Chapter 13 - Her Father’s Confession
Adrian agreed to a secure video call.
He appeared on the screen twenty minutes later.
Older than Charlotte imagined.
Silver at his temples.
Scar along his jaw.
The same gray-green eyes Charlotte saw in the mirror.
Sebastian stared at him.
“You let us believe you were dead.”
Adrian looked at his adoptive father.
“I thought it was safer.”
“For thirty years?”
Adrian closed his eyes.
Then Charlotte spoke.
“Why were you at the clinic?”
Adrian looked directly at her.
“Because your mother called me.”
Evelyn had discovered Margaret and Nathaniel were stealing from the family.
She also learned Margaret had been searching for Adrian.
Evelyn feared they would use Adrian’s existence to discredit Charlotte’s inheritance.
“Why?”
“Because Nathaniel knew Sebastian would change the voting trust if he discovered I was alive.”
Adrian paused.
“I wanted nothing from Valle International.”
Charlotte’s anger surfaced.
“You wanted nothing, so you abandoned me?”
Adrian flinched.
“I was told you would be safer without me.”
“By whom?”
“Evelyn.”
Charlotte stared.
Her mother had hidden him intentionally.
Adrian explained that Evelyn believed Nathaniel’s obsession with control would become dangerous.
They decided Adrian would stay away until Charlotte became an adult and secured her trust.
Then Evelyn discovered the theft.
Everything changed.
“The night she died, Margaret found her first.”
Adrian’s voice broke.
“I reached the clinic after Evelyn woke.”
Charlotte leaned closer.
“What did she say?”
Adrian swallowed.
“She said Margaret had put something in her tea.”
Sebastian closed his eyes.
Charlotte felt tears sting her face.
“Why didn’t you tell police?”
“I tried.”
Adrian claimed Margaret threatened Charlotte.
She showed him photographs taken outside Charlotte’s apartment.
She knew her routines.
Her college.
Her friends.
“If I spoke, she said you would be next.”
Charlotte stood abruptly.
“So you disappeared.”
“Yes.”
“For eight years.”
“Yes.”
“You let me believe everyone hated me.”
“I didn’t know that.”
Charlotte turned away.
There were too many betrayals to process.
Then Adrian said, “Charlotte, Evelyn gave me something before she lost consciousness.”
Charlotte faced the screen again.
“A recording?”
“No.”
“A key.”
Charlotte remembered the brass key from her bag.
Adrian shook his head.
“Another one.”
He held up a small silver key.
Sebastian recognized it.
“The family archive beneath the old estate.”
Adrian nodded.
“Evelyn said everything Nathaniel and Margaret feared was inside.”
Charlotte asked the obvious question.
“Why haven’t you opened it?”
Adrian looked ashamed.
“Because the archive requires two keys.”
He held up the silver one.
May you like
“And you already have the brass one.”
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