Chapter 8 - The Secret of Lily's Birthright
Margaret’s face turned from pale white to an ugly, mottled crimson. She gripped the back of a mahogany chair so hard her knuckles turned blue.
"This is an outrage!" Margaret screeched. "Harold Thorne is my attorney! He handles Arthur’s estate! You cannot come into my home with false documents and make threats!"
"Harold Thorne was suspended from practice by the State Bar Association at 5:00 AM," Judge Sterling said with chilling precision. "He was implicated in aiding and abetting the concealment of Arthur Vance’s authenticated last will and testament. Harold is currently sitting in a federal conference room in Philadelphia answering questions about five million dollars in missing escrow funds."
Sophia gasped, dropping onto a nearby chair, burying her face in her hands. "Oh God... oh God, Harold took the money..."
"Arthur knew Harold was dirty," Daniel said, looking directly at Margaret. "And Arthur knew you were sleeping with Harold twenty years ago, Margaret. He knew Richard wasn't his biological son."
The room went completely, suffocatingly silent.
Richard’s mouth fell open. He looked from Daniel to Margaret, his eyes wide with utter horror. "What? Mother... what is he talking about?"
Margaret’s lips parted, but no sound came out. Her eyes darted wildly, seeking an escape route that no longer existed.
"Arthur stayed in the marriage to protect Emma," Daniel continued, his voice cold and steady. "Emma was the only true Vance child. When Emma had Lily, Arthur took Lily’s DNA directly to Johns Hopkins. The lineage was unbroken. Lily is Arthur’s direct, legitimate granddaughter. Richard and Sophia were Harold Thorne’s children, passed off as Vance heirs to secure Arthur’s empire."
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Emma stood in the center of the room, looking at the people who had spent her entire life making her feel inferior, second-rate, and unworthy. All those years Margaret had favored Richard, given him the sports cars, handed Sophia the luxury apartments, while treating Emma like an inconvenient burden. It all suddenly made horrifying, crystal-clear sense.
"You knew," Emma whispered, her voice slicing through the thick air. "You knew that if the truth came out, Dad's money would bypass Richard and Sophia completely. That’s why you tried to claim Lily wasn't mine. You wanted to invalidate her lineage so your real children wouldn't starve."
