Chapter 6 - The Billionaire's Unexpected Proposal
Penelope Gallagher stared at the adoption certificate on the computer screen.
Her name appeared beneath the heading.
But she had never adopted a child.
She had never even applied to adopt one.
And yet Melanie was holding a document that appeared to carry her signature.
"Whose child is that?"
Her voice sounded strangely calm.
Melanie began crying.
"Pen, please. You have to understand—"
"Whose child, Melanie?"
Victor Russo stepped closer to the computer. His expression had become dangerously still.
On the screen, Melanie looked over her shoulder. Catherine Whitmore sat beside her, pale and frightened.
Someone was standing behind the camera.
Penelope could hear breathing.
Then Damian's voice interrupted.
"Tell her, Melanie."
Melanie shook her head.
"Please don't make me."
"Tell her!"
Penelope slammed her palm against the desk.
"Stop it! Both of you!"
The sudden force of her voice startled everyone in the bank's private viewing room.
Even Victor turned toward her.
Penelope leaned closer to the screen.
"Melanie, look at me."
Her sister slowly raised her eyes.
"For once in your life, tell me the truth."
Melanie swallowed.
"The child's name is Lily."
Penelope waited.
"She's three years old."
"Whose daughter?"
Melanie's lips trembled.
"Mine."
The room fell silent.
Penelope stared at her younger sister.
"You have a daughter?"
Melanie nodded.
A terrible thought entered Penelope's mind.
"Is Damian her father?"
"No!"
The answer came immediately.
Penelope almost believed her.
Then Melanie looked away.
"Her father was someone I met four years ago. He disappeared when I told him I was pregnant."
Penelope felt sick.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because Mom said you'd judge me."
Penelope laughed bitterly.
"Of course she did."
Melanie began crying harder.
"Mom arranged everything. She said it would be easier if Lily was registered under someone else's name."
Penelope looked at the document.
"Mine."
Melanie nodded.
"She used copies of your identification. She told me she'd arranged a temporary guardianship while I recovered from the birth."
Rebecca Hayes stepped forward.
"That's not how adoption works. An authentic adoption order requires judicial proceedings. Show me the issuing authority."
Melanie hesitated.
Rebecca studied the screen.
"That document may be fraudulent."
Damian laughed from somewhere behind the camera.
"You're getting warmer."
Penelope's stomach tightened.
"What did you do?"
Melanie suddenly leaned toward the camera.
"Pen, I didn't know they were going to use it against you!"
Damian's hand appeared.
The camera shook.
Victor stepped forward.
"Damian. Leave her alone."
His son's face appeared on the screen.
He looked nothing like the charming man Penelope had agreed to marry.
His hair was disheveled.
His expensive shirt was wrinkled.
And his familiar smile had become something unpleasant.
"Hello, Father."
Victor's voice remained controlled.
"Where is the child?"
Damian's expression changed.
For a fraction of a second, he looked genuinely surprised.
Then he smiled again.
"That's an interesting question."
Penelope felt her heartbeat accelerate.
"Where is Lily?"
Damian leaned closer.
"Wouldn't you like to know?"
Victor reached for his phone.
But before he could make a call, Catherine suddenly stood.
"Enough!"
Her voice cut through the room.
Even Damian turned.
Catherine stepped in front of the camera.
Her face was pale, but her eyes were fierce.
"That little girl has nothing to do with what happened nineteen years ago."
A man's voice answered from somewhere behind her.
"Everyone in this family has something to do with it."
Richard Vale.
Penelope gripped the edge of the desk.
"Richard, if you've involved a child in this, I'll make certain every investigator in the country knows your name."
Richard laughed.
"Your father used to speak exactly like that."
"Then perhaps you should have listened to him."
Victor glanced at Penelope.
Something resembling admiration crossed his face.
Richard's laughter stopped.
"Forty-eight hours, Victor. Transfer control of Meridian Holdings, or everything Thomas tried to protect becomes public."
Victor leaned toward the microphone.
"Send me the documents."
"You'll receive instructions."
The connection ended.
Penelope stared at the blank screen.
Then she turned toward Victor.
"Find that little girl."
Twenty minutes later, Penelope sat in a private conference room with Rebecca, Victor, and Helen Mercer.
The bank's security team had preserved the recordings.
