Chapter 5 - THE WOMAN WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD
Margaret Prescott had been dead for eighteen years.
At least, that's what Ethan believed.
A funeral photograph hung in the Prescott family archive.
A woman with dark hair and sharp eyes.
Henry's younger sister.
Ethan's aunt.
The woman everyone said had died in a private plane crash.
But Caroline had proof.
A bank transfer.
A photograph.
A passport.
And one terrifying message.
She's coming home.
Ethan stared at the evidence.
“This is impossible.”
Henry shook his head.
“I always suspected.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I didn't know.”
Caroline looked at me.
“Margaret was obsessed with control.”
“What does that have to do with me?”
“Everything.”
She showed me another document.
My name appeared on it.
MADISON HAYES.
My blood turned cold.
“Why is my name there?”
Caroline didn't answer.
Ethan took the document.
“What is this?”
“A beneficiary list.”
“For what?”
Caroline looked at Henry.
“Your grandfather's original trust.”
Henry stared at the paper.
“No.”
Ethan read the final page.
His face changed.
“Madison is a beneficiary.”
I laughed.
It came out wrong.
“I'm sorry. What?”
Henry looked at me.
“I don't know why.”
Caroline whispered:
“Because your mother was once part of the Prescott family.”
I couldn't breathe.
“My mother?”
“She worked for your grandfather.”
“That doesn't make her family.”
“No.”
Caroline looked directly at me.
“She was his daughter.”
Everything inside me stopped.
My mother had spent her entire life telling me she didn't know my father.
She had refused to discuss her childhood.
She had never explained why she hated wealthy people.
Now I understood.
Ethan looked at me.
“Madison…”
I backed away.
“No.”
Henry came closer.
“I swear I didn't know.”
“You knew my mother?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“She came to me twenty-six years ago.”
“Why?”
“She was pregnant.”
My heart pounded.
“With me?”
Henry nodded.
“She said she wanted nothing from the family.”
I whispered:
“Except you knew she existed.”
“Yes.”
“Then why did she die believing she had nobody?”
Henry's eyes filled with tears.
“Because your grandfather threatened her.”
Silence.
I turned away.
The life I thought I knew was collapsing.
My mother wasn't just a struggling woman who had died after years of illness.
She had been connected to one of the richest families in America.
And I had apparently inherited something from them.
“What did she inherit?”
Henry didn't answer.
Caroline did.
“Control of the original Prescott trust.”
Ethan stared at her.
“That's impossible.”
“Not if the documents are real.”
I looked at the paperwork.
“Why would my mother never tell me?”
Caroline whispered:
“Because if Margaret found out you existed, she would have killed you.”
A loud crash came from downstairs.
Security shouted.
Ethan pulled me behind him.
Henry looked toward the door.
Then his phone rang.
He answered.
A woman's voice came through the speaker.
Everyone heard it.
“Hello, brother.”
Henry's face went white.
Margaret.
“It's been a long time.”
Henry couldn't speak.
The woman laughed.
“I've waited twenty-one years to come home.”
Then she said:
May you like
“And I'm bringing Madison with me.”
The call ended.
