Chapter 5 - The Husband Who Was Part of the Plan
Nathan turned toward Elias.
“What exactly are you saying?”
Elias smiled.
“Ask your mother.”
Nathan's face hardened.
“She's not here.”
“She should be.”
Elias turned to Samuel.
“You were always the sentimental one.”
Samuel ignored him.
He looked at me.
“Emily, your marriage to Nathan was supposed to create an alliance.”
I shook my head.
“I didn't know.”
“You weren't supposed to.”
Nathan stared at him.
“You knew I was watching her.”
“Yes.”
“You knew I would eventually notice her.”
“Yes.”
“Why me?”
Samuel took a breath.
“Because your father trusted you.”
Nathan said nothing.
“Charles knew Richard was stealing from the trust.”
Samuel continued.
“He believed you were the only person who could stop it.”
“And Margaret?”
“She knew.”
Nathan looked away.
Everything was collapsing around him.
For the first time, I understood why his mother had been so cruel.
She had known who I was.
She had known my father.
She had known the trust.
And she had watched us walk toward each other while pretending to hate me.
But Elias interrupted.
“You're all discussing the wrong person.”
He looked at Nathan.
“Your mother isn't the architect.”
“Then who?”
“You.”
Nathan laughed.
“That is impossible.”
“Is it?”
Elias pulled out a folder.
Inside were photographs of Nathan as a young man.
Documents.
Medical files.
School records.
And one document that made my blood run cold.
It was Nathan's adoption certificate.
He stared at it.
“What?”
Elias smiled.
“You're not Charles Carter's biological son.”
Nathan froze.
I looked at him.
“No.”
“Yes.”
Elias explained.
Nathan had been adopted when he was four.
Charles and Margaret had raised him as their own.
His biological father was unknown.
Or so the official records said.
But the hidden documents named him.
Samuel Walsh.
My father.
The room went silent.
I couldn't breathe.
Nathan looked at my father.
“Is that true?”
Samuel closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
Nathan staggered backward.
I felt the world disappear beneath me.
My husband was my father's biological son.
That meant he was my half-brother.
The marriage.
The love.
Everything.
Impossible.
Wrong.
Nathan looked at me.
His face was destroyed.
“No.”
He shook his head.
“No.”
Samuel stepped forward.
“There is more.”
I couldn't hear him.
I couldn't hear anything.
I looked at Nathan and saw the man who had touched my face.
The man I had kissed.
The man who had slept beside me.
The man who had chosen me.
Now every memory was poisoned by one horrible possibility.
Nathan grabbed the folder.
The birth records showed a discrepancy.
His biological father's name was Samuel Walsh.
His biological mother was unknown.
But there was something else.
A date.
The pregnancy had occurred before Samuel met my mother.
That meant Nathan wasn't related to me.
I stared at the documents.
“Explain.”
Samuel did.
Nathan was biologically his son.
But not mine.
His birth mother was a woman named Elena Pierce.
My father had met her during a business trip.
Their relationship had lasted only months.
Nathan was born.
Elena died during childbirth.
Samuel had been terrified of what would happen if Richard discovered the child.
So Charles Carter adopted Nathan to protect him.
Margaret knew.
But she had never told Nathan.
Nathan looked at me.
“I thought…”
“I know.”
He was shaking.
“So we're not related.”
“No.”
“But you are my father's daughter.”
“Yes.”
“And my father…”
“Is Samuel.”
“Yes.”
Nathan closed his eyes.
A broken laugh escaped him.
For a moment, we simply stood there.
Then Nathan turned toward Elias.
“You manipulated this.”
“Yes.”
“You knew I was Samuel's son.”
“Yes.”
“You used that to make me distrust my family.”
“Yes.”
“You wanted me to believe Emily and I were connected through blood.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To destroy the alliance.”
Elias explained.
If Nathan and Emily believed they were siblings, the trust could never be activated.
The marriage would collapse.
The companies would split.
Elias would gain control.
The entire scandal had been designed to make us believe the impossible.
And almost worked.
Nathan looked at me.
“I love you.”
My heart broke.
“I love you too.”
Elias looked furious.
The confession had changed everything.
His plan was falling apart.
He reached for his gun.
Nathan moved faster.
A shot exploded.
Elias fell.
Security rushed into the room.
Johnny was freed.
Samuel was safe.
But the story was not over.
Because the trust still existed.
May you like
And now there was a new problem.
Margaret had disappeared.
