Chapter 2 - The Unwanted Child
For twenty-nine years, Emma had lived in the dark, suffocating shadow of her mother’s vanity.
Margaret was a woman entirely obsessed with appearances, wealth, and securing her position within the city’s most elite social circles. She had two older daughters, Paige and Lauren, who were the golden children. They married wealthy executives, wore designer clothes, and never questioned their mother's manipulative demands.
Emma, however, was different. She had inherited her grandfather Arthur’s sharp intellect and uncompromising sense of justice. Instead of attending high-society luncheons, Emma earned a master’s degree in forensic accounting, choosing a quiet, independent life over the toxic glamour her mother worshipped.
Margaret never missed an opportunity to remind Emma of her "failure."
Whenever Emma visited the family estate, Margaret would belittle her career, criticize her simple clothing, and loudly proclaim to her wealthy friends that Emma was the "greatest regret" of her life because she didn't bring any new wealth or status to the family name.
When Emma finally got engaged to Daniel—a brilliant but modest investigative lawyer—Margaret tried to sabotage the wedding entirely. She refused to help pay for the venue, banned her socialite friends from attending, and demanded that Emma wear a cheap, off-the-rack dress so her older sisters wouldn't be "upstaged."
But Margaret's cruelty wasn't just born of vanity. It was a desperate, calculated attempt to keep Emma as far away from the family finances as possible.
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Margaret had a very dark, multi-million-dollar secret, and she knew that if her forensic accountant daughter ever looked closely at the family books, her entire empire of lies would collapse.
👉 Read Part 3 to learn about the massive theft Emma uncovered three months ago.
