CHAPTER 7 — The Girl Who Never Existed
Sophie's hands trembled as she stared at the birth certificate.
The date was correct.
The hospital was correct.
But the parents' names...
...were not.
Her entire life had been built on a lie.
The attorney unlocked one final box her grandfather had left behind.
Inside were dozens of newspaper clippings dating back twenty-six years.
Every headline told the same tragic story.
"Powerful Business Family Loses Infant Daughter in Hospital Fire."
Sophie looked closer.
The baby's name...
...was Sophia Morgan.
Her own name.
"But..." she whispered.
"I survived."
The attorney slowly shook his head.
"No."
"The child who survived wasn't the Morgan baby."
Silence filled the room.
He slid one final document across the table.
It contained a DNA report.
Sophie's heartbeat pounded in her ears.
Probability of biological relationship with Richard Morgan: 0%.
She wasn't his granddaughter.
She wasn't even related to the Morgan family.
Tears blurred her vision.
"Then... why did he raise me?"
The attorney smiled sadly.
"Because he made a promise."
Twenty-six years earlier, Richard Morgan had arrived at the burning hospital searching for his newborn granddaughter.
Instead...
He found a crying infant lying alone beneath a collapsed ceiling while everyone else ran away.
The baby's parents had died trying to save other families.
Richard carried the little girl out of the flames with his own hands.
That little girl...
...was Sophie.
He secretly adopted her and raised her as his own because he believed no child should grow up without a family.
Only three people had ever known the truth.
Richard.
His attorney.
And...
Someone else.
The office door suddenly burst open.
A frightened assistant ran inside.
"Ms. Morgan!"
"The private family vault has been emptied!"
"The security guards are unconscious!"
"And the only thing missing..."
"...is the file containing your real parents' identities."
Sophie's blood turned to ice.
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Someone wasn't after the inheritance anymore.
Someone was trying to erase her past.
