CHAPTER 13 The Seven Names
The number stayed in everyone's mind.
Seven.
Not one.
Not two.
Seven children.
Seven lives hidden behind the Harrington name.
Daniel stood in the middle of his father's study, staring at the documents spread across the desk.
Birth certificates.
Medical records.
Private investigators' reports.
Every page revealed another secret.
His entire childhood.
His entire family.
Everything he believed...
Was built on lies.
"No."
Daniel slowly shook his head.
"This can't be real."
Emma looked at him.
"I know how you feel."
Daniel turned.
"You knew?"
Emma looked down.
"Not everything."
"Enough."
The accusation hurt.
Emma didn't defend herself.
Because he was right.
She had known pieces of the truth.
She had known there were secrets.
But she never imagined this.
Noah picked up one of the files.
"The rich don't hide money."
He looked at Daniel.
"They hide mistakes."
Daniel looked at the seven names.
His eyes stopped.
One name was circled.
Emma Carter.
His expression changed.
"Why is your name here?"
The room became silent.
Emma froze.
Noah looked at her.
"You didn't know."
Emma slowly stepped forward.
She picked up the file.
Her hands trembled.
Inside was information about her birth.
Her real birth.
Her eyes moved across the page.
Then stopped.
"No..."
Daniel watched her.
"What?"
Emma looked up.
"My mother..."
She couldn't finish.
Noah quietly said:
"She wasn't who you thought."
Emma's breathing became uneven.
All her life she believed her mother abandoned her.
She believed she was nobody.
A girl with no family.
No inheritance.
No connection.
But the file said something else.
Her mother's name.
Her father's name.
And underneath...
A single sentence.
Child transferred under protective identity after attempted assassination.
Daniel stared.
"Assassination?"
Emma closed the file.
Someone tried to kill her mother.
Someone tried to erase her identity.
Someone wanted Emma Harrington to disappear.
Noah looked at Daniel.
"Now you understand."
Daniel frowned.
"Understand what?"
Noah answered:
"The person who attacked our family wasn't trying to take money."
He pointed toward the documents.
"They were trying to erase the bloodline."
Suddenly...
The lights flickered.
Everyone stopped.
The detective reached for his weapon.
A phone rang.
Not Daniel's.
Not Emma's.
The old phone sitting on Richard's desk.
The phone that had been disconnected for years.
The detective picked it up.
"Hello?"
Silence.
Then a voice.
Distorted.
Calm.
"You found the list."
Everyone froze.
The detective looked around.
"Who is this?"
The voice continued:
"But you missed one name."
Daniel stepped closer.
"What name?"
The voice answered:
May you like
"The child Richard never knew existed."
The call ended.
