Chapter 4 — The Family She Could Never Destroy
Victoria was arrested before sunrise.
The journal revealed everything.
After Richard's father changed his will, naming little Lily as the future majority heir, Victoria feared losing control of the family's fortune.
She secretly sent Lily away to a secluded boarding facility overseas under a false identity.
Then she staged the child's disappearance.
When Richard's grieving father died years later, Victoria inherited complete control of the family's empire.
Until now.
Investigators tracked Lily within two weeks.
She wasn't dead.
She was living quietly in a small coastal town under the name Grace Turner, unaware of her true identity after decades of manipulation and forged records.
When Richard finally saw her again, neither sibling spoke.
He simply held out the tiny red puzzle piece.
Grace stared at it.
Tears slowly filled her eyes.
"I've been looking for this," she whispered.
She reached into her handbag and produced the rest of the old wooden puzzle.
Only one space remained empty.
Richard gently placed the red piece into its rightful place.
Click.
The puzzle was finally complete.
Just like the family.
Months later, Ethan proudly displayed the restored puzzle inside a glass case in the entrance hall.
Whenever visitors asked why such an old toy occupied the grandest place in the mansion, Richard would smile and answer:
"Because fortunes can be rebuilt."
"Businesses can be replaced."
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"But sometimes..."
"It takes one small child to put an entire family back together."
