Chapter 4: The Secret Nobody Expected
Silence.
Absolute silence.
I stared at her.
"What?"
Vivian laughed.
The sound echoed through the mansion.
"Your mother wasn't innocent."
My chest tightened.
"Stop."
"No."
Her smile widened.
"You deserve the truth."
The detective tried to interrupt.
Vivian ignored him.
Then she pointed toward my father's portrait.
"The woman you worshipped?"
My heart pounded.
"Enough."
Vivian's eyes locked onto mine.
"She stole this company."
The room exploded.
"No."
"Yes."
Then she revealed something nobody expected.
Thirty years earlier, my father wasn't the founder of Ashcroft Global.
My mother was.
Every patent.
Every innovation.
Every breakthrough.
Her work.
Her ideas.
Her empire.
My father inherited it after she died.
The room fell silent.
Even the detectives looked stunned.
Then Vivian laughed again.
"Your father spent decades pretending he built everything himself."
I couldn't breathe.
Because for the first time...
She wasn't lying.
The documents proved it.
My father had hidden the truth.
Not to steal credit.
To protect my mother's legacy from hostile investors who would've destroyed her company.
But now everything was exposed.
And Vivian knew it.
She had spent years digging for exactly this information.
Then the detective received a phone call.
His face changed instantly.
"What is it?"
He looked up.
Grim.
"We found the toxicology report."
The room froze.
"And?"
May you like
He looked directly at Vivian.
"Your husband didn't die from a heart attack."