Rebecca had already contacted an independent investigator.
But Penelope couldn't stop thinking about Lily.
A three-year-old girl.
Her niece.
A child whose existence had been hidden from her.
She remembered Melanie at twenty-three, suddenly disappearing for several months.
Their mother had claimed Melanie was studying abroad.
Penelope had sent her care packages.
She had even paid for part of the supposed tuition.
Now she understood where her money might actually have gone.
"She let me believe she was in Europe," Penelope whispered.
Rebecca looked up.
"Your sister?"
Penelope nodded.
"I sent her money every month."
Victor's expression darkened.
"How much?"
"Enough."
She closed her eyes.
"I would have helped her. I would have helped Lily."
Victor pulled out the chair beside her.
"Penelope."
She looked at him.
"Whatever Melanie did, the child isn't responsible."
"I know."
"Then we'll find her."
Penelope studied him.
"Why?"
He frowned.
"Why what?"
"Why are you doing all this?"
Victor didn't answer immediately.
She continued.
"You could walk away. Your son stole your money. My family apparently helped him. And now Richard wants your company."
Victor leaned back.
"Meridian was built with your parents' money and your father's work. I won't let Richard take it."
"That's business."
"Yes."
"And the rest?"
He looked directly at her.
"The rest is personal."
Penelope felt something unexpected move through her chest.
She looked away.
She wasn't ready to understand what it meant.
By evening, Rebecca had discovered that the adoption certificate was connected to a private family-services organization that had closed two years earlier.
The organization's former director had disappeared.
Its financial records led to a consulting company.
And that consulting company had received payments from Eleanor Gallagher.
Penelope stared at the report.
"My mother paid them?"
Rebecca nodded.
"Substantial amounts."
"How substantial?"
"Almost six hundred thousand dollars over three years."
Penelope felt physically ill.
"Where did she get that kind of money?"
Rebecca exchanged a glance with Victor.
Then she turned another page.
"From a trust account that appears to have been funded by your inheritance."
Penelope laughed.
She couldn't help it.
The sound was hollow.
"So she stole my money to hide my sister's daughter."
"That's one possible explanation," Rebecca said. "But we need to establish what those payments actually purchased."
Victor examined the transactions.
"There's another possibility."
Penelope looked at him.
"What?"
"Someone may have used the organization to establish false identities."
Rebecca nodded slowly.
"And if Lily's documents are fraudulent, we need to determine her actual legal status."
Penelope stared at the paperwork.
Her mother hadn't merely lied about her father.
She had potentially constructed an entire false identity around an innocent child.
"Where is Eleanor now?"
Victor checked his phone.
"At home."
"Are you sure?"
"Dominic has someone watching the townhouse."
Penelope stood.
"Then I want to see her."
Rebecca immediately shook her head.
"Not alone."
"I won't be alone."
She looked at Victor.
He stood without hesitation.
Eleanor Gallagher was drinking tea when they entered her townhouse.
She sat in the formal drawing room wearing a cream-colored silk blouse.
Her expression was perfectly composed.
Penelope wondered how many years her mother had practiced looking innocent.
"Penelope."
Eleanor placed her teacup down.
"I assume you've finally come to your senses."
Penelope remained standing.
"Where's Lily?"
Her mother's face changed.
Only slightly.
But Penelope saw it.
"Who?"
"Your granddaughter."
Eleanor looked toward Victor.
"What have you told her?"
Victor didn't answer.
Penelope approached.
"Melanie told me everything."
Eleanor laughed.
"Melanie has always been dramatic."
"She's your daughter."
"Yes. Unfortunately, she's also extremely impressionable."
Penelope placed the adoption certificate on the coffee table.
"Explain this."
Eleanor glanced at it.
Then she shrugged.
"A temporary arrangement."
Rebecca stepped forward.
"This document appears to contain a forged signature. Miss Gallagher never consented to any adoption or guardianship."
Eleanor's expression hardened.
"Who are you?"
"Her attorney."
For the first time, Eleanor seemed genuinely uncomfortable.
Penelope noticed.
And something inside her changed.
She had spent thirty years being frightened of her mother's disapproval.
But Eleanor was frightened of accountability.
"Where is Lily?" Penelope repeated.
Eleanor looked away.
"She's safe."
"Where?"
"With someone who can care for her."
