CHAPTER 7 – The Letter Their Father Left Behind
The room was completely silent.
No one spoke.
No one moved.
Lily stared at Ethan with tears in her eyes.
"You... you're my daddy?"
Ethan slowly lowered the gun.
For the first time in years, the ruthless billionaire looked broken.
"I never wanted you to know me like this."
Emma shook her head furiously.
"Stop lying!"
"You didn't spend eight years looking for your daughter..."
"You spent eight years trying to erase every person who knew the truth!"
Police officers surrounded the mansion, but no one entered.
The hostage negotiators knew something life-changing was unfolding inside.
Nathan suddenly remembered something.
"The study..."
"Our father's private safe."
Sophia frowned.
"What safe?"
Nathan pointed toward the library.
"Father said there was one final letter."
"He promised it would only be opened if the Harrington family ever destroyed itself."
They hurried into the dusty library.
Behind an old painting of the family hung a steel safe.
Nathan entered a six-digit code.
072194.
The lock clicked.
Inside was only one envelope.
Across the front, written in their father's handwriting, were the words:
"To whichever one of my sons survives."
Nathan slowly unfolded the letter.
His voice trembled as he began reading.
If you are reading this... then I have failed as a father.
Power has always been this family's greatest curse.
The Harrington fortune was never my greatest treasure.
My family was.
Whoever chose greed over blood has already lost everything.
Nathan paused, unable to continue.
Sophia gently took the letter.
The final page revealed another secret.
Attached behind it...
was a second birth certificate.
Everyone gathered around.
Nathan's hands began to shake.
"This..."
"This can't be possible."
Emma covered her mouth.
Sophia stared at the document in disbelief.
The father listed on Lily's official birth record...
was Nathan Harrington.
But the mother...
was not Emma.
Silence swallowed the room.
Emma whispered,
"I've never seen this before."
Ethan looked stunned.
"No..."
"No, that's impossible."
Nathan slowly looked toward him.
"Then who is her mother?"
Before anyone could answer...
A woman's voice echoed from the mansion's front entrance.
"You've all been asking the wrong question."
Everyone turned.
An elegant woman stepped inside wearing a dark coat.
The police officers outside made no attempt to stop her.
Instead...
They saluted her.
Sophia had never seen her before.
But Nathan's face instantly lost all color.
"It can't be..."
The woman smiled sadly.
"Hello, Nathan."
"It has been nine years."
Emma whispered,
"Who... are you?"
The stranger removed a silver necklace from beneath her coat.
It was identical to the Harrington family crest.
"My name is Victoria Harrington."
She looked directly at Lily before saying the words that shattered every remaining secret.
"I am Lily's mother."
"And I died..."
"Nine years ago."
The lights throughout the mansion suddenly flickered.
A cold silence filled the room.
Sophia could barely breathe.
If Victoria had died nine years earlier...
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Then who had just walked through the front door?
TO BE CONTINUED...
