Chapter 6 - Claire Was Hiding Something Too
Claire had barely spoken since the reveal.
Emma noticed.
For someone who had thrown coffee at her twenty minutes earlier, she had become strangely quiet.
Richard noticed too.
“Claire.”
She looked up.
“What?”
“You knew Victoria was Anna’s sister?”
“No.”
“Did you know Emma was Daniel’s daughter?”
Claire shook her head.
“No.”
Emma believed that answer.
But not everything.
“You know something.”
Claire’s face tightened.
Victoria interrupted.
“Claire, don’t.”
Emma turned.
That warning confirmed it.
Claire stood.
“I found something last month.”
Victoria went pale.
“What?”
Claire looked at her.
“In your desk.”
Richard’s voice dropped.
“What did you find?”
Claire swallowed.
“A copy of Emma’s birth certificate.”
Emma went still.
Claire continued.
“I thought it was strange.”
“Why didn’t you tell anyone?” Emma asked.
Claire looked ashamed.
“Because I thought Victoria was planning some inheritance scheme.”
Richard almost smiled.
“She was.”
Victoria exploded.
“You don’t know anything!”
Claire turned on her.
“I know you had Emma’s birth certificate, Daniel’s old insurance policy, and a list of trust beneficiaries hidden in your desk.”
Emma stared at Victoria.
Trust beneficiaries.
There it was.
Money.
Again.
Richard leaned against the desk.
“Daniel left a trust.”
Victoria’s face hardened.
“He left multiple things.”
Emma’s chest tightened.
“What did he leave me?”
Richard answered.
“Thirty percent of Hale Industries.”
Claire gasped.
Emma almost laughed.
It was too absurd.
She had spent the last year counting tips and rationing groceries.
Now someone was telling her she owned nearly a third of a company worth hundreds of millions.
Victoria looked at Richard.
“It was never that simple.”
“No,” he said. “Because you made it complicated.”
Emma looked at her aunt.
“What did you do?”
Victoria whispered.
“I kept the company alive.”
May you like
And for the first time, Emma realized Victoria might not merely have hidden an inheritance.
She may have been living on it.
