Chapter 2: The Truth Emily Never Told
The next morning, Richard sat across from Anna in his study.
Neither had slept.
DNA tests had already been arranged, but deep inside, Richard already knew.
Anna looked exactly like Emily.
And she had his eyes.
“She never told me about you,” Richard whispered.
Anna nodded.
“Mom didn't blame you.”
Richard looked up in disbelief.
“She thought you abandoned her?”
Anna shook her head.
“No. She thought you died.”
Richard's eyes widened.
Twenty-two years earlier, his controlling father had hated Emily because she came from a poor family.
Without Richard's knowledge, the old man had bribed someone to deliver fake news that Richard had died in a boating accident overseas.
Heartbroken and pregnant, Emily disappeared and raised her daughter alone.
She never married.
She never stopped loving him.
But three months earlier, Emily had passed away after a long illness.
Before her death, she handed Anna the photograph.
“If fate is kind,” she had whispered weakly, “find him. Tell him I never hated him.”
Richard broke down.
For twenty-two years, he had believed Emily had abandoned him.
For twenty-two years, Emily had believed he was gone forever.
And an entire lifetime had been stolen from them.
Outside the study, Victoria stood quietly.
Tears rolled down her cheeks.
She remembered Anna's terrified face.
And the slap.
The shame nearly crushed her.
Later that evening, Victoria knocked on Anna's bedroom door.
The young woman opened it cautiously.
Victoria lowered her eyes.
“I came to apologize.”
Anna said nothing.
But Victoria's voice shook.
“I judged you without knowing the truth.”
“And I hurt someone who had already lost her mother.”
For a long moment, neither woman spoke.
Then Anna quietly said,
“My mother taught me that carrying hatred only creates more pain.”
Victoria burst into tears.
May you like
And for the first time since the banquet…
Anna embraced her.
