CHAPTER 4 – The Little Girl Was Never Innocent
Amelia couldn't breathe.
The tiny gold wedding ring in Lily's hand belonged to her father.
She would recognize the engraving anywhere.
"Forever Begins Today."
It was the ring her mother had buried with him.
"So..." Amelia whispered. "Where did you get that?"
Lily smiled sweetly.
"Daddy gave it to me."
Amelia's heart nearly stopped.
"My father?"
Lily slowly shook her head.
"No..."
"Nathan."
Everything around Amelia suddenly felt unreal.
The police officers rushed toward the child, but before they could reach her, Lily's mother burst into the room, tears streaming down her face.
"Don't touch her!"
She grabbed Lily tightly.
"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..."
Amelia stepped closer.
"You knew?"
The woman collapsed onto the floor.
"I didn't have a choice."
"They threatened to kill my husband."
She revealed that Nathan wasn't just a groom running marriage scams.
He worked for a secret organization that specialized in targeting wealthy women.
They studied their victims for months.
They hired fake friends.
Fake lawyers.
Fake relatives.
Even fake children.
Every wedding was a carefully planned robbery.
Every broken heart made someone else richer.
But Amelia had ruined their biggest operation.
Which meant...
She had become their next target.
Just then, one detective rushed into the room.
"We found something."
He placed an old envelope on the table.
It had Amelia's father's handwriting.
Inside was a single photograph.
It showed Amelia's father standing beside Nathan.
Taken twenty years earlier.
On the back were only six chilling words.
"If he finds my daughter... run."
Silence filled the room.
Nathan hadn't randomly chosen Amelia.
He had been searching for her...
For twenty years.
Then every phone inside the police station buzzed at exactly the same moment.
A live video began playing automatically.
Nathan appeared on the screen, smiling calmly from an unknown location.
"You finally found the photo."
He looked directly into the camera.
"Now it's time for Amelia to learn who her father really was."
The video suddenly switched to a dark underground room.
A weak old man was tied to a chair.
He slowly raised his head.
Amelia screamed.
It wasn't a recording.
Her father...
Was still alive.
And Nathan whispered one final sentence before the livestream ended.
"Come alone... if you ever want to see him again."
The screen went black.
For the first time since the wedding...
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Amelia realized the betrayal had never been about love.
It had always been about a secret worth killing for.