Penelope's hands curled into fists.
"Give me her address."
"No."
Victor stepped forward.
"Eleanor."
She turned toward him.
"You have no right to interfere."
"Neither do you have the right to conceal a child's whereabouts from the people legally responsible for her."
Eleanor's expression twisted.
"Don't lecture me about responsibility."
Penelope looked at her mother.
Then she asked the question that had been haunting her all afternoon.
"Did you know Catherine was alive?"
Eleanor froze.
Victor became still.
Penelope waited.
Her mother slowly stood.
"That woman destroyed my marriage."
Penelope's heart began pounding.
"She was my father's wife before you."
Eleanor laughed bitterly.
"That's what he told you?"
Penelope stared at her.
"What does that mean?"
Eleanor approached the fireplace.
She picked up a framed photograph of herself and Thomas.
"Your father never stopped loving her."
"Because she was my biological mother?"
Eleanor turned.
"Because she had everything I wanted."
Penelope felt a chill.
"What did you want?"
Eleanor's eyes filled with tears.
"Thomas."
For a moment, Penelope saw something unfamiliar.
Not the controlling woman who had raised her.
But someone consumed by resentment.
Then Eleanor continued.
"Catherine had his love. His respect. His business. And when she gave birth to you, she had his family."
Penelope swallowed.
"What happened to her?"
Eleanor looked away.
"Richard came to me."
Victor's expression changed.
"When?"
"Nineteen years ago."
Penelope stepped closer.
"What did he want?"
Eleanor hesitated.
"Money."
"How much?"
"Enough to disappear."
Victor's jaw tightened.
"Did you pay him?"
Eleanor looked at him.
"I thought he was going to take Catherine somewhere she couldn't interfere with my marriage."
The room fell silent.
Penelope stared at her mother.
"You knew she was alive."
Eleanor didn't answer.
Penelope felt tears burning behind her eyes.
"You let me believe my mother was dead."
Eleanor's expression hardened.
"I raised you."
"That doesn't answer my question."
"I fed you. I clothed you. I gave you everything."
Penelope shook her head.
"You gave me a childhood built on lies."
Eleanor stepped forward.
"You have no idea what I sacrificed."
Penelope looked directly into her eyes.
"And you have no idea what you took from me."
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then Rebecca's phone rang.
She answered.
Her expression changed as she listened.
"Are you certain?"
Penelope turned.
Rebecca looked toward Victor.
"The investigator found the former director of the family-services organization."
"Where?" Victor asked.
"Connecticut."
Rebecca paused.
"She says she knows where Lily is."
Penelope felt hope surge through her.
Then Rebecca's expression darkened.
"There's a complication."
"What complication?"
Rebecca lowered her phone.
"The director claims Eleanor isn't the person who arranged the adoption paperwork."
Penelope slowly turned toward her mother.
"Then who did?"
Rebecca looked at the report.
"Damian Russo."
Victor went completely still.
An hour later, Victor and Penelope returned to his Manhattan residence.
It was an enormous penthouse overlooking Central Park.
Penelope had visited once before, during an uncomfortable family dinner when Damian had spent most of the evening answering business calls.
Tonight, the apartment felt different.
Quieter.
Victor led her into his private study.
Bookshelves lined the walls.
A large wooden desk stood beneath an antique painting.
Penelope noticed a framed photograph beside his computer.
A much younger Victor stood beside Thomas Gallagher.
Both men were laughing.
She picked it up.
"My father looks happy."
Victor approached.
"He was."
She studied the photograph.
"Did you love him?"
Victor looked surprised.
"He was my closest friend."
Penelope nodded.
Then she asked something she hadn't planned to ask.
"Did you love Catherine?"
Victor's expression changed.
He looked toward the window.
"No."
"Then why did you spend nineteen years protecting me?"
He remained silent.
Penelope placed the photograph down.
"Victor, I can't survive another person hiding the truth because they think they're protecting me."
He turned toward her.
"Your father saved my life."
She waited.
"Before Meridian became successful, I made a series of disastrous investments. I trusted people who nearly destroyed everything I'd built."
"Richard?"
Victor nodded.
"Thomas discovered what was happening. He protected the company and helped me rebuild it."
Penelope studied him.
"That doesn't explain why you've watched over me for nineteen years."
Victor approached slowly.
