Chapter 6: The Daughter Nobody Expected
Brianna stared at Richard.
"What did you just say?""
Richard didn't answer immediately.
Vanessa stepped forward, her voice suddenly calm.
"This conversation is over.""
Brianna turned toward her.
"No. It's not.""
"Brianna, we're leaving.""
"Who is my biological father?""
Vanessa grabbed her handbag.
"Don't listen to him.""
Brianna pulled away.
"Then tell me he's lying.""
Vanessa looked at her daughter.
For a moment, the confident woman who had dominated the ballroom seemed to disappear.
Her lips trembled.
Then she straightened her shoulders.
"Your father was Jonathan Hayes.""
Richard shook his head.
"Legally, yes.""
Brianna's eyes widened.
"What does that mean?""
Elise looked at the document.
"It means there may be another explanation for the record Daniel left behind.""
Richard turned to Vanessa.
"Would you like to explain it, or should I?""
Vanessa's eyes flashed.
"You have no right.""
Richard placed the old letter on the table.
"Twenty years ago, Daniel and Vanessa were engaged.""
Nia froze.
Evelyn closed her eyes.
Brianna looked from Richard to Vanessa.
"Engaged?""
Richard nodded.
"They worked together on the Monarch Collection. Daniel was the designer. Vanessa managed the business arrangements. They were young, ambitious, and deeply involved in each other's lives.""
Nia looked at Vanessa.
"You were going to marry my father?""
Vanessa didn't answer.
Richard continued.
"Then Amara entered the picture.""
Nia's throat tightened at the sound of her mother's name.
"Who was Amara?""
"She was a textile artist. She developed the luminous fabric treatment that made the original Monarch designs possible. Daniel fell in love with her.""
Vanessa laughed without humor.
"Everyone loves the romantic version.""
Richard turned to her.
"Because it's the truth.""
Vanessa looked at Brianna.
"Your father and I were supposed to have a future. Daniel promised me everything. Then he threw it away for a woman who appeared out of nowhere.""
Nia stared.
"Amara wasn't someone who appeared out of nowhere. She was my mother.""
Vanessa's eyes hardened.
"Yes. And she got everything I wanted.""
Evelyn stood.
"Amara never wanted your money or your position.""
Vanessa turned sharply.
"Don't pretend you knew what she wanted.""
"I knew her better than you did.""
Vanessa's face twisted.
"She took my fiancé.""
"Daniel chose her.""
The words hung in the room.
Brianna slowly sat down.
"So my mother was engaged to Nia's father?""
Richard nodded.
"And after Daniel and Amara married, Vanessa eventually married Jonathan Hayes.""
Brianna looked up.
"Then why does Daniel's document say something about my birth?""
Richard took a breath.
"Because the dates don't match.""
Vanessa went rigid.
Elise examined the old records.
"According to Jonathan's personnel file, he married Vanessa in April. But the birth certificate indicates Brianna was born in January.""
Brianna stared at her mother.
"Mom?""
Vanessa said nothing.
Richard placed a second document beside the first.
It was an old hospital record.
The paper had yellowed, but the hospital seal was still visible.
Nia looked at the name.
*NEW YORK MATERNITY CENTER — JANUARY 2008.*
The mother's name was Vanessa Hayes.
The father's name had been left blank.
Brianna's hands began shaking.
"Why is there no father's name?""
Vanessa reached for the document.
Richard moved it.
"Because the original hospital record was amended.""
"Amended by whom?""
"Jonathan Hayes.""
Brianna looked at her mother.
"Did Dad know?""
Vanessa's eyes filled with tears.
"Jonathan raised you. He loved you. He was your father in every way that mattered.""
"That's not what I asked.""
Vanessa turned away.
Richard opened the metal box again.
At the very bottom was a sealed envelope marked with a date.
Nia recognized the handwriting immediately.
It was her father's.
Richard read the label aloud.
*DNA TEST RESULTS — CONFIDENTIAL.*
Brianna stopped breathing.
"What's that?""
Richard looked at Vanessa.
"You knew this existed.""
Vanessa's expression changed.
"I don't know what you're talking about.""
Richard carefully opened the envelope.
Inside was a single laboratory report.
He scanned the first page.
Then his eyes moved to the final paragraph.
He looked at Nia.
Then Brianna.
And finally Vanessa.
"This report was prepared twenty years ago.""
Brianna stood.
"Just tell me!""
Richard swallowed.
"According to the results, Daniel Carter was not Brianna's biological father.""
Vanessa released a shaky breath.
Brianna looked relieved for half a second.
"Then Jonathan was.""
Richard lowered his eyes.
"The report doesn't say that.""
Silence.
Brianna gripped the back of her chair.
"What does it say?""
Richard turned the page toward her.
The report contained two names.
The first was Daniel Carter.
The second was a man whose identity had been redacted.
Beside the results was a handwritten note.
The second sample was supplied by the original donor. Keep this information sealed until Brianna reaches eighteen.
