CHAPTER 4 — "Your Father Never Died."
The words hit Sophia harder than anything that had happened that day.
"My father... is alive?"
Richard Hale nodded slowly.
"I couldn't tell you until today."
The ballroom, moments ago filled with applause, fell silent once again.
Margaret, already in handcuffs, suddenly began laughing.
A slow...
terrifying laugh.
"You really think Jonathan is alive?"
Richard looked at her.
"I know he is."
Margaret's smile vanished.
Twenty-eight years earlier...
Jonathan Whitmore discovered someone inside the family had been laundering billions of dollars through overseas shell companies.
The mastermind wasn't a business rival.
It wasn't a stranger.
It was his own sister.
Margaret.
When Jonathan prepared to expose everything, his car exploded on a mountain road.
The police declared him dead.
No body was ever recovered.
Everyone assumed the fire had destroyed everything.
Everyone...
except Richard.
"The explosion was staged," Richard revealed.
"Jonathan escaped before the blast."
"He disappeared because he knew the people behind the attack would never stop hunting his daughter."
Sophia's knees weakened.
"My whole life..."
"He was alive?"
Richard nodded.
"He watched you grow up."
"He attended your college graduation from across the street."
"He secretly paid every medical bill after your adoptive mother became sick."
"He even bought the little café where you worked..."
"...just to make sure you would never lose your job."
Tears streamed down Sophia's face.
"He never abandoned you."
"He sacrificed being your father... so you could survive."
At that exact moment...
Richard's phone vibrated.
He answered.
His face turned pale.
"They found him."
"What?"
"They found Jonathan."
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"But..."
"He's been kidnapped."
