4
1616words
He turned to his assistant.
"I bought Sable a hundred vials of that expensive scar cream yesterday. Go get one and give it to Elara when she arrives."
Just as he finished speaking, Kaelen burst into the hall, his face pale as death, clutching his phone.
"Dad,"he gasped.
"Elara knows everything we did to her. She’s gone!"
The master of ceremonies had called for the bride's father to take the stage three times, but my father stood frozen.
I watched it all unfold from the second-floor VIP suite, a silent observer behind one-way glass.
I could see and hear everything in the grand ballroom below.
I watched my father snatch the phone from Kaelen.
He stared at the screen for only a few seconds before the color drained from his face.
It was a video.
The men in it were the psycho who first attacked me and the demons who violated me in the hospital.
Their arrogance was gone, replaced by a sniveling terror.
They looked like they had been through hell.
And they confessed everything.
"It was Mr. Ashford and his son,"
one of them stammered.
"They gave me five million dollars to break Miss Elara Ashford's spine and ruin her face. That way, the Daltons would reject her, and his illegitimate daughter could marry in her place."
"Yes, yes, that's right!"
another one cried.
"We were just following orders! Mr. Ashford said Miss Ashford was extremely fertile, but his other daughter was barren. He wanted Miss Ashford pregnant to help the other one secure her position. We were just hired muscle, it had nothing to do with us!"
The video had been sent from an email address bearing my name.
My father staggered back, his voice a hoarse whisper.
"How... How could this happen? How did Elara find out? How did she find those men? I paid them a fortune to keep their mouths shut! How could they break their promise?"
Kaelen was frantic.
"They're thugs, Dad! What do you expect? I went home to get Elara, and the housekeeper said she left early this morning in her wheelchair, alone. I was about to go looking for her when I got this email."
His eyes widened with dawning horror.
"Dad, do you remember? In the hospital room, Elara started crying for no reason. What if she wasn't unconscious? What if she heard everything we said?"
"Elara's always been stubborn, and she values family above all else,"
he rambled on.
"Knowing we were the ones who destroyed her... she must be in so much pain. Dad, did we go too far? Her body is still broken... she's out there all alone... what if something happens to her?"
My father clamped a hand over Kaelen's mouth, his face a ghastly white.
"No! Don't say that! The fortune teller said my Elara would live a long and happy life. Nothing will happen to her. Come on, we have to find her. I'll explain everything, I'll apologize. As long as she agrees to have the baby, I'll get her the best doctors for her face and her legs. I'll even give her the company. We have to get my Elara back."
His absence from the stage was causing a stir.
The guests were murmuring, and the Daltons looked furious.
Sable saw the commotion and hurried to my father's side.
"Daddy, what's wrong? Everyone's waiting for you to give your speech."
"Sable, Elara's missing. Your brother and I have to find her. She can't walk... something terrible could happen."
A flash of venom crossed Sable's face before she squeezed out two perfect tears.
"I knew it,"she whimpered.
"Elara is still the most important one in your hearts. I tried to be kind, I invited her to be my maid of honor, and she runs away just to ruin my wedding. And you... you're falling for her tricks. You're going to abandon me to go find her. I knew it... I'll always just be the illegitimate daughter, I'll never be as good as her..."
Her pitiful act worked.
My father's heart melted.
"Sable, no, it's not like that. You're forgetting... Elara is pregnant. That baby is your ticket to securing your place in the Dalton family. If we don't find her, what happens to your security?"
If I'd felt even a flicker of emotion watching their panic, that single sentence extinguished it.
My heart turned to ice.
Even now, his only concern was using me as a tool for Sable.
I turned to the man standing beside me in the suite.
"Release the video,"
I said, my voice calm and steady.
"I want the Daltons, I want all of New York, to see their true faces."
A moment later, a chorus of notification chimes rose from the ballroom below.
My father and Kaelen were too absorbed in their panic to notice.
