Rebecca couldn’t stop staring at the burned photograph.
The woman’s face looked too familiar.
Too impossible.
Same dark eyes.
Same cheekbones.
Same expression Rebecca saw every morning in her own mirror.
Veronica slowly lowered the half-burned page onto the table.
The fire still crackled softly behind them.
Neither woman noticed anymore.
“This was taken six months ago,” Veronica whispered.
Rebecca’s lips parted slightly.
“She’s alive…”
The words barely sounded real.
Veronica carefully studied the surviving text again.
“Confirmed sighting,” she read quietly. “No location listed. Most of the report was destroyed.”
Rebecca suddenly grabbed the paper.
“Can this be restored?”
“Maybe partially.”
“Then do it.”
Her voice cracked for the first time.
Not from weakness.
From hope.
Dangerous hope.
Rebecca sat down slowly while rain battered the windows behind them.
Her hands shook violently now.
“All these years…” she whispered. “My mother was telling the truth.”
Veronica watched her carefully.
“You need to prepare yourself emotionally.”
Rebecca laughed weakly.
“For what?”
“For the possibility that Charlotte may not want to be found.”
Silence.
That possibility hit harder than anything else so far.
Rebecca lowered her eyes.
“She thinks we abandoned her.”
Nobody spoke after that.
Because deep down…
they both feared it might be true.
Across the city, Mauro sat inside a private parking garage beneath an abandoned office tower.
His face looked exhausted.|
Sweat soaked the collar of his shirt despite the cold.
A black SUV waited nearby with its headlights off.
The passenger window slowly lowered.
“You failed,” a man’s voice said calmly from inside.
Mauro clenched his jaw.
“I destroyed the file.”
“Not all of it.”
Mauro said nothing.
The man inside the SUV sighed softly.
“You were useful once.”
“I can still fix this.”
“Can you?”
Mauro stepped closer desperately.
“She found a photograph. That’s all.”
“And that alone is enough to destroy people.”
Mauro’s breathing became uneven.
“Who is Charlotte really?”
Silence.
Then finally:
“The wrong child.”
Mauro frowned.
“What does that mean?”
But the SUV window rolled back up slowly.
Conversation over.
The vehicle disappeared into the darkness seconds later.
Leaving Mauro standing alone.
Terrified.
“The Betrayal Inside”
The next morning, Rebecca walked into Miller Biotech feeling watched.
Employees lowered their eyes too quickly.
Conversations stopped when she passed.
Phones disappeared beneath desks.
Something had changed.
And she felt it immediately.
Veronica noticed too.
“The rumor spread,” she murmured.
Rebecca frowned.
“What rumor?”
Nobody answered her directly.
Until they entered the executive conference room.
A newspaper sat on the table.
Folded open.
Huge headline.
BIOTECH EXECUTIVE UNDER INVESTIGATION FOR FAMILY FRAUD
Rebecca stopped cold.
“What the hell is this?”
Veronica grabbed the paper immediately.
The article was brutal.
Anonymous sources.
Financial accusations.
References to missing family records.
Hints of inheritance manipulation.
But one line froze Rebecca completely:
Sources inside Miller Biotech claim Rebecca Miller concealed evidence tied to an ongoing identity investigation.
Inside Miller Biotech.
Rebecca’s stomach dropped.
Someone inside the company leaked information.
“No,” she whispered.
Veronica’s expression darkened instantly.
“This article contains confidential details.”
Rebecca slowly looked around the empty conference room.
Then realization hit.
“They’re inside my company.”
Before Veronica could answer—
the conference room door opened.
Daniel Cho stepped inside.
Rebecca’s senior financial analyst.
Young.
Quiet.
Brilliant.
And suddenly very pale.
Rebecca narrowed her eyes.
“Daniel.”
He swallowed hard.
“We need to talk.”
Something inside Rebecca immediately went cold.
Veronica crossed her arms.
“About what?”
Daniel shut the door behind him carefully.
Then looked directly at Rebecca.
“I think someone’s been accessing your private investigation files from inside the executive server.”
Silence.
Rebecca stared at him.
“What?”
Daniel looked terrified now.
“I found hidden logins.”
Veronica stepped forward immediately.
“Whose?”
Daniel hesitated.
Too long.
Rebecca noticed instantly.
“Say it.”
Daniel’s face lost color.
“The access credentials belong to someone in your legal department.”
“The Deleted Emails”
Rebecca sat motionless.
Legal department.
Her eyes slowly moved toward Veronica.
Veronica immediately understood.
And looked furious.
“No,” she said sharply. “Absolutely not.”
Daniel raised both hands quickly.
“I’m not accusing anyone directly.”
“Then explain yourself carefully,” Veronica snapped.
Daniel swallowed hard.
“The login credentials originated from an internal legal access point.”
Rebecca’s chest tightened painfully.
“Could someone fake that?”
“Yes,” Daniel admitted. “But whoever did it knew your system extremely well.”
Veronica grabbed the printed server logs from his hands.
Her face darkened more with every page.
“These deletions happened over months,” she murmured.
Rebecca looked sick.
“Deleted what?”
Daniel hesitated again.
Then quietly:
“Emails connected to Charlotte.”
Silence.
Heavy silence.
Rebecca slowly sat down.
“My mother’s records?”
Daniel nodded weakly.
“And communications with private investigators.”
Rebecca closed her eyes.
Someone had been erasing evidence from inside her own company for years.
Not recently.
Years.
Veronica looked up sharply.
“Who had full archive authority before Rebecca became CEO?”
Daniel answered immediately.
“Former executive counsel.”
Rebecca frowned.
“Martin Keller?”
Daniel nodded.
A horrible memory crossed Rebecca’s face instantly.
Martin Keller.
Her grandfather’s longtime attorney.
The man who resigned suddenly after Rose died.
Veronica’s expression changed.
“When did he leave?”
“Eight years ago.”
“And where is he now?”
Daniel looked uncomfortable.
“Nobody knows.”
The room became very quiet.
Rebecca whispered slowly:
“My mother hated him.”
Veronica looked at her.
“Why?”
Rebecca stared into space again.
“She once told me…” Rebecca swallowed hard, “…that some people smile while helping bury families.”
A chill moved through the room.
Then Daniel looked nervous again.
“There’s something else.”
Rebecca’s stomach twisted.
“What now?”
Daniel reached into his folder slowly.
“I recovered one deleted email before the archive wiped completely.”
Veronica held out her hand instantly.
Daniel gave her the paper.
Veronica read silently.
Then froze.
Rebecca stood.
“What?”
Veronica looked genuinely shaken.
“The email came from your mother.”
Rebecca’s heart started pounding violently.
“To who?”
Veronica looked up slowly.
“Charlotte.”..