Brianna stared.
"Who was the donor?""
Vanessa suddenly began crying.
Not quietly.
Not delicately.
She covered her face with both hands.
For the first time, Nia saw her mother—or rather, the woman who had raised Brianna—completely lose control.
"Mom?"" Brianna whispered.
Vanessa lowered her hands.
"His name was Marcus.""
Richard's face tightened.
"Marcus Vale?""
Everyone turned toward him.
Nia looked at Richard.
"Who is Marcus Vale?""
Richard slowly removed his gold lapel pin.
The pin was shaped like a needle.
On its back was a small engraved letter.
*M.*
"Marcus was my younger brother," Richard said.
Brianna stared at him.
"What?""
"He died before you were born.""
Vanessa shook her head.
"That's not how it happened.""
Richard's voice became colder.
"Then explain it.""
Vanessa looked at Brianna.
"Marcus and I were together before Jonathan and I married. He was the father of my child. But he died in an accident, and Jonathan agreed to raise you as his own.""
Brianna's eyes filled with tears.
"So I'm your brother's daughter?""
Richard nodded slowly.
"That would make you my niece.""
Brianna backed away.
"All this time...""
She looked at her mother.
"You told me Jonathan was my father.""
"He loved you.""
"You lied to me!""
"I was trying to protect you.""
"From what?""
Vanessa looked toward the DNA report.
"From the truth.""
Nia stood silently.
She had expected the documents to reveal something terrible about Vanessa.
She hadn't expected Brianna to be caught in the middle of it.
But Richard wasn't finished.
He picked up the original trust document again.
"There's another reason Daniel included Brianna's name in his private records.""
Vanessa looked up sharply.
"Richard, don't.""
Richard ignored her.
"Your father, Marcus, was one of the original beneficiaries of the Monarch Foundation. Before his death, he transferred his entire voting interest into a separate family trust.""
Brianna frowned.
"Why?""
"Because he wanted to protect the foundation from being controlled by one person.""
Nia looked at the papers.
"How does that involve me?""
Richard placed the trust document between the two girls.
"Daniel created a joint succession arrangement. Fifty-one percent of the foundation's controlling interest was assigned to Nia as his daughter. The remaining portion was placed in a separate trust connected to Marcus's estate.""
Brianna looked at him.
"So I own part of the foundation?""
"Potentially, yes. But the trust has conditions.""
Vanessa leaned forward.
"What conditions?""
Richard read the final paragraph.
"Both beneficiaries must independently establish their identities, and neither may claim control while the other remains unaware of the original agreement.""
Nia stared at Brianna.
Brianna stared back.
For the first time, they were no longer simply rivals on a runway.
They were two girls whose lives had been shaped by the same collection of secrets.
Then Nia noticed something.
The signature on the original document was not the same signature Richard had shown her earlier.
There were two.
Daniel Carter's.
And beneath it, another signature.
Marcus Vale.
Nia looked at Richard.
"Why did my father need your brother's signature?""
Richard's face became unreadable.
"Because Marcus wasn't simply a beneficiary.""
He paused.
"He was the person who helped Daniel discover what Vanessa had been doing.""
Vanessa suddenly lunged for the papers.
"That's enough!""
Security restrained her.
"Mrs. Hayes, step back!""
Vanessa struggled.
"You don't understand! If those records become public, everything will come out!""
Nia stepped toward her.
"What else did you do?""
Vanessa looked at Nia with desperate eyes.
Then she said something that made Richard go completely still.
"Your father didn't die believing I had stolen his collection.""
Nia's heart pounded.
"What does that mean?""
Vanessa's voice dropped to a whisper.
"He died believing the person who betrayed him was someone much closer than me.""
Evelyn slowly rose from her chair.
"Vanessa...""
Vanessa turned toward her.
"Tell her, Evelyn. Tell her who signed the final transfer.""
Nia looked at her grandmother.
Evelyn's face had gone completely white.
"Grandma?""
Evelyn reached for the back of the chair.
Her fingers trembled.
Then she whispered:
"Your father made me promise never to tell you.""
Nia stepped closer.
"Tell me what?""
Evelyn looked into her granddaughter's eyes.
And the answer she finally gave was worse than anything Nia had imagined.
"I signed the document that transferred your father's collection.""
Nia stopped breathing.
Outside the conference room, cameras continued flashing.
Inside, the grandmother who had taught her to sew had just confessed to the one act Nia had spent her entire life believing Vanessa committed.
But Evelyn wasn't finished.
She reached into her handbag and pulled out a small folded photograph.
"There's something else you need to see," she whispered.
She placed it in front of Nia.
It showed Daniel Carter standing outside a hospital room.
Beside him stood Evelyn.
And in his arms was a newborn baby.
But the date printed on the photograph was not the date of Nia's birth.
May you like
It was dated three years later.
*And the baby in Daniel's arms was not Nia.*
