Chapter 9 - The Man Who Knew Everything
Charles went pale.
“Victor.”
The man smiled.
“It's been a long time.”
Anna stepped backward.
I pulled my baby closer.
Daniel moved between us.
“Who is he?”
Charles whispered:
“The man who raised Anna.”
Victor looked at me.
“And you must be Emily.”
I didn't answer.
He smiled.
“Your mother never told you about me.”
My mother said:
“Leave.”
Victor laughed.
“You still give orders.”
Thomas stepped forward.
“You shouldn't be here.”
Victor looked at him.
“You should have stayed out of this.”
Daniel quietly reached for his phone.
Victor noticed.
“Call whoever you want.”
His confidence frightened me.
Charles moved closer.
“You threatened my nephew.”
Victor's smile disappeared.
“I warned you.”
“Why?”
“Because you keep looking in the wrong place.”
I asked:
“What do you want?”
Victor looked at my baby.
“The family name.”
I stared.
“Charles?”
“No.”
He pointed toward the baby.
“The name your mother tried to give him.”
I understood.
The name wasn't sentimental.
It was a key.
A family name tied to an inheritance.
My grandfather's estate.
A trust.
Something my mother had never told me about.
Victor said:
“Your grandfather created a trust for the first male heir.”
Charles shook his head.
“He abolished it.”
Victor smiled.
“Did he?”
Thomas looked shocked.
“No.”
Victor pulled out a document.
“Here.”
Daniel took it.
He read silently.
Then looked at me.
“What?”
“There is a trust.”
My mother closed her eyes.
“Your grandfather left everything to the first male descendant named Charles.”
My heart sank.
“So that's why.”
My mother nodded.
“If your son were named Charles, the trust would activate.”
“Who controls it?”
“Your mother.”
I looked at her.
“What?”
She whispered:
“Until the child turns eighteen.”
Victor laughed.
“And that's why she needed the baptism.”
Everything clicked.
The public announcement.
The gifts.
The name.
She wasn't merely forcing tradition.
She was creating a legal identity.
A name that would unlock money.
Money someone desperately wanted.
I looked at my mother.
“Did you plan to use my son?”
“No.”
“You were going to put his name on legal documents.”
“I thought it would protect you.”
“From whom?”
Victor answered.
“From me.”
My mother looked at him.
“You killed Charles.”
Victor's smile disappeared.
“No.”
Charles stepped forward.
“You tried.”
Victor's eyes hardened.
“And you survived.”
Anna suddenly spoke.
“My real name is not Anna.”
Everyone looked at her.
She touched the scar near her eyebrow.
“It's Charlotte.”
My mother gasped.
Charles whispered:
“Charlotte.”
She looked at me.
“I was named before they took me.”
I began crying.
Charlotte stepped closer.
“I've spent twenty-eight years thinking my family abandoned me.”
My mother sobbed.
“I thought you were dead.”
Charlotte shook her head.
“You never looked.”
“I did.”
“No.”
Her voice broke.
“You stopped.”
My baby woke.
He began crying softly.
I rocked him.
Charlotte stared at him.
Then she whispered:
“What's his real name?”
I told her.
She smiled through tears.
“Good.”
Victor suddenly pulled something from his coat.
A small black envelope.
He placed it on the table.
“The trust isn't the only thing your grandfather left.”
Then he turned toward the door.
Charles grabbed his arm.
Victor whispered:
“Open the envelope if you want to know why your father disappeared.”
He pulled free.
The door slammed behind him.
I opened the envelope.
Inside was a photograph.
My father was standing beside a woman I had never seen.
May you like
On the back were four words:
She is your father's wife...
