Chapter 3: The Price of Silence
"Don't you dare speak to her like that!" Eleanor screamed, the raw fury in her voice echoing off the restaurant's crystal chandeliers.
Richard stood up, his elegant and composed facade completely shattering. He stepped toward the young waitress, his fists clenched in desperate anger. "I paid an absolute fortune to erase your existence, and you just happen to serve coffee at my wife's favorite restaurant? This is extortion!"
Emily stood her ground, though her breathing was shallow and erratic. "I don't even know who you are!"
Eleanor stepped right between them, fiercely shielding the daughter she had mourned every single day for twenty-three years.
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"Why, Richard?" Eleanor's voice dropped to a deadly, icy calm. "Why did you steal my baby?"
He let out a bitter, cruel laugh. "Because your father’s will mandated the entire family fortune would bypass me and go directly to your firstborn! If she lived, I would have controlled absolutely nothing. I had to get rid of her to keep the empire!"
