Chapter 10 - THE FOURTH HEIR
Emily Reed was nothing like I expected.
She didn't look frightened.
She didn't look guilty.
She looked tired.
As if she had spent her entire life running from something.
She stared at Vanessa.
“I never wanted this.”
Vanessa shook her head.
“You lied to me.”
“I was protecting you.”
“You let me believe Lily was my enemy.”
“I was wrong.”
My grandfather interrupted.
“She was useful.”
Emily turned toward him.
“No.”
“You did what I asked.”
“I did what I had to.”
He laughed.
“You're still afraid.”
Emily stepped forward.
“No.”
She pointed at him.
“Not anymore.”
Then she handed my father a small device.
“Play this.”
Dad pressed the button.
My grandfather's own voice filled the room.
“When Lily becomes the sole heir, remove her father.”
Another recording.
“When Lillian returns, discredit her.”
Another.
“Thomas cannot be allowed to testify.”
Then the final recording.
“Emily will control Vanessa.”
Vanessa began crying.
My grandfather's face changed.
“You recorded me.”
Emily nodded.
“For thirty years.”
The police entered.
Dad had called them before we arrived.
My grandfather tried to leave.
Officers stopped him.
He looked at me.
“You think this is over?”
I didn't answer.
He smiled.
“You don't know what your mother did.”
My mother stepped forward.
“What did I do?”
He laughed.
“You hid the fourth heir.”
Everyone turned.
Emily froze.
“What?”
My grandfather smiled.
“Your mother had another child.”
My mother went pale.
“No.”
“Yes.”
Dad stared.
“Who?”
My grandfather looked at Emily.
“Your daughter.”
Emily shook her head.
“My daughter died.”
“No.”
He pointed toward the hallway.
“She survived.”
A young woman entered.
She was about twenty-five.
Dark hair.
Green eyes.
She looked at Emily.
“Mom?”
Emily collapsed into tears.
The young woman ran to her.
My mother stared.
“Who is she?”
Emily whispered:
“Clara.”
My grandfather smiled.
“The true fourth heir.”
Dad looked confused.
“How?”
“Emily's daughter.”
“But she's not a Hayes.”
“She is.”
He opened another document.
Her biological father was Richard Hayes.
The same man who had been controlling the trust.
Dad stared.
“Then there are five heirs.”
My grandfather shook his head.
“No.”
He looked at me.
“Only four.”
I didn't understand.
Then the attorney read the document.
Lily.
Lillian.
Thomas.
Clara.
My father looked at my mother.
“Why did you hide Clara?”
My mother cried.
“Because she was the child your grandfather wanted most.”
“Why?”
“Because she was the only heir who could inherit everything without the others.”
The trust had a final clause.
If one heir was removed, the remaining shares redistributed.
But if all four heirs agreed, the trust became permanent.
My grandfather had spent decades trying to prevent that.
Dad looked at us.
“We can end this.”
Thomas appeared through the front door.
He had returned.
He looked older.
But strong.
Lillian hugged him.
Dad embraced him.
For the first time, all four heirs stood together.
My grandfather looked at us.
“You think family makes you powerful?”
I looked at him.
“No.”
I held Lillian's hand.
“It makes us impossible to separate.”
He said nothing.
Police took him away.
But as he passed me, he whispered:
“Ask your mother why she really married your father.”
My mother went pale.
Dad turned.
“What does that mean?”
She looked at him.
Then at me.
May you like
And for the first time, she said:
“I didn't marry you by accident.”
