Chapter 5 - The Daughter of a Forgotten Secret
For eleven years, I believed my mother was dead.
That belief shaped every decision I ever made.
It was the reason I stopped asking questions.
The reason I learned to survive alone.
The reason I became someone who trusted plants more than people.
Plants were honest.
If they were dying, they showed you.
Their leaves changed.
Their roots weakened.
Their colors faded.
People were different.
People smiled while they destroyed you.
People hugged you while hiding knives behind their backs.
And now, standing inside the Howerin mansion with Emmett beside me, I was forced to face the impossible truth.
My mother was alive.
And she knew why someone wanted Emmett dead.
Emmett watched me carefully.
Not like a billionaire watching an employee.
Like someone trying to understand a person who had just discovered her entire life was built on a lie.
“Emily.”
I looked up.
I hadn’t heard that name in years.
Everyone called me Mia now.
Mia Carter.
The gardener.
The woman who kept her head down.
The woman who asked for nothing.
But my mother’s voice had broken through eleven years of pretending.
“How did you know my name?”
Emmett looked confused.
“What?”
“The phone call.”
He realized.
The caller had said Emily.
Not Mia.
I looked at the phone in my hand.
My fingers were shaking.
“Only my family called me that.”
The silence between us grew heavier.
Then Emmett asked:
“Who raised you?”
I looked toward the window.
Outside, the garden stretched endlessly.
Beautiful.
Perfect.
A place where everything looked alive.
But I knew better.
Even beautiful gardens had dead roots hidden underground.
“My grandmother.”
“Where is she?”
I swallowed.
“She died five years ago.”
“And your mother?”
I looked down.
“I was sixteen when she disappeared.”
“What happened?”
I had never told anyone the full story.
Not because I couldn’t.
Because I didn’t want to remember.
“My mother worked for a company downtown.”
“Which company?”
I hesitated.
Then said:
“Howerin Holdings.”
Emmett froze.
The room became completely silent.
“You’re sure?”
I nodded.
“She was an assistant in the legal department.”
“When?”
“Before my father died.”
That changed something.
I saw it immediately.
Emmett moved toward the desk.
“My father’s legal department?”
“Yes.”
“Her name?”
I closed my eyes.
“Clara Carter.”
The color left his face.
“You know her?”
“No.”
But his reaction told me everything.
He knew the name.
“Emmett?”
He didn’t answer.
He walked to an old filing cabinet near the wall.
Opened it.
Started searching.
“What are you looking for?”
“My father’s employee records.”
“You have them?”
“Not supposed to.”
He pulled out several folders.
After a few minutes, he found one.
A faded label.
CARTER, CLARA
My heart stopped.
Because there it was.
Proof.
My mother had existed in this world.
Not just in my memories.
Not just in old photographs.
But here.
Inside the Howerin mansion.
Emmett opened the folder.
The first page was a personnel record.
The second was a performance review.
The third…
Was missing.
A large section had been removed.
Again.
Just like his father’s letter.
Someone had been erasing the past.
Emmett looked at me.
“Your mother wasn’t just an employee.”
“What do you mean?”
“She was my father’s personal legal assistant.”
I stared at him.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“She was only an assistant.”
“That’s what everyone was supposed to believe.”
A chill moved through me.
“What was she really doing?”
Emmett turned another page.
His expression changed.
“She was investigating financial transfers.”
“Transfers?”
“Money moving through companies owned by my father.”
I understood.
The pieces were connecting.
My mother hadn’t disappeared randomly.
She had found something.
Something dangerous.
“What did she discover?”
Emmett looked at the documents.
“She believed someone inside the company was stealing from my father.”
“Warren?”
He didn’t answer.
Because we both knew.
Probably.
But not only Warren.
The problem was bigger.
Much bigger.
A knock interrupted us.
Both of us turned.
The door opened.
A woman entered.
Elegant.
Calm.
Perfectly dressed.
Beatrice.
For a second, I forgot how dangerous she might be.
Because she looked exactly like the woman everyone loved.
The woman from magazine covers.
The woman who donated to charities.
The woman who smiled beside Emmett at every event.
“Emmett.”
Her voice was soft.
Concerned.
“What happened?”
He stared at her.
“How did you know something happened?”
A tiny pause.
Almost invisible.
But I noticed.
Because I noticed everything.
Beatrice recovered quickly.
“The staff is talking. Everyone saw you disappear this morning.”
She looked at me.
Then at my clothes.
Then at my dirty hands.
The old version of me would have lowered my eyes.
Apologized.
Stepped away.
But something had changed.
Not because I became powerful.
Because I finally understood.
People like Beatrice counted on people like me feeling small.
I didn’t anymore.
“What are you doing here?” Emmett asked.
She walked closer.
“I came because I was worried.”
“Worried about me?”
“Of course.”
Her eyes moved to the folder.
Then back to him.
“What is that?”
Emmett closed it.
“Nothing.”
A lie.
A small one.
But necessary.
Beatrice smiled faintly.
“You know I hate when you shut me out.”
The irony almost made me laugh.
She had been shutting him out for years.
Maybe forever.
Emmett stepped closer.
“Where is Warren?”
Her expression changed.
Only slightly.
But enough.
“Why?”
“Answer me.”
“He had a meeting.”
“With who?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
“No.”
The answer came too quickly.
Emmett noticed.
So did I.
Beatrice looked at me again.
This time differently.
Not like a gardener.
Like a threat.
“Mia.”
The way she said my name made my stomach tighten.
“Yes?”
“I heard you stopped Emmett this morning.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
I looked at Emmett.
Then at her.
“Because the driver wasn’t Rafferty.”
A brief silence.
Beatrice’s face stayed calm.
But her eyes changed.
Fear.
Real fear.
For less than a second.
Then it disappeared.
“How interesting.”
I knew then.
She already knew about the driver.
Maybe she had always known.
Emmett walked toward her.
“Beatrice.”
“Yes?”
“Who hired the new driver?”
Her lips parted slightly.
“I don’t know.”
Another lie.
This time, obvious.
Before Emmett could respond, his phone rang.
The screen showed a message.
From Marcus, his lawyer.
Emmett opened it.
Then his face became completely serious.
“What happened?” I asked.
He turned the phone toward us.
The message contained a document.
A legal authorization.
A transfer agreement.
And a signature.
His own signature.
Except Emmett had never signed it.
The message from Marcus was short.
Someone is attempting to transfer control of Howerin Holdings. The document appears authentic.
Emmett stared at the screen.
Then looked at Beatrice.
Then at me.
Because the truth had finally become clear.
The attempt on his life was not about revenge.
It was about control.
Someone wanted him dead before he discovered what they were stealing.
And then another message arrived.
This time from an unknown number.
Only one sentence.
Ask your gardener what happened to her mother.
My blood ran cold.
Emmett looked at me.
I looked at the phone.
Because whoever was behind this…
Was no longer watching from the shadows.
May you like
They were speaking directly to us.
And they knew everything.
