Chapter 6 - Naomi Learned Her Father Was Alive After Fifteen Years—But When She Finally Found Him, He Revealed Why He Had Stayed Hidden From His Own DaughterSamuel Carter was living under another name in Vermont.
Naomi didn't believe it.
Not until she saw him.
He looked older.
Thinner.
Gray-haired.
But the moment he stood in the doorway, she knew.
“Dad?”
He froze.
Naomi couldn't breathe.
Then she ran.
He caught her.
She cried against his shoulder.
“You're alive.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I had to be.”
“I thought you abandoned us.”
“I never wanted to.”
She pulled away.
“You let me believe you were dead.”
“I know.”
“Mom knew?”
“She knew I was alive.”
Naomi stared.
“All these years?”
Samuel nodded.
“I was trying to protect you.”
“From Richard?”
“From everyone.”
He looked toward Adrien.
“And from the Vale family.”
Adrien stood silently.
Samuel studied him.
“You look like your father.”
“So I've been told.”
“He would have been proud of what you're trying to do.”
Adrien's eyes hardened.
“My father protected Richard.”
Samuel shook his head.
“Your father was afraid of him.”
“He was a criminal.”
“Yes.”
“But he was also trying to undo what he'd built.”
Samuel sat.
“That's what nobody understood.”
He explained everything.
Fifteen years earlier, Samuel had discovered Project Orchid.
Richard had been secretly purchasing influence inside Vale Meridian.
He planned to force Adrien's father out.
Samuel found proof.
When he threatened to expose Richard, he was attacked.
He escaped.
Adrien's father helped him disappear.
They staged Samuel's death.
Samuel went into hiding.
But he couldn't take his family.
Because Richard was still watching.
“If I'd stayed,” Samuel said, “you and your mother would have died.”
Naomi cried.
“You could have written.”
“I did.”
“How many times?”
“Twenty-three.”
“Where are they?”
“Burned.”
She stared.
“Why?”
“Because every letter could have been traced.”
Naomi covered her face.
Adrien looked away.
Samuel continued.
“The company had to survive.”
“Why?”
“Because it was the best way to expose Richard.”
“How?”
“I built the trust.”
Naomi remembered.
“You gave me the voting rights.”
“Yes.”
“Why me?”
“Because you were the only person I trusted completely.”
Her voice broke.
“You didn't know me.”
“I knew you.”
He smiled.
“You were stubborn at six.”
Naomi laughed through tears.
“You remember?”
“I remember everything.”
Then he turned to Adrien.
“You were raised inside the empire.”
Adrien nodded.
“You inherited its sins.”
“Yes.”
“But you are not required to inherit its shame.”
Adrien looked at him.
“What do I have to do?”
Samuel answered:
“Tell the truth.”
“That could destroy everything.”
“It may.”
“My employees.”
“Protect them.”
“My investors.”
“Protect the honest ones.”
“My family.”
“Let the guilty face what they did.”
Adrien nodded slowly.
Naomi looked at her father.
“Why did you bring me into the middle of this?”
“I didn't.”
“What?”
“Someone else did.”
Richard had arranged the fake photographs.
Richard had planted Naomi in the penthouse.
Richard intended to force Adrien into a public scandal.
Then use the scandal to remove him.
But Richard had not expected Naomi to discover the truth.
Samuel looked at her.
“You were supposed to be a distraction.”
“I became a threat.”
“Yes.”
Adrien smiled faintly.
“You became the most dangerous person in the company.”
Naomi rolled her eyes.
“I clean bathrooms.”
Samuel laughed.
“Never underestimate a woman who knows where all the dirt is.”
Everyone laughed.
For the first time, Naomi felt something she had not felt in years.
Family.
Real family.
That night, Samuel gave her the final key.
“This opens the archive.”
“What archive?”
“The one that contains everything.”
Adrien looked concerned.
“Where?”
“Under the Havencrest Hotel.”
Naomi stared.
The hotel.
The penthouse.
The roses.
The fake photographs.
Everything had started there.
Of course.
Richard had chosen the hotel because he knew Adrien would be there.
But he had also chosen it because the archive was underneath.
Naomi understood.
“They weren't trying to make me your wife.”
Adrien shook his head.
“No.”
“They were trying to make me look like your accomplice.”
“Yes.”
“Then they could accuse me of helping hide the archive.”
Samuel nodded.
“Exactly.”
Adrien looked at Naomi.
“Richard expected me to abandon you once the scandal started.”
“Instead?”
“I chose you.”
She stared.
He stepped closer.
“I don't know when it happened.”
“When what happened?”
“When protecting you became more important than protecting myself.”
Her eyes softened.
“You're changing.”
“So are you.”
They stood quietly.
Then Naomi whispered:
“I think I'm falling in love with you.”
Adrien's breath caught.
“I think I've been waiting for you to say that.”
Their kiss was gentle.
Careful.
Nothing like the scandalous story strangers had invented.
It was real.
And that made it more dangerous than the lie.
Because now Richard had two enemies.
A billionaire willing to destroy his own empire.
And a woman who had nothing to lose because she'd already spent her life surviving without it.
The next morning, they returned to Manhattan.
The archive door was hidden behind a false wall under the hotel.
Inside was everything.
Financial records.
Names.
Photographs.
Video.
Contracts.
Evidence.
And one final file.
It contained Richard's agreement with Lazarus Holdings.
The date was three months in the future.
Adrien frowned.
“They planned the takeover before the scandal.”
Naomi looked at the contract.
“Then the scandal wasn't the goal.”
“What was?”
“The scandal was the excuse.”
Adrien nodded.
“To remove you.”
“And replace you.”
“By Richard.”
Naomi looked at the ownership documents.
Then she smiled.
“No.”
Adrien looked at her.
“Why are you smiling?”
“Because they made one mistake.”
May you like
“What?”
“They gave me thirty-one percent.”
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