Chapter 10 - EMILY
Michael couldn't breathe.
“Emily?”
The voice came again.
“Michael, please.”
He moved toward the window.
Eleanor grabbed his arm.
“Don't.”
“But that's my wife.”
“No.”
Michael stared at her.
“What do you mean no?”
Eleanor's face was pale.
“That woman isn't Emily.”
Outside, the woman stepped into the moonlight.
Michael saw her face.
His heart shattered.
She looked exactly like Emily.
Same hair.
Same eyes.
Same smile.
But something was wrong.
She stood too still.
Michael whispered:
“Who are you?”
The woman smiled.
“You've always been easy to fool.”
Then she removed a wig.
Michael stared.
The woman beneath it was older.
Completely different.
“Who are you?”
She smiled.
“Victoria Hartman.”
Michael's blood turned cold.
His father's sister.
A woman he hadn't seen since childhood.
“I thought you were dead.”
“So did everyone.”
Victoria looked toward the farmhouse.
“I've been waiting for this moment for twenty years.”
Michael held the baby closer.
“What do you want?”
“The company.”
“You already have money.”
“I want control.”
“You murdered Emily for control?”
Victoria's smile disappeared.
“Emily discovered the trust.”
Michael stared.
“The trust?”
“The trust that gives you control of everything your father built.”
Victoria's eyes moved toward the baby.
“But if you die, the shares pass to your children.”
Michael understood.
“You're trying to kill my children.”
“Yes.”
Lily clung to his coat.
Victoria's voice softened.
“Give me the baby.”
Michael stepped backward.
“No.”
“Then everyone dies.”
Suddenly, sirens sounded in the distance.
Victoria's men began running.
Michael's security team had arrived.
Gunfire erupted.
Michael carried the baby while Eleanor grabbed Lily.
They escaped through the rear door.
Victoria screamed:
“You can't hide forever!”
Michael didn't look back.
Two days later, Victoria was arrested.
Daniel was captured trying to leave the country.
But the story wasn't over.
Michael finally received the full police report.
Emily had survived the crash.
She had been alive when the ambulance arrived.
But Daniel's people had intercepted the hospital records.
They had convinced Michael she had died.
Emily had been moved to another hospital under a false identity.
She survived.
But she suffered severe injuries.
For six months, she had been recovering.
Michael stared at the photograph the police gave him.
Emily.
Alive.
Sitting in a hospital bed.
Michael couldn't speak.
Then the door opened.
A doctor entered.
“Mr. Hartman?”
Michael stood.
“Yes?”
“There is someone who wants to see you.”
Michael's heart stopped.
The doctor stepped aside.
Emily sat in a wheelchair.
Pale.
Thin.
But alive.
Michael covered his mouth.
Emily began crying.
“Michael.”
He walked toward her.
Then stopped.
He didn't know whether to touch her.
Whether she was real.
Whether he was dreaming.
Emily reached for him.
Michael collapsed beside her.
He held her hands.
“You're alive.”
“I am.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“I tried.”
“You could have called.”
“I was afraid.”
“Of what?”
“Of losing you.”
Michael shook his head.
“You already lost me.”
Emily cried.
“I know.”
He looked toward the hallway.
Lily stood there holding Hope.
Emily saw her.
Her face changed.
“Lily.”
The little girl stepped forward.
“Are you my daddy's wife?”
Emily smiled through tears.
“I was.”
Lily looked confused.
“Are you still?”
Emily looked at Michael.
He couldn't answer.
Too much had happened.
Too much had been broken.
But then the baby began crying.
Michael looked down.
Emily reached for him.
“Let me see him.”
Michael placed the baby in her arms.
Emily began crying.
“Our son.”
Michael nodded.
“Our son.”
For the first time in six months, Michael heard his wife's heartbeat against his chest.
And he realized something.
The family he thought he had lost wasn't gone.
It had simply been scattered.
Now he had to rebuild it.
But rebuilding would not be easy.
May you like
Because Daniel had one final secret.
And it involved Emily's pregnancy.
