Chapter 6 - The Woman Who Pretended to Hate Me
Margaret was found two days later at a private hospital.
She had suffered a stroke.
Nathan sat beside her bed.
I stayed outside.
I didn't know whether I was ready to forgive her.
She had insulted me.
Humiliated me.
Made me believe I was unworthy of her family.
Yet she had also protected me.
Perhaps badly.
Perhaps cruelly.
But protected me.
Nathan eventually came out.
“She wants to see you.”
I entered.
Margaret looked smaller than before.
Fragile.
Human.
Nothing like the woman I had feared.
She reached for my hand.
I hesitated.
Then took it.
“I'm sorry.”
I said nothing.
She cried.
“I hated you because I loved you.”
“That doesn't make sense.”
“It does when you know what I knew.”
She explained.
When Samuel discovered Richard's scheme, he sought Margaret's help.
She agreed.
But Richard discovered them.
He threatened Nathan.
Then he threatened me.
Margaret realized the only way to keep me invisible was to make everyone believe I had no connection to the family.
So she arranged my employment.
She made sure I stayed in the house.
She watched me.
And she treated me terribly.
“Why didn't you just tell me?”
“Because people who know the truth become targets.”
I looked at her.
“They already used me.”
“I know.”
“You should have trusted me.”
She closed her eyes.
“I should have.”
That sentence was enough.
Not forgiveness.
But a beginning.
The next day, Samuel told us the final part of the story.
The trust was more than money.
It contained a condition.
The descendants of both families had to remain united.
If one family tried to seize control alone, the trust would freeze.
That was why Richard and Elias had spent decades trying to create conflict.
They needed the alliance destroyed.
But there was one final document.
A letter from Charles.
Nathan opened it.
My dear son,
If you are reading this, then the time has come.
You were never chosen because you were the strongest.
You were chosen because you were capable of loving someone outside yourself.
I knew Samuel's daughter would enter your life.
I hoped you would protect her.
Not because of business.
Because she is the person I believed could bring our families back together.
Nathan looked at me.
I was crying.
He continued reading.
Do not repeat our mistakes.
Power without trust destroys everything it touches.
Nathan folded the letter.
Then he kissed my forehead.
“I don't want the trust.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
“I want a life.”
Samuel smiled.
“That's what your father wanted.”
The trust was placed under independent supervision.
The companies were separated.
Elias was charged.
Other accomplices were arrested.
The family empire began to fracture.
But there was one person missing.
Grant Carter.
Nathan's uncle.
Richard's old partner.
He had disappeared the same night Elias was arrested.
A week later, we received a letter.
From Grant.
He knew something.
Something about my mother's death.
Something Nathan's father had hidden.
And something about the three children.
The letter ended with:
If you want the final truth, come to the old Carter estate.
Alone.
Nathan looked at me.
“You're not going.”
“Yes, I am.”
“No.”
“I've spent my entire life waiting for other people to decide what I can know.”
He took a breath.
“This time, we go together.”
I smiled.
“That's better.”
We drove to the old estate the next morning.
The house had been empty for years.
Grant was waiting inside.
He looked exhausted.
Older than his age.
He placed a box on the table.
“Your father wanted you to have this.”
I opened it.
Inside was a stack of letters.
From my mother.
To Samuel.
And one line appeared repeatedly:
She must never know what we did.
I stared.
“What did you do?”
Grant looked at Nathan.
“Your father and mine covered up the truth about the children.”
I froze.
“What truth?”
Grant whispered:
“Your father didn't disappear because of the trust.”
“Why then?”
“Because he was protecting a fourth child.”
I looked at him.
“Fourth?”
Grant nodded.
May you like
“There was another baby.”
My heart stopped.
