Chapter 8 - THE MAN IN THE CAMERA
The hospital security team reviewed every camera.
At first, nothing seemed unusual.
Then one officer paused the footage.
“There.”
A man wearing hospital scrubs walked past Lily's room.
He wasn't staff.
He had entered through a service entrance.
His face was partially covered.
But his badge number was visible.
Phoebe recognized it immediately.
“That badge belongs to the Vance Foundation.”
I looked at Flynn.
He shook his head.
“I don't know him.”
Thomas did.
His expression changed.
“That’s Victor.”
“Who?”
“The man who helped your mother disappear.”
I turned toward my mother.
She nodded.
“He worked for your grandmother.”
“Why would he be watching Lily?”
“Because he knows the truth.”
“What truth?”
My mother reached for my hand.
“Lily isn't simply the beneficiary.”
Phoebe stared at her.
“What are you saying?”
My mother whispered:
“She is the legal successor to every company connected to the original Vance agreement.”
I looked at Lily.
“How much?”
“Everything.”
The room fell silent.
The $1.5 billion empire.
The hotels.
The logistics companies.
The investment funds.
The land.
All of it.
Not Flynn's.
Not Eleanor's.
Not mine.
Lily's.
And Victor had been protecting her.
Not hunting her.
The photograph suddenly made sense.
He had been watching the room because someone else was trying to reach her.
Then Victor appeared at the doorway.
He raised both hands.
“I'm not your enemy.”
Security surrounded him.
“I know,” my mother said.
Victor looked at me.
“Your mother asked me to protect you.”
“From whom?”
He looked at Flynn.
“From his family.”
Flynn stiffened.
Victor continued.
“Your husband's father discovered the original succession agreement.”
“He knew Lily would inherit?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did he allow Flynn to marry me?”
“Because he believed Flynn could control you.”
I looked at Flynn.
“And when he couldn't?”
Victor smiled sadly.
“They decided to replace him.”
“With Selina?”
“No.”
My heart stopped.
“Then who?”
Victor handed Phoebe a sealed file.
“The woman carrying Flynn's child was never supposed to be the heir.”
“Then why was she involved?”
Victor looked at me.
“Because she was hired to create a scandal.”
My stomach dropped.
“The pregnancy?”
“A distraction.”
Flynn's face went pale.
“Then whose child is she carrying?”
Victor didn't answer.
Instead, he looked at me.
“That's the question you should ask.”
Selina had lied.
Flynn had lied.
Eleanor had lied.
But someone else had been lying too.
Someone whose identity could change the future of every child involved.
Then the door opened.
Selina stood there crying.
She held a newborn photograph.
“This is my son.”
She looked at Flynn.
“And he isn't yours.”
Then she looked at me.
May you like
“He's yours.”
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