Chapter 4 - Margaret’s Twenty-Three-Year Lie
Margaret sat in the library chair.
For the first time since Emily had known her, the older woman looked small.
Daniel stood across from her.
“Tell us.”
Margaret shook her head.
“I promised.”
Daniel slammed his palm against the desk.
“To who?”
Margaret looked at Emily.
“Your mother.”
Emily stopped breathing.
“She’s alive?”
Margaret’s face crumpled.
“No.”
The single word hurt more than Emily expected.
Margaret wiped her eyes.
“But she lived long enough to save you.”
Emily sat down.
“Start at the beginning.”
Margaret did.
Twenty-three years earlier, Clara Ashbourne had become pregnant at thirteen.
Richard Ashbourne refused to allow scandal near the family name.
He sent her to a private residence owned by a family associate.
The baby was born in secret.
A girl.
Emily.
Richard planned to place the child permanently with strangers.
Clara refused.
“She tried to run.”
Margaret’s voice shook.
“I helped her.”
Daniel stared.
“You helped her escape?”
“Yes.”
“Where did she go?”
“A church shelter in Brooklyn.”
Emily closed her eyes.
Margaret continued.
“For almost six months, Clara raised you there.”
“What happened?”
“Richard found her.”
Daniel’s face changed.
“How?”
Margaret looked toward Vanessa.
“Someone told him.”
Vanessa’s smile disappeared.
Emily noticed.
“What?”
Vanessa shook her head.
“Nothing.”
Margaret stared at her.
“You know exactly what I mean.”
Daniel turned.
“Vanessa?”
She snapped.
“I wasn’t even born into this family then.”
“No.”
Margaret answered.
“But your father worked for Richard.”
Silence.
Vanessa went white.
Margaret finally revealed the name.
Gerald Vale.
Richard Ashbourne’s private attorney.
Vanessa’s father.
Emily felt the connection lock into place.
Gerald had found Clara.
Richard’s men took her back.
But before they arrived, Margaret managed to smuggle baby Emily out through the church’s adoption network.
Clara was forced home.
“What happened after?”
Margaret’s voice dropped.
“She threatened to expose Richard.”
“For what?”
“Not just for hiding her pregnancy.”
Margaret looked at Daniel.
“For what he had done to the company.”
Daniel frowned.
“What company?”
“Ashbourne Holdings.”
Daniel’s face changed.
His father’s empire had collapsed years later after a financial scandal.
Margaret explained that Clara had discovered documents showing Richard had stolen money from trusts established for his children.
Including Clara.
Daniel stared.
“She had evidence?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
Emily leaned forward.
“Then what happened to her?”
Margaret began crying again.
“Three days later, she disappeared.”
Emily’s throat tightened.
“Did Richard kill her?”
Margaret whispered, “I always believed he did.”
Vanessa abruptly turned away.
Daniel noticed.
“You know something else.”
“No.”
“You’ve known too much from the beginning.”
Vanessa grabbed her purse.
“I’m leaving.”
Daniel blocked the door.
“Not until you explain why you framed Emily.”
Vanessa looked at him.
Her face lost every trace of fear.
“Because my father left me one instruction before he died.”
May you like
She looked at Emily.
“If Clara Ashbourne’s daughter ever returns to this house, get rid of her before she finds the red ledger.”
