CHAPTER 3: THE DEAD MAN KNOCKED ON HER DOOR… BUT HIS FIRST WORDS CHANGED EVERYTHING
Emily stood frozen.
Her hand trembled on the doorknob.
The man outside looked exactly like the faded photograph her mother had kept hidden for years.
The same piercing blue eyes.
The same silver streak through his dark hair.
The same gentle smile.
Except...
According to every story she'd ever been told...
Jonathan Ashford had died twenty-three years ago.
Another knock.
Soft.
Patient.
"Emily..." the man whispered.
"If you open this door, your life will never be the same again."
Tears blurred her vision.
She slowly unlocked the door.
The man stepped inside and immediately locked it behind him.
He checked the windows.
Pulled the curtains shut.
Then hugged her.
Emily didn't move.
She couldn't.
"I know this is impossible," he said quietly.
"But I am your father."
Emily pushed him away.
"No!"
"My father died before I was born!"
"That's what they wanted you to believe."
Jonathan closed his eyes.
"For twenty-three years..."
"I've been hiding."
Emily stared at him in disbelief.
"Why would any father abandon his own daughter?"
Jonathan reached into his coat and pulled out a thick envelope.
Inside were newspaper articles.
Court documents.
Old photographs.
And one birth certificate.
Emily's.
Under Father's Name...
Jonathan Edward Ashford.
Her knees nearly gave out.
"This can't be real..."
Jonathan nodded slowly.
"It is."
"But your mother begged me never to find you."
Emily's heart shattered.
"My mother lied to me?"
"No."
Jonathan's voice cracked.
"She was trying to keep you alive."
Before Emily could ask another question...
A black SUV stopped outside her apartment.
Jonathan looked through the curtain.
His face instantly turned pale.
"They found us."
Three men in black suits stepped out.
None of them carried visible weapons.
They didn't need to.
Their expressions were far more terrifying.
Jonathan grabbed Emily's hand.
"We have less than sixty seconds."
"What are you talking about?"
"They work for Daniel."
Emily felt her blood run cold.
"Daniel?"
"He isn't trying to protect the Ashford fortune."
Jonathan looked directly into her eyes.
"He's protecting a murder."
Emily froze.
"What murder?"
Jonathan swallowed hard.
"The night your mother disappeared..."
"I watched someone kill her."
Emily couldn't breathe.
"You saw it?"
"Yes."
"Who?"
Jonathan opened his mouth.
But before he could answer...
CRASH!
The apartment door exploded inward.
Wood splintered across the room.
One of the men shouted,
"Take the girl alive!"
Jonathan shoved Emily toward the fire escape.
"RUN!"
A gunshot echoed through the apartment.
Jonathan stumbled backward.
Blood spread across his white shirt.
Emily screamed.
"DAD!"
He smiled despite the pain.
"Don't stop running..."
"In my jacket..."
"...there's a flash drive."
"It contains everything."
"The videos."
"The bank records."
"The names."
"It can destroy the entire Ashford family."
Emily grabbed the jacket and ran into the pouring rain.
Behind her...
More gunshots echoed through the night.
She didn't dare look back.
Twenty minutes later, hidden beneath an abandoned bridge, Emily finally opened the jacket.
Her fingers found the small black flash drive.
She plugged it into her phone.
Only one video file appeared.
ASHFORD_FINAL_TRUTH.mp4
Hands shaking, she pressed play.
The screen flickered.
The recording showed a young woman begging for her life.
Emily's mother.
Then another figure stepped into the camera's view.
The killer slowly turned toward the lens.
Emily's heart stopped.
It wasn't Daniel.
It wasn't Mrs. Bell.
It wasn't even Jonathan.
It was...
May you like
Margaret Ashford.
To Be Continued...
