Chapter 19 - Stormy Night
Rain lashed against the windows of the Manhattan safe house where Emma was hiding out. Dozens of documents were spread across the coffee table—leaked DNA profiles, bank statements, and copies of the Swiss trust. The puzzle was almost complete, but the pieces fit together in a terrifying way.
The doorbell rang. Emma approached slowly, peering through the peephole. It was Sora. She was deathly pale, her clothes soaked from the rain.
Emma pulled the door open. Sora walked in without a word, pulling a damp envelope from her purse.
"My lawyer just received this from Geneva," Sora said. Her usual confident, sarcastic voice was trembling slightly. "Tell me this is just one of Richard's cons. Tell me it isn't true."
Emma looked down at the document. It was the authenticated copy of the trust's second clause, revealing Sora's true maternity.
"It's true, Sora," Emma said softly, closing the door behind her. "Victoria is your mother. We aren't enemies. We're sisters. Richard has been manipulating us from the very beginning so we'd destroy each other while he walks away from his trials unscathed."
Sora collapsed onto the sofa, burying her face in her hands.
"He made me hate your mother... he made me hate you... I thought I was avenging my real family..."
Emma sat down next to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. For the first time since this entire living hell had begun, she felt a genuine human connection in the middle of the storm.
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"We can end this together," Emma said. "We have the press conference tomorrow. We can make the truth public, renounce Richard's empire entirely, and hand all the capital over to the victims' compensation funds from the Chicago merger. Let's leave him with nothing."
Sora lifted her head. Her dark eyes searched Emma's, holding a mix of deep gratitude and an unreadable shadow of doubt.
