Chapter 16 - The Billionaire's Daughter Lived Above a LaundromatRose lived above a laundromat.
Emily stood across the street in Queens and stared at the three-story brick building.
A flickering blue sign.
A narrow staircase.
Fire escapes.
No private gate.
No marble foyer.
No household staff.
Nothing about the place suggested that the woman living upstairs had twenty-one million dollars held in her name.
Richard stood beside Emily.
He looked devastated.
“This is where she lives.”
Emily glanced at him.
“Don't.”
He stopped.
“What?”
“Don't make poverty the tragedy.”
Richard looked confused.
Emily continued.
“The tragedy is that she was lied to.”
Silence.
“She may love this neighborhood.”
“She may have friends.”
“A job.”
“A life.”
“Don't look at the building and decide money would have made her whole.”
Richard lowered his eyes.
“You're right.”
That mattered.
Two weeks earlier, he might have defended himself.
Now he listened.
Emily walked toward the entrance.
Richard followed.
At the second-floor landing, they found Apartment 2B.
Emily knocked.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Then she noticed an envelope pushed halfway beneath the door.
Cream.
Same paper as the envelope delivered to the mansion.
Emily pulled it out.
Richard stared.
“Someone was here.”
The envelope was addressed to Rose.
Inside was a typed letter.
Your biological mother knew you were alive and chose not to find you.
Richard closed his eyes.
“No.”
Emily kept reading.
The Hale family considered you an embarrassment. Your trust was created to keep you quiet if you ever appeared.
Richard whispered:
“That's not true.”
Emily nodded.
“I know.”
But Rose didn't.
That was the point.
Someone was not only trying to steal her money.
They were making sure she hated the family before she learned the truth.
Emily continued.
Do not trust Richard Hale. Do not trust Emily Parker. They need your signature.
Emily froze.
Her name.
Someone knew she was coming.
Richard saw it.
“We were followed.”
“Maybe.”
“By Victoria?”
“Maybe.”
Emily hated guesses.
She preferred evidence.
Then they heard footsteps on the stairs.
A young woman stopped below them.
Dark hair.
Gray eyes.
Grocery bag in one hand.
She looked exactly like the photograph.
Rose.
She stared at Richard.
Then at Emily.
Then at the envelope in Emily's hand.
Her expression changed.
“You.”
Emily stood slowly.
“Rose?”
The young woman's face hardened.
“Get away from my door.”
Richard could barely speak.
“Rose, my name is—”
“I know who you are.”
He froze.
She looked at him with disgust.
“Billionaire father of the year.”
Richard flinched.
Emily watched.
Rose had clearly received more than one message.
Someone had prepared her.
Richard stepped forward.
“I didn't know you existed.”
Rose laughed.
“That's what rich people always say when poor people find the paperwork.”
Emily felt the line.
It sounded like something she might have said.
Rose looked at her.
“And you're the nanny.”
“Emily.”
“I know.”
“Then you know I'm not here to hurt you.”
Rose's expression hardened.
“I know you're protecting three children worth sixty-three million dollars.”
Silence.
“Now you found a fourth one.”
Emily understood.
To Rose, this looked simple.
Another rich family had found the lost beneficiary because the money required it.
Emily said:
“I came because someone is trying to take your twenty-one million dollars.”
Rose stared.
Then laughed.
“I don't have twenty-one dollars until Friday.”
Richard covered his mouth.
Emily kept her eyes on Rose.
“You have forty minutes to stop the transfer.”
Rose stopped laughing.
“What transfer?”
Emily showed her the document.
Rose read.
Her face changed.
Not wonder.
Not greed.
Anger.
“Who put my name on this?”
“Your mother.”
Rose's face became ice.
“My mother left me.”
“No.”
“You don't know that.”
Emily paused.
She had promised herself never to use certainty where evidence did not exist.
So she answered carefully.
“I know someone told her you died.”
Rose went still.
Richard looked at Emily.
She continued.
“And someone told you she abandoned you.”
Silence.
“Both things cannot be true.”
Rose's eyes filled.
She looked away.
Then whispered:
“I was raised by a foster mother.”
Richard stopped breathing.
“She told me my mother signed me away.”
Emily's chest tightened.
“Did you ever see the document?”
Rose looked at her.
“No.”
“Then let's not let someone else's version become your life again.”
Rose stared.
Thirty-eight minutes remained.
Then her phone rang.
Unknown caller.
She answered.
Listened.
Her face changed.
“What?”
Emily's heart pounded.
Rose looked at Richard.
Then at Emily.
The caller said something else.
Rose slowly lowered the phone.
“Who was it?”
She whispered:
“Victoria Cross.”
Richard went cold.
Emily asked:
“What did she say?”
Rose looked toward the stairs.
“She said if I sign anything with you, I'll lose the only family I've ever had.”
Emily frowned.
“Who is that?”
Rose's eyes filled.
“My foster mother.”
Then she said the name.
And Vivian, back at the mansion, would have recognized it instantly.
Because Rose's foster mother had once worked for the Hale family.
May you like
Her name was Sarah Parker.
Emily's mother.
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