She Loved a Poor Gardener—Then Discovered He Was the Heir to a Fortune
Chapter 7
Thomas returned to Blackwood Manor carrying the original will.
Clara read it in silence.
“Your father expected this.”
“Yes.”
“He knew your uncle might betray you.”
Thomas nodded.
“Then why didn’t he protect you?”
“He tried.”
Thomas looked toward the garden.
“My father sent me away the night before he died.”
“Why?”
“He said someone inside the household wanted me dead.”
Clara felt a chill.
“Did he know who?”
Thomas shook his head.
“Not then.”
They spent the next weeks searching through old records.
The truth emerged slowly.
Thomas’s father had discovered that several trading contracts were being manipulated.
Ships were being deliberately insured at false values.
Goods were disappearing.
Land was being transferred.
His uncle had been using the family company to enrich himself.
But there was another name.
Edward’s father.
Lord Blackwood.
Clara’s father.
When Thomas discovered it, he refused to believe it.
“No.”
Clara looked at the document.
“My father?”
“His signature is here.”
“But he would never—”
Thomas stopped.
“Perhaps he was forced.”
They confronted Lord Blackwood.
The old lord listened.
Then he admitted the truth.
William had threatened him years earlier.
A debt.
A forged document.
A threat against Clara’s future.
He had signed one contract.
Only one.
But that signature had been enough to help William hide everything.
Clara looked heartbroken.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Her father lowered his head.
“Because I was ashamed.”
Thomas understood.
The pieces were falling together.
But one question remained.
Who had ordered Thomas’s father killed?
That answer came from an old stableman.
He had been dying.
Before his death, he gave Thomas a small packet.
“Your father left this with me.”
Inside was a letter.
Thomas opened it.
His father’s final words were addressed to him.
If you are reading this, I am dead. Trust no one who asks you to choose wealth over truth. Your uncle knows what happened. But he was not alone.
Thomas looked at Clara.
The letter continued.
The man who helped him sits closer to you than you think.
A silence fell.
Clara whispered:
“Who?”
Thomas looked toward the manor.
Then toward her.
He had a terrible suspicion.