But Sable's face paled as the Dalton matriarch's phone clattered to the floor after she hurled it at Sable’s head.
"You insolent creature!"
the old woman shrieked.
"You dared to pass off some bastard as my family's bloodline? You truly are the spawn of a back-alley affair, completely unworthy of the Dalton name!"
"I am officially announcing that this wedding is canceled! The alliance between the Dalton and Ashford families is over. And for trying to deceive us like this, you can expect to be bankrupt by morning!"
Everyone in the room had received the video.
In this circle, illegitimate children weren't unheard of.
But they were kept in their place, like expensive pets.
No one was foolish enough to let a bastard child overshadow the legitimate heir.
It was a disgrace.
Suddenly, every eye in the room was on my father and brother, their gazes filled with contempt.
Business partners were already on their phones, instructing their assistants to terminate all contracts with the Ashfords.
Who would trust such treacherous people in business?
Before my father could even form a response, Sable dropped to her knees before the Dalton matriarch.
"Mother, you've misunderstood!"
she wailed.
"This was all my father and brother's idea! I didn't know anything about it, I'm innocent!"
My father and Kaelen stared at her, their faces masks of disbelief.
Sable may not have executed the plan, but she was its architect.
The attack, using my fertility to produce an heir for her—it had all been her idea.
And her next words left them speechless.
"Mother, I'm not infertile! I'm perfectly healthy! We can go to a doctor right now, I'll prove it! I can give the Daltons an heir, I swear! Please, please don't cancel the wedding!"
I understood her desperation.
Even as an Ashford heiress, the stain of her birth would always follow her.
Becoming the Dalton matriarch was her only way to erase it, to command respect.
With her dream about to be realized, she would do anything to hold on.
But Mrs. Dalton was unmoved.
"Don't be ridiculous,"
she sneered.
"The wedding isn't finished, you haven't signed any papers with my son. Who do you think you're calling 'Mother'? Your mother was a common whore. Plenty of women are lining up to bear children for the Dalton family. We have no need for a liar who claims she's barren one minute and fertile the next. And our family certainly has no interest in being associated with a house that devours its own. Now get out of my sight!"
She turned and marched away, dragging the stunned groom with her.
Sable tried to follow, but my father grabbed her by the hair, his eyes blazing red.
"What did you just say? You're not infertile? You lied to me and your brother? You made us destroy Elara for a lie?!"
Sable realized her fatal mistake.
"Daddy, I didn't mean to lie,"
she pleaded.
"I was just... I was just joking! I never thought..."
A vicious slap cut her off.
"A joke?!"he roared.
"Because of your 'joke,' Elara is paralyzed and disfigured! Because of your 'joke,' she was violated by monsters! Our family business is finished! You have the nerve to call that a joke?!"
"Don't think I don't know what you were doing. You were jealous that Elara was the one marrying into the Dalton family! You selfish, manipulative creature! After I showered you with love and affection... the moment things went south, you threw us to the wolves without a second thought. You're not half the woman Elara is!"
His words brought back a memory.
When I was eighteen, a business rival of my father's kidnapped me.
He dangled me over a cliff, cutting the rope an inch every hour, demanding I steal confidential files for him.
By the time the police arrived, the rope snapped.
I never betrayed my father.
A tree broke my fall, saving my life.
On the way home, my father and Kaelen held me and cried, telling me I was their everything, that they would cherish me forever.
They broke their promise.
My father seemed to recall it too.
His eyes filled with regret, and he seemed to age a decade in an instant.
He threw Sable to the ground.
"To think I've lived half my life as a blind man,"
he said, his voice raspy.
"Unable to tell which of my daughters was true."
"Sable, leave. The stock transfers are void. Consider the money and gifts your severance. You are no longer connected to the Ashford family. I'm going to find my real daughter now."
He and Kaelen turned and walked away.
Sable's hysterical screams followed them, but they never looked back.
