Chapter 10 - ELEANOR'S TRUTH
Eleanor invited them inside.
The house was small and warm.
Nothing like the mansion where Emma had spent years feeling watched.
Lily sat on the couch with her stuffed bunny.
Eleanor sat across from her.
She didn't touch Lily.
She waited.
That patience told Emma everything.
"Tell me the truth," Emma said.
Eleanor nodded.
"Six years ago, I learned there had been a mistake at the hospital."
She explained that Lily had been connected to a family trust.
The trust was originally meant to protect the child involved in the hospital records error.
But Daniel's father discovered it.
He realized that controlling the child's identity would give him control over the money.
So he altered documents.
He pressured hospital employees.
And he ordered private investigators to track anyone who might expose him.
Emma looked at Daniel.
"Did you know?"
Daniel nodded.
"I found out two years after Lily was born."
"And you stayed silent."
"I was afraid of my father."
Emma's voice softened.
"Then you should have protected Lily."
Daniel looked at the floor.
Eleanor reached for a folder.
"Your daughter is not in danger because of who she is."
Emma frowned.
"Then why are they trying to take her?"
"Because the trust becomes accessible when she turns eighteen."
Emma stared at her.
"That's twelve years away."
Eleanor nodded.
"They want control of it before then."
Emma understood.
The custody papers weren't about Lily's safety.
They were about control.
Eleanor gave Emma another envelope.
Inside was a copy of the original trust.
Emma read the final clause.
The guardian of the child must act independently of the Carter family.
Emma looked up.
"So they can't legally control it."
"Not if we prove what happened."
Emma finally understood why they had been desperate to erase the records.
The truth could cost them millions.
But there was still one problem.
The original evidence had been hidden.
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And the only person who knew where it was had disappeared.
Victor Hale.
