today..."
He looked at the detectives.
"...it ends."
Detective Brooks stepped toward Margaret.
"Mrs. Whitmore, based on newly discovered evidence, you're under investigation for conspiracy, fraud, child abduction, and obstruction of justice."
The handcuffs clicked loudly.
Margaret's face turned white.
She looked desperately at Nathan.
"Please..."
"I'm your mother."
Nathan's eyes glistened with tears.
"And Emily is the mother of my son."
"You should have remembered how sacred that is."
The detectives escorted Margaret toward the front door.
As she disappeared into the rain...
The entire mansion remained silent.
Grace stood motionless, overwhelmed.
Nathan walked over and stopped in front of her.
For several long seconds...
Neither of them spoke.
Then he slowly opened his arms.
"If you're willing..."
"...I'd like to know my sister."
Grace broke down.
For the first time in twenty-six years...
She wasn't an orphan anymore.
But upstairs...
Inside the nursery...
Emily noticed something strange.
Hidden beneath Oliver's mattress...
Was a sealed envelope.
Across the front, in elegant handwriting, were just seven chilling words:
"The Whitmore secret is still not finished."
Emily carefully opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
Nathan.
As a little boy.
May you like
Holding hands with another child.
A child whose face had been deliberately burned away.
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