~LAYLA~
The villa was quiet, but the atmosphere was anything but peaceful.
I sat on the sofa, the old photograph of my mother spread out on the coffee table in front of . I had been staring at her face for two hours now, trying to find the cracks in Pennyworth’s story, and convince myself this was all so elaborate scam.
But I couldn’t find any flaws. She looked exactly like that it was undeniable.
Axel was on the terrace, pacing around. He had been on the phone with Tye for almost two hours. I could hear snippets of his voice carrying through the open door.
"I don’t care what ti it is there... wake him up... yes, I need the Interpol files too... check the financials... I want to know who stands to lose money if she shows up... dig into everything."
Finally, he hung up and walked back inside, sliding the glass door shut behind him. He looked tired; the lines around his eyes were deeper, but he still looked alert.
"Well?" I asked, looking up at him.
Axel sat down next to heavily, picking up the photograph with careful fingers.
"Tye is fast," he said. "And the story checks out. Mostly."
"Mostly?" My stomach clenched. "What does ’mostly’ mean?"
"Silas Huntington, the Duke," Axel recited. "Eighty-two years old. Extrely wealthy with lands, real estate, and old investnts dating back centuries. He’s had multiple strokes over the past five years, but he had another major attack three days ago. He’s currently in palliative care at Blackwood Manor, the family estate."
"And the daughter?" I asked curiously"Victoria?"
"Lady Victoria Catherine Huntington," Axel confird. "Disappeared in 1998, just like Pennyworth said. The tiline matches Sarah Stuart’s appearance in New York perfectly. And here’s the kicker, we found sothing in Charles Watson’s private files."
"You have access to those?" I asked, surprised.
"Tye decrypted the drive we recovered from his broken laptop when the FBI raided his estate," Axel explained grimly. "There was a folder labelled ’Stuart.’ It contained docunts, court filings, everything, including a sealed adoption agreent signed by Charles before a judge. He got you to cover up that drunken hit-and-run. The judge was paid off to keep it quiet and seal the records permanently."
I closed my eyes, feeling sick. "The docunt my adoptive mother Ellen gave ntioned sothing about that. About Charles’s ’incident’ being expunged from the record in exchange for the adoption."
"Yeah," Axel said softly. "Charles didn’t just adopt you out of guilt, Layla. He used you. He used your parents’ death to clean up his own ss, and in the process, he kept you away from your real family."
"So it’s true," I whispered. "All of it. My mother was Lady Victoria. I’m... I’m the granddaughter of a Duke."
"Yes," Axel confird.
He put the photo down carefully, waiting, as if allowing me to digest that before his next bomb.
"But there’s something else you need to know before we decide whether to go," he said, and I froze. What else??
"What?" I managed to ask, looking at him with dread pooling in my stomach.
"The family tree," Axel said. "The Duke had two children. Victoria was the eldest. But there was also a son, Edward. He died ten years ago in a boating accident, but his wife, Lady Isabelle, and her son, Julian is still live at the manor."
"Julian," I repeated slowly, testing the na. "My cousin."
"Your cousin," Axel nodded. "And currently, Julian is the presumptive heir. If the Duke dies without recognising you, without acknowledging you as Victoria’s legitimate daughter, Julian gets the title, the estate, the money, everything. The entire Huntington fortune passes to him."
I frowned. "And if the Duke recognises as Victoria’s daughter?"
"Then you jump the line of succession," Axel said bluntly. "According to the inheritance law, the eldest child’s line takes precedence. You, as Victoria’s daughter, would take everything. Or at the very least, a significant portion of it. Which ans Julian and his mother Isabelle, are currently sitting on a fortune that is about to be snatched away by a complete stranger. By you."
He looked at seriously.
"We aren’t walking into a family reunion, Layla," he said. "We’re walking into a shark tank. These people have millions, possibly billions of reasons to want you to stay lost. To want you to disappear."
I picked up the photograph again, studying my mother’s young, happy face.
I thought about the family I never knew existed. I thought about the mother who gave up a castle and a title for love. And I thought about Charles, who had tried to control my entire destiny from the mont my parents died.
"I don’t care about the money," I said. "I have my own empire. I built Eclipse Beauty from nothing. I don’t need an inheritance."
"I know," Axel said, his hand finding mine.
"But I want to et him," I continued, looking at Axel. "He’s my grandfather. He’s the only real link I have left to my mother, to who she really was. If he’s dying... I can’t let him die thinking I didn’t care. Thinking, I chose not to co."
"Even knowing that Julian and Isabelle might try to sabotage you?" Axel asked. "Even knowing they might be dangerous?"
"I survived Henry and Marco," I said. "I think I can handle so angry aristocrats."
Axel studied my face for a long mont, then nodded slowly. He pulled out his phone.
"Then we go," he said. "But we go on our terms. Not theirs."
He dialled Tye’s number and put it on speaker.
"Boss," Tye answered immediately. "What’s the call?"
"Tye," Axel said into the phone. "Prep the jet. We’re flying to London in twelve hours. Full security detail. And send an advance team. I want the periter of this Blackwood Manor secured and surveilled before we even land."
He paused, listening to Tye’s response.
"And one more thing," Axel added. "Run full background checks on Lady Isabelle Huntington and her son Julian. Financial records, legal disputes, everything. I want to know what skeletons they have in their closets before we walk through that door."
"Copy that," Tye said. "What about Pennyworth? Should I contact him?"
"No," Axel said, locking his eyes with mine, a dangerous smile playing on his lips. "Pennyworth can wait. We’ll call him when we’re already on the ground in England. Let’s see how much the ’family’ panics when we show up unannounced."
"I like the way you think, Boss," Tye said. "I’ll have everything ready. Helena says good luck, and to call if you need anything."
"Tell her thank you," I said.
Axel hung up and stood, offering his hand.
"Pack your bags, Mrs. O’Brien," he said, pulling to my feet. "We’re going to England."
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