CHAPTER 7: THE BILLIONAIRE'S CONFESSION
The next morning...
Emma placed Richard Ashford's journal on the dining table.
Everyone gathered.
Ethan.
The lawyers.
Mrs. Pierce.
Security.
The journal contained daily entries spanning fifteen years.
Richard admitted something no one expected.
He had never loved his second wife.
He married her only because she threatened to expose illegal financial crimes committed by his business partners.
Mrs. Pierce slammed her hand on the table.
"Those pages are fake!"
Emma quietly turned another page.
Inside was an old photograph.
Richard.
Lillian.
Young Ethan.
Standing together.
Smiling.
On the back Richard had written:
"One day I will bring my daughter home."
The room became silent.
Mrs. Pierce's confidence disappeared.
Then Ethan spoke.
"I spent twenty years believing my father abandoned my sister."
He looked at Emma.
"He tried to find her."
Emma's eyes filled with tears.
"But he never did."
Ethan nodded slowly.
"Someone kept every letter she sent."
Everyone turned toward Mrs. Pierce.
Her hands began shaking.
Emma whispered,
"You intercepted my mother's letters."
Mrs. Pierce smiled.
Then...
To everyone's horror...
She admitted it.
"Of course I did."
"If Lillian came back..."
"I would lose everything."
The lawyers looked at each other in disbelief.
But Mrs. Pierce wasn't finished.
She laughed.
"You still don't know the biggest secret."
Then she looked directly at Emma.
"Your mother didn't die in an accident."
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The entire room froze.
End of Chapter 7.
