Chapter 7 - THE FINAL SECRETI unhooked the security chain and opened the door, stepping back to let him into the foyer. I didn't offer him a seat.
Robert walked in, his wet shoes leaving damp footprints on the hardwood floor. He looked around the pristine, modern apartment, a painful look of regret sweeping across his hollow face.
"You... you live here now?" he asked softly.
"This is my official residence as Director of the Harrison Research Institute," I said calmly. "Why are you here, Robert? If this is another attempt to beg for the logistics contract, save your breath. The contract was awarded to another firm an hour ago."
Robert shook his head weakly. "No... it's not about the contract. The bank took the business two hours ago, Emily. Parker Logistics is gone. The house is going up for auction next week."
He held up the thick brown envelope he was carrying.
"I went through your late mother’s old safety deposit box today," he said, his voice cracking. "I... I was looking for anything of value to sell to pay off my immediate debts. And I found this."
My heart stopped. My mother had passed away from cancer when I was just twelve years old. It was her death that had inspired me to pursue medicine in the first place. After she died, Robert married Evelyn within six months, and my life turned into a nightmare.
"What is that?" I demanded, taking a step toward him.
Robert handed me the envelope with trembling hands. "Your mother didn't leave you nothing when she died, Emily. I... I lied to you."
I ripped the envelope open. Inside were legal documents, a land title, and a trust fund agreement stamped by a Swiss bank.
I skimmed the pages, my eyes widening with shock and mounting fury with every line I read.
"My mother... she left me her primary stock inheritance," I gasped, looking up at him in absolute horror. "She left me a $20 million trust fund... managed by a third-party executor... set to mature on my twenty-fifth birthday."
"Which is next week," Robert whispered, hanging his head in shame.
"You knew?" I screamed, the composure I had maintained all day finally shattering into raw rage. "You knew I had a twenty-million-dollar trust fund left by my mother, and you let me work twenty-two-hour shifts as a nurse's assistant?! You let Evelyn treat me like a servant?! You let Madison mock me for being poor?!"
"I couldn't touch the principal!" Robert sobbed, falling back against the wall. "The trust was locked tight by your mother's lawyers! But I was taking the monthly interest management fee! That’s how I funded Parker Logistics in the beginning! That’s how I bought Evelyn’s mansion! I was using your mother’s money to build my life while keeping you in the dark so you wouldn't demand your inheritance early!"
The sheer magnitude of his betrayal hit me like a physical blow.
He hadn't just neglected me—he had actively stolen from my mother’s legacy to fund the very people who tormented me.
"Get out," I whispered, my voice trembling with lethal intensity.
"Emily, please—"
"GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!" I yelled.
Robert flinched, turning around and stumbling out into the hallway.
Before he could reach the elevator, I called out to him one last time.
"Robert!"
May you like
He turned back, a tiny glimmer of desperate hope in his eyes.
"The trust fund lawyers," I said, holding up the documents. "They will be performing a full audit of every single dollar of interest you stole over the last thirteen years. You won't just be bankrupt, Dad. You're going to prison."
