“Send the Poor, Ugly Girl—He’ll Reject Her!” They Laughed… Until the Millionaire Stood Up
Chapter 4
Claire had spent eight years believing her father’s repair shop had failed because of debt.
Now someone had broken into her apartment to steal a photograph.
She sat across from Adrian that evening.
“I don’t understand.”
“Neither do I.”
“My father wasn’t important.”
Adrian looked at her.
“Maybe he was.”
He had his security team investigate the shop’s old records.
They found something unexpected.
A company had purchased several pieces of equipment from Claire’s father shortly before his death.
The buyer wasn’t a mechanic.
It was a private investment firm.
Adrian recognized the name.
His expression changed.
“What?”
Claire asked.
“This company is owned by one of the men who advised my father.”
She stared.
“So this goes back to your family?”
“Maybe.”
“Do you think my father was involved with your father?”
“I don’t know.”
They began digging.
Old invoices.
Bank records.
Repair orders.
One document stood out.
A handwritten delivery receipt from the night before Claire’s father died.
It showed a piece of industrial equipment worth nearly $400,000.
But Claire had never heard of it.
“My father never owned this.”
Adrian studied the receipt.
“Then where did it come from?”
The answer came from an old employee.
Thomas Reed.
He was seventy-two now and lived outside the city.
Thomas agreed to meet them.
He looked at Claire and immediately started crying.
“You look just like him.”
Claire swallowed.
“Did my father know something?”
Thomas nodded.
“He found out someone was using his shop to move stolen industrial equipment.”
Adrian’s expression hardened.
“Who?”
Thomas looked around before answering.
“People your father was afraid of.”
“Which people?”
Thomas pulled out an old envelope.
“Your father gave me this.”
Inside was a photograph.
Four men stood outside a warehouse.
Claire recognized one.
Adrian recognized another.
And then they both froze.
The third man was Vanessa’s father.
Claire stared.
“My uncle?”
Adrian nodded.
Thomas continued.
“Your father told me that if anything happened to him, I should give this to Claire when she was old enough.”
“When she was old enough for what?”
“To know that his death wasn’t an accident.”
Silence.
Claire’s eyes filled with tears.
“My father was murdered?”
Thomas nodded.
“He was going to expose them.”
Adrian looked at the photograph.
“Who is the fourth man?”
Thomas’s expression became frightened.
“Your father’s old business partner.”
Adrian frowned.
“My father had dozens of partners.”
“This one was different.”
“Why?”
“He was the man behind the operation.”
Thomas handed Claire another piece of paper.
A company name.
Then he whispered:
“Cole Holdings.”
Adrian went completely still.
Claire looked at him.
“That’s your company.”
Adrian shook his head.
“Not mine.”
“Then whose?”
He stared at the document.
“My father’s.”
Claire felt the ground disappear beneath her.
Her father’s murder.
Adrian’s family.
Her uncle.
The company.
Everything was connected.
Then Adrian’s phone rang.
He answered.
A few seconds later, his voice became cold.
“Don’t let her family leave the estate.”
Claire looked at him.
“What happened?”
“Vanessa just tried to transfer your mother’s medical trust.”
Claire’s face turned white.
“What?”
Someone wasn’t just targeting her.
They were taking everything she had left.
