Chapter 7 - My Father Had Built My Entire Life Around One Prediction—That I Would Eventually Love the Daughter I Never Knew ExistedI hated the idea.
I had spent my life believing my choices were mine.
Now I wondered.
Had my father created the circumstances?
The empire.
The enemies.
The money.
The grocery store.
Sophie.
Everything.
The answer appeared in a file.
My childhood.
My schooling.
My first job.
Every major decision.
There were notes.
Protect his emotional independence.
Prevent attachments.
Make sure he fears family.
I felt sick.
My father had shaped me.
He wanted me isolated.
Then, when the time came, he wanted me to protect the heir.
It was monstrous.
But there was another file.
My mother.
She had opposed him.
She had tried to expose the trust.
She had hidden evidence.
Then she died.
My father blamed Daniel.
Daniel blamed my father.
Both were wrong.
The trust had destroyed them all.
Hannah looked at me.
“Your father wanted Sophie protected.”
“Why?”
“Because she was the only innocent person left.”
I looked at her.
“And the twins?”
Daniel answered:
“Because they were mine.”
He looked at Mason and Noah.
“They deserved to know their father.”
Sophie walked between us.
“Can everyone stop fighting?”
I laughed.
A six-year-old had somehow become the calmest person in the room.
Then the vault doors opened.
Someone had breached the building.
Federal agents.
But they weren't ours.
A man stepped forward.
He had a silver badge.
He smiled.
“Hand over the children.”
I recognized him.
A judge.
One of the most powerful men in Wisconsin.
He had ties to my father.
And he was holding a federal warrant.
I looked at Daniel.
He whispered:
May you like
“Run.”
We did.
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