"Because when Thomas died, I promised him that his daughter would never be abandoned."
Penelope felt tears gathering again.
"Then why did you allow Damian to hurt me?"
Victor's expression filled with regret.
"Because I believed my son was capable of becoming a better man."
She looked away.
"I believed that too."
Victor reached toward her.
Then stopped.
"Penelope."
She looked up.
"I can't undo what Damian did. I can't give you back the years you lost with Catherine. And I can't pretend my silence didn't contribute to your suffering."
His voice softened.
"But I can promise you something."
"What?"
"No one will ever use your insecurities against you while I stand beside you."
Penelope's eyes filled with tears.
For the first time that day, she allowed herself to cry without trying to hide her face.
Victor handed her a handkerchief.
She accepted it.
Then she laughed weakly.
"You're surprisingly old-fashioned."
He smiled.
"I've been accused of worse."
She looked at him.
And suddenly, she understood something that frightened her.
Victor had never looked at her the way Damian had.
He had never made jokes about her weight.
Never suggested that she should change her appearance.
Never treated her intelligence as something inconvenient.
He listened.
He remembered.
He respected her.
But respect wasn't the same as love.
And Penelope wasn't ready to mistake one for the other again.
"Victor."
"Yes?"
"Why did you really approve my engagement to Damian?"
His smile disappeared.
She continued.
"Don't tell me you wanted to protect me. Tell me why you thought marrying your son was the answer."
Victor looked toward the photograph of her father.
Then he opened a drawer.
He removed a sealed envelope.
Penelope recognized the handwriting immediately.
Thomas Gallagher.
Her heart began pounding.
"What's that?"
"A letter your father gave me before he died."
"Another letter?"
Victor nodded.
"I wasn't supposed to open it unless certain circumstances occurred."
"What circumstances?"
He looked directly into her eyes.
"If you were ever betrayed by someone who claimed to love you."
Penelope stared at him.
Victor opened the envelope.
Inside was a handwritten letter.
He read it silently.
His expression changed.
Then he looked at Penelope.
"Your father asked me to protect your inheritance."
She waited.
"But he also asked me to protect something else."
"What?"
"Your right to choose your own future."
Penelope frowned.
Victor placed the letter on the desk.
"I've spent nineteen years trying to honor that promise. And today, I finally understand that protecting you doesn't mean making decisions for you."
He stepped closer.
"Penelope, I know this is the worst possible moment to say something like this."
Her heartbeat accelerated.
Victor continued.
"I've admired you for years. Your intelligence. Your courage. The way you've built a life despite everything your family has done to undermine you."
Penelope stared at him.
He took a slow breath.
"And somewhere along the way, that admiration became something I could no longer ignore."
Her lips parted.
"Victor..."
He shook his head gently.
"You don't have to answer anything tonight. You're grieving a relationship, and you deserve time to understand what's happened."
He looked at her with an expression she had never seen before.
"But when this is over, if you decide you want a future with someone who will never ask you to become smaller to deserve his love..."
He paused.
"I would be honored to marry you."
Penelope couldn't speak.
She had expected accusations.
Threats.
Financial demands.
She had never expected a proposal.
Not from Victor Russo.
Not from the father of the man who had abandoned her.
And certainly not on the same day her wedding had collapsed.
She stepped backward.
"Victor, I..."
He raised one hand.
"Don't answer."
She stared at him.
"I mean it. You deserve to make that decision when your world isn't falling apart."
Penelope swallowed.
Then her phone vibrated.
An unknown number.
She opened the message.
A photograph appeared.
A little girl sat on a wooden bench, holding a stuffed rabbit.
She had blonde curls.
Big brown eyes.
And a frightened expression.
Penelope's heart stopped.
Lily.
Beneath the photograph was an address.
And one sentence.
Come alone if you want to meet your niece.
Victor noticed her expression.
"What happened?"
Penelope turned the phone toward him.
His face hardened.
Then another message arrived.
This one contained a photograph of Victor's penthouse.
Taken from inside the building.
Penelope slowly looked toward the study door.
A faint sound came from the hallway.
Footsteps.
Then a child's voice whispered:
"Aunt Penny?"
Penelope froze.
May you like
The study door began to open.
And standing on the other side was a little girl holding the exact same stuffed rabbit from the photograph.
