Chapter 8 - THE FATHER I LOST
My father was alive.
His name was Daniel Bennett.
He had spent thirty years hiding.
Not from the law.
From the Vances.
Mercer took me to a secure house outside Washington.
An elderly man waited inside.
White hair.
Gray eyes.
A scar along his cheek.
The moment he saw me, he began crying.
“Clara.”
I stopped.
That voice.
I remembered it.
From childhood.
From my dreams.
“Dad?”
He nodded.
I ran into his arms.
For the first time in decades, I felt like a child again.
He held me.
“I thought you were dead.”
“I wanted you to believe that.”
“Why?”
“Because your mother was murdered.”
I froze.
“What?”
“The Vances killed her.”
My father told me everything.
The original Vance fortune had belonged to my grandfather.
Arthur's father had stolen it.
My father discovered the fraud.
He fought back.
They destroyed his reputation.
Killed my mother.
Took me.
And eventually used the Vance family to control my life.
Ethan discovered the same truth years later.
That was why he had loved me.
That was why Arthur had feared us.
And that was why my baby mattered.
My unborn child was the legal descendant of the original estate.
If the court recognized that bloodline—
The Vance empire would collapse.
My father took my hand.
“You were never their victim, Clara.”
I looked at him.
“You were the rightful heir.”
The next morning, the FBI raided another twenty-three Vance properties.
Arthur was indicted.
Beatrice disappeared.
Julian cooperated.
Chloe became a federal witness.
But Beatrice remained free.
Then my father received a phone call.
He listened.
His face went pale.
“What happened?”
He looked at me.
“She has your daughter.”
My blood froze.
“Lily?”
May you like
He shook his head.
“She's taken Emily.”
