Chapter 4 - The Orphan Lie
Vanessa’s pale skin turned an unnatural shade of gray.
Her hands dropped from their folded position and clenched into tight fists at her sides.
“She’s lying!” Vanessa screeched, her voice losing every trace of its polished, high-society charm.
“She is a psychotic, opportunistic little brat trying to extort money from you, Adrian!”
“I don’t even know this girl!”
“I have never seen her in my life!”
“You know me!” Emily fired back, stepping directly toward the billionaire socialite without an ounce of fear.
“You know me because your charity, The Sterling Hope Foundation, funded my last three years at Northwestern!”
“You personally handed me the scholarship certificate in front of twenty television cameras!”
Emily turned toward the stunned guests, holding up her leather diploma cover.
Inside was not just the degree, but a neatly folded, thick parchment document stamped with gold foil.
It was the official letterhead of the Sterling Hope Foundation.
“For three years, I worked three jobs while maintaining a 4.0 grade point average,” Emily declared to the room.
“Every single semester, I had to attend the Sterling Foundation donor galas.”
“And every single semester, Miss Vanessa Sterling took the microphone and introduced me as her greatest triumph.”
Emily’s voice broke with emotion, but her gaze never wavered.
“She told every billionaire donor in Chicago that I was a tragic, helpless orphan.”
“She told them she found me living on the streets after my mother supposedly died of cancer in a public hospital.”
“She told them she was paying for my education out of the pure kindness of her golden heart!”
A collective gasp echoed across the grand table.
Two of the men sitting near the center—major financial donors to Vanessa’s private charity—sat up straight.
Their faces darkened with immediate suspicion.
“I didn’t know at first,” Emily continued, tears spilling over her lashes once again.
“My mother never told me who owned the foundation.”
“My mother just told me that a generous private donor had matched her savings so I could go to school.”
“Maria Ramos paid forty percent of that tuition with her own blood and sweat!”
“Every dime she earned cleaning this mansion went into that foundation’s matching fund account!”
“And when I found out last year that Vanessa had registered me as an orphan, I confronted her in her private office.”
Emily pointed right at Vanessa’s throat.
“Do you remember what you told me, Miss Sterling?”
“Do you remember what you whispered in that office when nobody was recording?”
Vanessa took a step back, her eyes darting frantically toward the exits.
Her breathing was shallow and ragged.
“You told me that if I ever told a single living soul that my mother was alive, you would terminate my scholarship instantly.”
“You told me you would sue my mother for breach of contract.”
“You told me you would ensure Adrian Moretti had my mother arrested for embezzling household funds!”
“I stayed quiet because I was terrified of what you would do to her!”
“I swallowed my pride and smiled for your donor photos while my mother was hidden away in the basement laundry!”
“And tonight, when you banned her from my graduation, you crossed the line.”
Emily looked down at her mother, who was staring up at her in utter shock and heartbreak.
“My mother isn’t dead.”
“My mother is the greatest, strongest woman in this city.”
“And you aren’t a philanthropist, Vanessa.”
“You’re a parasite who feeds on people who cannot fight back.”
The silence that followed was suffocating.
Every eye in the room moved from Emily to Vanessa, and finally, to Adrian Moretti.
Adrian had not moved a single muscle during Emily’s speech.
He stood like an ancient executioner waiting for the condemned to finish their final prayer.
His hands were shoved deep into the pockets of his trousers.
His jaw was locked so tight that the muscle was visibly twitching beneath his bronze skin.
He slowly pulled his right hand from his pocket.
He reached down and grasped the back of an ornate mahogany dining chair.
With a slow, deliberate motion, Adrian shoved the heavy chair aside.
It scraped across the polished marble with a deafening, metallic screech that made several women flinch.
He stepped over the broken porcelain.
He stepped right into the space between Vanessa and the two women on the floor.
His shadow swallowed his fiancée whole.
“Adrian, sweetheart, listen to me...” Vanessa stammered, her voice cracking as true terror finally seized her heart.
“She’s twisting everything.”
“The foundation has complex public relations protocols!”
“The board decided on the human interest angle, not me!”
“It was just marketing, Adrian!”
“It was just marketing to raise more money for the poor!”
Adrian leaned down until his lips were inches from Vanessa’s ear.
May you like
When he spoke, his voice was barely above a whisper, but it carried the weight of a guillotine blade.
“You used the child of my house to build your throne of lies?”
