Chapter 14 - THE BLOODLINE
I couldn't understand.
Adrian couldn't either.
"My father?"
Rebecca nodded.
"Your father and Rose were together."
Rose had never told me.
She had hidden it.
Not just from me.
From everyone.
Adrian's father had loved Rose.
They had planned to leave the Vale family together.
Then Rebecca intervened.
She told Adrian's grandfather.
And everything exploded.
The fire.
The disappearance.
The murder.
The lies.
But there was one problem.
Lucia's DNA.
It proved she was related to Adrian.
That could mean several things.
But Rebecca had something more.
A second DNA report.
Lucia.
And Adrian.
The report showed a closer relationship than cousins.
Adrian looked at me.
"No."
Rebecca smiled.
"Your father had another child."
I stared at Lucia.
Then at Adrian.
"You mean—"
"No."
Rebecca interrupted.
"Don't misunderstand."
She pointed to the report.
"Lucia is related to Adrian because of Rose."
I exhaled.
"Then why did you say—"
"Because fear makes people stop thinking."
Rebecca smiled.
She had manipulated us.
Again.
The federal agents arrested her.
But before they took her away, she whispered to me:
"Ask Rose why she changed your name."
I turned toward my mother.
She looked devastated.
"Mom?"
She closed her eyes.
"I wanted you to have a normal life."
"Why Bennett?"
"Because it was his name."
"Whose?"
She looked at Adrian.
"Your father's."
I couldn't speak.
Adrian stared at her.
"My father was the man in the photograph."
Rose nodded.
"He was the love of my life."
Adrian looked away.
For years, his family had told him his father died in an accident.
Now he knew the truth.
His father had been murdered.
Because he tried to expose the family.
That night, Adrian and I sat outside the hospital.
Nobody spoke for a long time.
Finally he said:
"I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"For inheriting this mess."
I smiled sadly.
"You didn't choose your family."
"Neither did you."
We looked through the glass.
Lucia was asleep beside Rose.
Then Eleanor walked toward us.
She was holding an old envelope.
"This belongs to you."
I opened it.
Inside was the original trust.
The document everyone had killed for.
The fortune was enormous.
But there was a condition.
The inheritance could not pass to Adrian.
It could not pass to me.
It belonged to Rose's descendants.
That meant Lucia.
I stared at my daughter.
"She doesn't need billions."
Eleanor nodded.
"That's why your mother changed the terms."
"What did she change?"
Eleanor smiled.
"Your mother created a foundation."
"For what?"
"Children."
I looked at Rose.
She smiled through tears.
"Every dollar your grandfather stole will now fund scholarships, hospitals, and dance programs for children who cannot afford them."
I cried.
After everything.
The money wasn't going back to the family.
It was going to the children.
Then Adrian's phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed.
"What?"
He listened.
Then looked at me.
"The police found another body."
"Who?"
He hesitated.
"Daniel Bennett."
I froze.
"But he was alive."
"Not the man we thought."
"What does that mean?"
May you like
Adrian's voice dropped.
"The body is thirty years old."
