CHAPTER 7 – THE WOMAN THEY COULDN'T ERASE
CHAPTER 7 – THE WOMAN THEY COULDN'T ERASE
The revelation echoed through Michael's mind.
Victoria wasn't his biological mother.
Every childhood memory suddenly felt different.
Every cold glance.
Every impossible expectation.
Every reminder that love had to be earned.
Richard sat silently after the videotape ended.
Finally, he spoke.
"I wanted to tell you years ago."
Michael looked at him.
"Then why didn't you?"
"Because I was trying to protect her."
"My real mother?"
Richard nodded.
"Victoria never forgave me for loving another woman before our marriage."
Emily gently took Michael's hand.
"Who is she?"
Richard opened another envelope from the government file.
Inside was an old photograph.
A young nurse smiled while holding a newborn baby.
On the back was written in faded ink:
Sarah Collins and Michael. New York Presbyterian Hospital.
"Sarah Collins," Richard whispered. "She was your birth mother."
Michael stared at the picture.
For the first time in his life, he saw someone whose smile looked exactly like his own.
Daniel interrupted.
"We found her."
Everyone turned.
"How?"
"The Social Security number never disappeared."
"She changed her name twenty-eight years ago."
"She's been living quietly under witness protection in Vermont."
Michael immediately stood.
"We're leaving."
At a modest farmhouse outside Burlington, Vermont, an elderly woman tended roses in the morning sun.
She heard tires on gravel.
Three black SUVs stopped outside her gate.
Federal agents stepped out first.
Then Michael.
She froze.
The watering can slipped from her hand.
Tears filled her eyes before either of them spoke.
"You..." she whispered.
Michael couldn't move.
"You knew?"
She nodded.
"I've known every birthday."
"I just wasn't allowed to come."
Richard approached quietly.
"I'm sorry."
Sarah looked at him for a long moment.
"We both made mistakes."
Then she looked back at Michael.
"My son."
Neither of them could hold back any longer.
They embraced.
Emily watched with tears streaming down her face while little Sophie clapped happily, unaware that three generations of a broken family were finally meeting.
But peace lasted only seconds.
A sniper's bullet shattered the farmhouse window.
Glass exploded across the room.
"DOWN!" Daniel shouted.
Federal agents immediately returned fire.
Outside, black SUVs raced across the fields.
Victoria had found them.
The attack lasted less than five minutes.
When it ended, three of Victoria's mercenaries had been arrested.
Two were dead.
One was wounded.
Michael personally questioned the survivor.
"Where is Victoria?"
The man laughed through bloody lips.
"You still don't understand."
Michael's expression remained cold.
"What?"
"This was never about the company."
"It was always about the inheritance."
"What inheritance?"
The mercenary smiled.
"Ask your mother... about the Harrington Trust."
Before anyone could stop him, he bit down on a hidden cyanide capsule.
May you like
Within seconds...
He was dead.
