Chapter 10 - The Woman Who Raised Lily Had Been Hiding One Final Secret—and It Changed Everything We Knew About Her BirthElena sat across from me.
“I knew someone had falsified Lily's records.”
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I didn't know who was behind it.”
She handed me a folder.
Inside were hospital records.
Lily had been born under another name.
Lillian Vale.
Marcus stared.
“My daughter.”
“Yes.”
But another document showed something unexpected.
The doctor who signed the birth certificate had disappeared six months later.
The nurse had died in a car accident.
The hospital records were erased.
Someone had gone to extraordinary lengths.
I looked at Elena.
“Why?”
She finally told us.
Because Lily wasn't just the daughter of Marcus Vale.
She was the only surviving legal heir to an old family foundation that had been designed to fund hospitals and protect vulnerable children.
Richard wanted the money.
But he also wanted control of the foundation.
Lily's existence prevented him from claiming it.
That was why he had tried to erase her.
I looked at Lily.
She was sitting on the floor coloring.
She had no idea that adults had spent three years fighting over her existence.
I knelt beside her.
“What are you drawing?”
“A house.”
“Who's inside?”
“Mommy.”
“Daddy?”
“Yes.”
“And me?”
She smiled.
“You too.”
I smiled.
“Why am I there?”
“Because you're family.”
Those words hit harder than any bullet.
May you like
I had spent my entire life believing family was blood.
But Lily had taught me otherwise.
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