Chapter 17 - The Daughter He Chose
I stared at Thomas.
For several seconds, I heard nothing.
Not Victoria crying.
Not Vanessa whispering.
Not Samuel shifting behind me.
Nothing.
"What did you say?"
Thomas looked devastated.
"Richard raised you."
"Raised me?"
"He loved you."
"Answer the question."
My voice cracked.
"Was he my father?"
"Not biologically."
The ballroom seemed too large.
Too bright.
Too familiar.
Thomas explained slowly.
My mother, Eleanor, had been engaged to Richard when she became pregnant.
The biological father disappeared before I was born.
Richard married her anyway.
He gave me his name.
Raised me as his daughter.
Never treated me differently.
"Who was my biological father?"
Thomas hesitated.
That hesitation terrified me.
"Edwin Mercer."
Victoria gasped.
Vanessa stepped backward.
I stared at Edwin.
He stood near the ballroom doors.
Tears filled his eyes.
"No."
I shook my head.
"No."
Edwin approached slowly.
"I loved your mother before she met Richard."
I couldn't breathe.
"Richard knew?"
"From the beginning."
"And you?"
"I knew you existed."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because Richard was your father."
Edwin's voice broke.
"Biology didn't change that."
I hated that the answer made sense.
I hated that it hurt anyway.
Victoria whispered, "Then Amelia is our—"
"Half-sister."
Vanessa sat down hard.
The three women Charles had spent years trying to turn against one another were not cousins.
We were sisters.
Thomas wiped his eyes.
"Richard changed the trust because he knew Amelia wasn't biologically Sinclair."
I stiffened.
"So I don't own the company."
"No."
Thomas stepped closer.
"You do."
"How?"
"Because I transferred my controlling interest to Richard before you were born."
"Why?"
"To protect it from Charles."
Richard then placed the shares in an irrevocable trust naming me as beneficiary.
Not because I was born a Sinclair.
Because he chose me as his daughter.
Thomas looked at Victoria and Vanessa.
"I created separate trusts for my daughters."
Vanessa lowered her head.
"Charles told me Amelia stole everything."
"He lied."
Thomas sat beside her.
"He stole your childhood."
Vanessa finally broke.
She cried against the shoulder of a father she had not seen since infancy.
Victoria joined them.
I stood several feet away.
Edwin approached.
I raised one hand.
"Not yet."
He stopped.
"I understand."
Later that night, Samuel handed me another letter from Richard.
I opened it alone.
Blood makes relatives.
Choice makes family.
You were my daughter before I ever held you.
Nothing any document reveals can change that.
I cried for the first time since Marcus threw me into the rain.
Not because my father wasn't my father.
Because I finally understood how completely he had chosen me.
Then the ballroom doors opened.
Federal agents entered.
I stood.
The lead investigator approached.
"Amelia Sinclair?"
"Yes."
"We've arrested Charles Whitmore on additional charges."
"Good."
His expression remained serious.
"But before his arrest, Mr. Whitmore submitted evidence concerning Richard Sinclair's death."
My stomach tightened.
"What evidence?"
"A recording."
He handed me a device.
Marcus's voice played through the speaker.
Ten years earlier.
My father's final night.
Richard's voice came next.
May you like
Then Marcus said something that froze every person in the ballroom.
"I switched the glasses."
