Billionaire Pretends To Be A Janitor To Find True Love — But Discovers A Secret Hidden For 20 Years
Chapter 8
Peter Sloan looked older than Alexander remembered.
But the confidence was still there.
“You,” Alexander said.
Peter smiled.
“You finally figured it out.”
Grace stepped closer.
“You knew my mother.”
Peter looked at her.
“Very well.”
“What did you do to her?”
“Nothing.”
“You lied.”
Peter sighed.
“Your mother made her own choices.”
Alexander stepped forward.
“You helped Richard.”
“I helped your father.”
“You stole from Emma.”
“I protected the company.”
Grace shook her head.
“Everyone keeps using that excuse.”
Peter looked at her.
“You don’t understand what Richard was capable of.”
“Then tell me.”
Peter remained silent.
Alexander opened the folder.
Inside were financial transfers.
Richard had moved money through shell companies.
Peter had handled the legal paperwork.
But there was something else.
A payment made to a detective.
Date:
The night Emma disappeared.
Alexander stared.
“Who was this for?”
Peter’s expression changed.
“I don’t know.”
“You signed it.”
“I was ordered to.”
“By who?”
Peter looked at Alexander.
“Your father.”
Silence.
Alexander couldn’t speak.
Grace stepped back.
“My grandfather?”
Peter nodded.
“Your father wanted Emma hidden.”
“Why?”
“Richard threatened to expose the family.”
Alexander felt angry.
“You let my father believe hiding her was the only way.”
“He believed it.”
Peter paused.
“But there was another reason.”
“What?”
“Emma had discovered something far more dangerous.”
Grace looked at him.
“What?”
“She knew where the original family fortune came from.”
Alexander stared.
“What does that mean?”
Peter walked toward the archive shelves.
“Your grandfather made his first fortune from a company that was almost bankrupt.”
“Everyone knows that.”
“No.”
Peter shook his head.
“They acquired the company using stolen pension funds.”
Alexander’s face went pale.
Grace looked at him.
“The whole fortune?”
“Not all.”
“But enough.”
Peter continued.
“Emma discovered the evidence.”
“She was going to expose them.”
“Yes.”
“And my father stopped her.”
“He tried to protect her.”
Peter sighed.
“Richard wanted her dead.”
Alexander felt sick.
“Did he hurt her?”
“No.”
“Then how did she disappear?”
“She agreed to leave.”
“Because she was threatened?”
“Yes.”
Peter looked at Grace.
“She believed staying would put you in danger.”
Grace’s eyes filled.
“She protected me.”
“Yes.”
Alexander closed his eyes.
Emma had disappeared to save her daughter.
Not because she had been abandoned.
Because she had sacrificed herself.
Then Peter said something unexpected.
“Your father never stopped looking for her.”
Alexander opened his eyes.
“What?”
“He sent money.”
“How?”
“Through the hospice.”
“That’s why the trust existed.”
“Yes.”
Alexander looked at Grace.
Her entire life had been shaped by a sacrifice she never understood.
Peter continued,
“There is one final document.”
He handed Alexander an envelope.
It was addressed to Emma.
Never sent.
Alexander opened it.
Eleanor had written:
I am sorry.
I should have fought harder.
I should have told Alexander the truth.
But if I expose Richard, he will destroy everyone.
Please forgive me.
Alexander folded the letter.
Grace reached for his hand.
“Your family made mistakes.”
“Yes.”
“But they loved us.”
Alexander nodded.
“Some of them did.”
Peter looked at them.
“You still don’t understand.”
“What?”
“Richard wasn’t the end.”
Alexander frowned.
“Richard died.”
“Yes.”
“Then who?”
Peter’s face went pale.
“The person who inherited Richard’s accounts.”
“Who?”
Peter whispered one name.
“Your father’s second wife.”
Alexander froze.
“My stepmother?”
Peter nodded.
“She has been waiting twenty years.”
