Chapter 1 - The Secret Inherited
Brendan pushed the bedroom door open with a heavy sigh.
He didn't look at the empty crib or the small white urn resting inside it.
He only looked at his expensive wristwatch.
"I told you to stop causing a scene and bring Chloe home," he demanded.
I stood up slowly and pointed to the urn.
"She is home," I said quietly.
Brendan stared at the white ceramic container for a long time.
His handsome face twisted, not with grief, but with immense inconvenience.
"You let her die just to make me look like a bad father," he accused coldly.
He turned around and walked out of the room without shedding a single tear.
I didn't scream, and I didn't chase after him.
I waited until I heard his car speed out of the driveway before I walked out the back door.
Raymond was waiting for me in a black town car at the end of the street.
The elderly attorney looked exactly as I remembered him from my wedding day.
"I am so incredibly sorry about your daughter, Nora," Raymond said softly.
I handed him the old phone my father had given me.
"Tell me what my father left behind," I demanded.
Raymond pulled a thick, leather-bound folder from his briefcase.
"Your father knew the Fairchild family was building their empire on borrowed money," Raymond explained.
"When you married Brendan, your father quietly bought up the debt of their parent corporation."
My heart pounded against my ribs as I looked at the legal documents.
"What does that mean?" I asked.
Raymond smiled, but there was no warmth in his eyes.
"It means you don't just have money, Nora."
"It means you own the bank that owns the Fairchilds."
My phone buzzed in my pocket with an automated text message.
It was an alert from Brendan's executive assistant, Ximena.
The message stated that my credit cards had just been canceled due to "erratic behavior."
Raymond saw the message and handed me a sleek, black metal credit card with my maiden name on it.
May you like
"Let them think they have cut you off," Raymond whispered.
"Tomorrow morning, you are going to walk into their boardroom and take everything they love."
