CHAPTER 5: The Mother Everyone Said Was Dead
Emma couldn't sleep.
The nurse's final words echoed through her mind.
"Your real mother is still alive."
For twenty-five years, everyone had insisted her mother died during childbirth.
It had been repeated so many times that Emma never questioned it.
Now she wondered...
If that was a lie...
What else had been stolen from her?
The lawyer tracked down one final address hidden inside an old hospital archive.
A small cabin beside a quiet lake.
Emma drove there alone.
Her hands trembled as she knocked on the wooden door.
An older woman opened it.
The moment their eyes met...
The woman dropped the cup she was holding.
It shattered across the floor.
Tears instantly filled her eyes.
She whispered only one word.
"...Emily."
Emma frowned.
"My name is Emma."
The woman burst into tears.
"No."
"They changed your name."
"I named you Emily."
Emma felt her knees weaken.
The woman slowly reached into an old wooden chest.
Inside were dozens of birthday gifts.
Every single one carefully wrapped.
Every year.
From Emma's first birthday...
To her twenty-fifth.
None had ever been opened.
"I bought one every year," the woman sobbed.
"I never stopped believing I'd find you."
Emma could no longer hold back her tears.
"Why didn't you come for me?"
The woman handed her a faded newspaper clipping.
The headline read:
LOCAL WOMAN DECLARED MENTALLY UNSTABLE AFTER CLAIMING HER BABY WAS STOLEN.
"They made everyone think I was insane."
"They locked me inside a psychiatric hospital."
"For eleven years."
Emma covered her mouth in horror.
"They drugged me."
"They told me my daughter had died."
"But I remembered your face every single day."
Before Emma could answer...
The front door exploded open.
Three black SUVs surrounded the cabin.
Men in expensive suits rushed inside.
Leading them...
Was Isabella.
She wasn't in prison.
She wasn't broken.
She smiled wider than ever.
"You really believed I lost?"
Emma stared in disbelief.
"How are you here?"
Isabella laughed.
"My mother confessed."
"My lawyers destroyed every piece of evidence."
"The charges were dismissed this morning."
She slowly clapped her hands.
"You've been chasing the past."
"I've been preparing for the future."
The lawyer stepped in front of Emma.
"What are you talking about?"
Isabella pulled a thick folder from her handbag.
"The inheritance wasn't Grandpa's greatest secret."
She tossed the documents onto the table.
The lawyer opened the first page.
His face turned white.
"Oh... my God."
Emma grabbed the file.
It contained documents proving her grandfather had secretly established another trust decades earlier.
A trust worth nearly twelve billion dollars.
But there was one terrifying condition.
Only one living blood heir could inherit it.
Emma looked up at Isabella.
"If you're really my cousin..."
"...then one of us has to lose."
Isabella smiled coldly.
Then she whispered the words that froze everyone in the cabin.
"I didn't come for the money."
"I came to make sure you're no longer alive to claim it."
Outside...
The bodyguards slowly reached into their jackets.
And Emma realized the fight for her family had only been the beginning.
May you like
Now...
It was a fight for her life.
