CHAPTER 2: The Secret Buried for Twenty Years
Victoria rushed toward the waitress.
“Who are you?”
The young woman wiped her tears.
“My name is Amelia Grace.”
The entire ballroom gasped.
Victoria shook her head in disbelief.
“That can't be possible.”
Amelia slowly pulled a faded silver necklace from beneath her uniform.
Victoria immediately recognized it.
It was their mother's necklace.
Their mother had divided it into two halves before she died.
Victoria wore one half every day.
Amelia held the other.
Victoria nearly collapsed.
“Oh my God…”
Then Amelia looked toward Eleanor.
“Tell her.”
Eleanor stepped backward.
“No.”
“Tell her the truth.”
Eleanor's lips trembled.
Years ago, after Victoria and Amelia's father remarried Eleanor, jealousy began poisoning her heart.
She feared Amelia would inherit part of the Ashford fortune.
So she did something unforgivable.
She paid someone to take six-year-old Amelia away and abandon her in another state.
Everyone was told the child had disappeared forever.
The police searched.
Private investigators searched.
Nothing.
Because Eleanor had hidden every clue.
Amelia was eventually adopted by a poor family in Missouri.
She grew up in hardship.
Her adoptive parents died when she was nineteen.
She worked multiple jobs just to survive.
Last month, she accidentally discovered old adoption documents revealing her real identity.
She searched for Victoria for weeks.
Today was the first opportunity she had to get close enough to see her sister again.
But she never imagined her sister would slap her before recognizing her.
Victoria burst into tears.
“No…”
She covered her mouth.
“No, no, no…”
Her knees gave out.
“I've been searching for you my entire life.”
Amelia's eyes filled with tears too.
“I know.”
The room stood silent.
Then Victoria slowly turned toward Eleanor.
The woman who had destroyed their family.
“You stole twenty years from us.”
Eleanor couldn't even speak anymore.
Police officers entered the ballroom minutes later.
One guest had already called them after hearing Amelia's story and seeing the evidence.
As Eleanor was escorted away, she whispered one sentence.
“I only wanted my own daughter to have everything.”
May you like
Victoria stared at her coldly.
“And because of that, nobody had anything.”
