Chapter 8 — The Third Father Secret
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The DNA report slipped from my fingers.
For a moment...
Nobody moved.
Not Richard.
Not my mother.
Not Daniel.
Not even Professor Hughes.
Because the impossible had just become reality.
Richard Bennett was not my father.
Daniel Cross was not my father.
So who was?
I looked at my mother.
"Tell me the truth."
My voice was quiet.
But everyone heard it.
Claire Bennett stared at the floor.
Twenty-two years of lies.
Twenty-two years of secrets.
And now there was nowhere left to hide.
"I was going to tell you someday."
I almost laughed.
"Someday?"
I stepped closer.
"You had twenty-two years."
She covered her face.
"I was afraid."
"Afraid of what?"
"The truth."
I shook my head.
"No."
"You were afraid of losing control."
Daniel looked at the DNA report again.
"There was another sample."
Professor Hughes looked confused.
"What do you mean?"
Daniel took a deep breath.
"When I was investigating Richard's fraud years ago, I found evidence that someone inside my company helped him."
He looked at me.
"Someone I trusted."
The room became colder.
"Who?"
Daniel didn't answer immediately.
Then he said:
"Thomas Bennett."
Richard's father.
My grandfather.
The man whose portrait hung in the Bennett mansion.
A man everyone respected.
A man who had been dead for ten years.
My stomach tightened.
"You're saying my grandfather knew?"
Daniel nodded.
"He was the one who arranged everything."
My mother's eyes widened.
"No..."
Daniel continued.
"Your mother was young."
"Richard was ambitious."
"But Thomas Bennett was the mastermind."
The pieces started connecting.
The stolen research.
The missing documents.
The fake accusations.
Everything.
My grandfather hadn't wanted a daughter.
He wanted an asset.
A connection between two powerful families.
And when I was born...
I became part of the plan.
Professor Hughes whispered:
"So Emily wasn't hidden because of a family scandal."
Daniel looked at me.
"No."
"She was hidden because she was the legal heir to something much bigger."
I frowned.
"What?"
Daniel opened another file.
Inside was a contract.
My hands shook as I read the first page.
The Cross Foundation.
The company my father built.
The patents.
The research.
The entire empire.
There was one name listed as the future successor.
Not Daniel.
Not Richard.
Not Ethan.
Me.
Emily Cross.
My family hadn't spent twenty-two years trying to destroy me because they hated me.
They feared me.
Because the little girl they abandoned...
Was the one person who could take everything back.
Then my phone rang.
A lawyer.
I answered.
"Emily Bennett?"
"Yes."
"This is urgent."
"What happened?"
The lawyer paused.
"Your grandfather left a final message before he died."
My heart stopped.
"What message?"
His voice became serious.
May you like
"He said if you ever discovered the truth..."
"You would need to know who actually killed your father."
