THE BILLIONAIRE TRIED TO FIRE HER—THEN DISCOVERED HER SHOCKING SECRET
Chapter 5
Emma couldn’t speak.
Adrian looked between the photograph and her.
“Your mother was Laura Carter?”
“Yes.”
“Where did she live?”
“Pennsylvania.”
“When?”
“She died six years ago.”
Adrian sat down.
His father had died seven years earlier.
The timing was impossible to ignore.
Emma felt dizzy.
“Maybe it’s coincidence.”
Adrian looked at her.
“My father wrote your mother’s name.”
“That doesn’t mean I’m his daughter.”
“No.”
He looked at the photograph again.
“But it means we need to find out.”
Emma took a breath.
“I don’t want to jump to conclusions.”
“Neither do I.”
They searched historical records.
Laura Carter had worked as a nurse.
She had met Adrian’s father twenty-nine years ago.
She had left the city shortly afterward.
Then the records became strangely incomplete.
Emma’s birth certificate listed her father as unknown.
Adrian’s mother had never mentioned another child.
And Richard Blackwell had been involved with the family trust during exactly that period.
Emma frowned.
“What if my mother never told me?”
“Why wouldn’t she?”
“Maybe she was protecting me.”
“From what?”
Emma looked at him.
“Your family.”
He didn’t argue.
They arranged a DNA test through an independent laboratory.
Neither told anyone.
The results were due in three days.
Meanwhile, the financial investigation continued.
The more they uncovered, the more they found connections between Richard and the hidden accounts.
But Emma couldn’t concentrate.
She kept thinking about the photograph.
The baby.
Her mother.
Adrian.
Could she really be his sister?
The idea terrified her.
Not because of the money.
Because she had spent her entire life believing she knew where she came from.
Her mother had always told her one thing.
“You are enough.”
Emma didn’t need a billionaire family.
She had built her own life.
She had raised Sophie.
She had survived grief.
She had fought for justice.
She didn’t know whether she wanted another identity.
Adrian seemed to understand.
“You don’t have to become a Blackwell.”
She looked at him.
“What?”
“Whatever the test says, you remain Emma.”
Her eyes softened.
“Why are you being so kind?”
“Because I’m confused too.”
He smiled faintly.
“I might have a sister.”
“Maybe.”
“And you’re terrified.”
“Yes.”
He nodded.
“So am I.”
The next evening, Emma returned home.
Sophie was sitting at the kitchen table drawing.
“Mom?”
“Yeah?”
“Why are you sad?”
Emma sat beside her.
“I’m thinking.”
“About work?”
“About family.”
Sophie frowned.
“But we’re family.”
Emma smiled.
“You’re right.”
Sophie touched her hand.
“Then don’t be sad.”
Emma hugged her.
“I love you.”
“I love you too.”
Later that night, Emma received an email.
The DNA results were ready.
Her hands shook as she opened it.
99.98% probability.
The report stated:
PATERNAL RELATIONSHIP CONFIRMED.
Emma sat motionless.
Adrian was her half-brother.
Her entire life had just changed.
She called him.
He answered immediately.
“Emma?”
“I got the results.”
Silence.
“What do they say?”
She swallowed.
“They’re positive.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
For years, he had believed he was an only child.
Now he had a sister.
A sister who had worked inside his company.
A sister he had tried to fire.
A sister who had unknowingly been investigating the criminal operation surrounding his family.
And suddenly, the woman he’d trusted more than anyone was connected to every secret he had spent years trying to uncover.
But there was another problem.
The DNA report revealed one more thing.
Emma’s biological father had not been Adrian’s father.
Someone had falsified the original family records.
Adrian stared at the report.
“How?”
Emma whispered,
“We have to find out why someone wanted me to disappear from the family.”
And somewhere, someone had already learned the truth.
