PART 3 – The Woman Who Suddenly Wanted to Call Me "Family"
Everything changed in less than thirty seconds.
Margaret hurried across the dining room with a smile Emily had never seen before.
"Oh, sweetheart..."
she whispered.
"You should have told us."
Emily quietly stepped backward.
"I didn't know."
Margaret reached for her hands.
Emily didn't offer them.
The older woman's smile tightened.
"We're family."
"We don't need to dwell on unpleasant misunderstandings."
Misunderstandings.
Emily almost laughed.
Being denied meals.
Sleeping in the guest room while pregnant.
Being called worthless every single day.
Forced to eat on the marble floor.
Margaret called those...
Misunderstandings.
Daniel finally found his voice.
"Emily..."
"I'm sorry."
His eyes filled with regret.
"I should have defended you."
Emily looked at him for several long seconds.
Then quietly asked,
"When?"
Daniel blinked.
"What?"
"When exactly were you planning to defend me?"
"When your mother threw away my prenatal vitamins?"
"When she locked me outside during the snowstorm?"
"When she called our baby a burden?"
He lowered his eyes.
No answer.
Emily nodded slowly.
"That's what I thought."
William interrupted gently.
"There is one more matter."
Everyone turned toward him.
"Miss Ashford."
"The Board of Trustees has requested your presence tomorrow morning."
"You officially assume ownership of your family's estate."
Margaret gasped.
"Ownership?"
William nodded.
"Immediately."
"And there is another detail."
He removed one final document.
"The Ashford family recently acquired several companies."
He glanced toward Daniel.
One of those companies...
Was Harrison Financial Group.
Daniel's employer.
The company where he had worked for seven years.
The company his family constantly bragged about.
Margaret frowned.
"What does that have to do with us?"
William calmly smiled.
"It means..."
"Beginning tomorrow..."
May you like
"Emily becomes your son's majority owner."
Daniel's face turned completely white.
