Chapter 2: Thirty Years of Lies
Chapter 2: Thirty Years of Lies
"No..."
Victoria whispered.
"That's impossible."
Richard slowly lifted his eyes.
His entire body trembled.
"I thought Emily left me."
His voice cracked.
"I searched for her for years."
Sophie stared at him in confusion.
"My mother said my father never knew I existed."
Richard looked at the photograph again.
Then at the bracelet.
Then at Sophie.
Every feature suddenly made sense.
The same gray eyes.
The same smile Emily had.
The same tiny birthmark behind her left ear.
He had seen it once before.
On the baby in the photograph.
Victoria suddenly tried to leave the ballroom.
Richard stopped her.
"Don't."
She turned slowly.
"I think... it's time you tell everyone what you did."
The guests exchanged nervous glances.
Victoria's confidence disappeared.
Richard opened an old family safe built into the library wall.
Inside lay dozens of letters.
Every single one addressed to Emily.
None had ever been mailed.
Instead, another stack waited beneath them.
Letters Emily had written to Richard.
None had ever reached him.
Victoria lowered her head.
"I burned most of them."
The room gasped.
"I told Emily you never wanted her."
"I told you she married another man."
"I couldn't let her destroy our family's reputation."
Richard closed his eyes.
Thirty years.
Thirty years stolen because of one person's pride.
Sophie quietly wiped away tears.
"My mother waited for you until the day she died."
Richard couldn't speak.
He simply walked toward Sophie.
For the first time in nineteen years...
May you like
A father hugged his daughter.
Neither of them wanted to let go.
