Chapter 8 - THE ACCOUNT
The account was opened in Switzerland.
But the key wasn't enough.
We needed Victor's fingerprint.
That was why he had been so desperate to recover the ring.
The ring contained a tiny biometric component.
Without it, the account couldn't be opened.
Daniel spent six hours working with an international financial investigator.
Finally, the screen changed.
ACCESS GRANTED.
Everyone became silent.
Thousands of documents appeared.
Bank transfers.
Property purchases.
Encrypted communications.
Photographs.
Names.
Politicians.
Judges.
Police officers.
Business leaders.
And then I saw Raul.
Millions of dollars.
Payments stretching back decades.
Then I saw Helena.
Smaller amounts.
But regular.
Then Victor.
My hands shook.
There were hundreds of transactions.
But one file stood out.
MOTHER.
I opened it.
A video appeared.
My mother.
Sitting at a desk.
Older than I remembered.
Tired.
Afraid.
But alive.
I covered my mouth.
“Hello, sweetheart.”
I started crying.
“If you're watching this, I'm gone.”
The video continued.
“I don't know how old you are now.”
She smiled.
“I hope you are happy.”
I shook my head.
“You deserved better than what happened to me.”
She paused.
“Your father did not abandon you.”
My eyes filled.
“He protected you.”
Then her expression became serious.
“The Hale family will try to control you.”
She looked directly into the camera.
“Do not let them.”
Then she said something that changed everything.
“Victor knows.”
I froze.
“Victor knows about the account.”
Daniel stopped typing.
My mother continued.
“I trusted Raul once.”
She shook her head.
“That mistake almost killed me.”
Then came the final revelation.
“Victor is not Raul's son.”
Silence.
I stared at the screen.
“What?”
The video ended.
Nobody moved.
My father whispered:
“No.”
I turned toward him.
“You knew?”
He shook his head.
“I didn't.”
Adrian looked devastated.
“Then who is he?”
Daniel opened another file.
A birth certificate appeared.
Victor Hale.
Father: Raul Hale.
But underneath was another document.
A DNA report.
The father was not Raul.
It was someone else.
Someone whose name made Alessandro go completely still.
I looked at him.
“What?”
He stared at the screen.
Then whispered:
“My brother.”
I didn't understand.
“You have a brother?”
“I did.”
He swallowed.
“He died twenty-five years ago.”
Daniel looked at the records.
“Then Victor may be his son.”
Alessandro's face hardened.
“And if that's true…”
He stopped.
I asked:
“What?”
He looked at me.
“Victor has no legal claim to the Hale inheritance.”
I almost laughed.
After everything?
That was the secret?
Then Daniel opened another document.
“No,” he said.
“This is bigger.”
I leaned closer.
The document contained a clause.
If Victor was proven not to be Raul's biological son, control of the Hale estate would revert to—
Me.
I stared at the screen.
My name was there.
I was not only my mother's heir.
I was the legal heir to the Hale empire.
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Victor had spent eight years abusing the woman standing between him and everything he wanted.
And he had never realized that the woman he was trying to destroy already owned it.
