Chapter 7 - The Birth Certificate
Emily left the mansion before sunrise.
Daniel tried to stop her.
She refused.
She had spent twenty-one years believing her father had abandoned her before she was born.
Her mother had refused to discuss him.
Whenever Emily asked questions, Laura changed the subject.
Now a dead businessman’s family was suggesting Richard Hawthorne might have been her father.
Emily hated herself for even considering it.
She returned to the small apartment she had rented near the estate.
At seven in the morning, Daniel knocked on her door.
She almost ignored him.
Then he said something through the wood.
“I found your mother’s employment records.”
Emily opened the door.
Daniel held a folder.
“She started working for my father eleven months before you were born.”
Emily stared at him.
“That proves nothing.”
“I know.”
He handed her another sheet.
“This might.”
It was a copy of Laura’s emergency contact form.
Under next of kin, Laura had written Richard Hawthorne.
Emily sat down.
Daniel remained near the door.
“I’m not saying he was your father.”
“Vanessa wanted me to think that.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Daniel looked thoughtful.
“Because she wanted to destabilize you.”
Emily looked at him.
“Or because it’s true.”
Daniel sat opposite her.
“If it is true, we deal with it.”
Emily laughed bitterly.
“We?”
Daniel did not smile.
“You were framed inside my family’s house because of something my family did twenty years ago.”
“You don’t owe me anything.”
“Maybe not.”
“But I owe the truth something.”
Emily looked down at the documents.
One item caught her attention.
Her mother’s date of resignation.
It was three days before the alleged theft.
“That’s impossible.”
Daniel leaned closer.
“What?”
“They accused her of stealing money after she stopped working there.”
Daniel froze.
Emily pointed at the date.
“If she no longer worked for your father, how did she access the accounts?”
Daniel stared at the page.
Then his phone rang.
Margaret.
He answered.
His expression changed immediately.
“What happened?”
Emily stood.
Daniel listened for several seconds.
“We’re coming.”
He ended the call.
“The security supervisor is missing.”
“What?”
“And somebody broke into the security room.”
Emily already knew what came next.
“The footage.”
May you like
Daniel nodded.
“The original recording of Vanessa planting the necklace is gone.”
