Chapter 2 - The Silver Locket
Ethan’s blood ran ice cold at her words. His voice softened even further, hiding his boiling rage. “What dark room, Lily?” She sniffled, pointing a trembling finger. “The terrible place where they kept me before we came to live here.” From across the room, Nora shouted against the guards' grips, accusing the child of making up crazy stories. Lily flinched violently at the sound of the woman's voice, instinctively reaching up to grab her own collar.
That was when Ethan noticed the silver chain hanging around her tiny neck. A small, tarnished silver locket was hidden beneath her pajama top. “May I see that, please?” Ethan asked. Lily hesitated, terrified of what might happen, but the gentle warmth in Ethan's eyes made her trust him. She slowly pulled the locket out and handed it to him. Ethan’s large fingers delicately popped the clasp open, revealing a perfectly folded photograph inside.
It was a picture of Ethan’s late wife, Amelia, lying in a hospital bed looking exhausted but radiantly happy, holding a beautiful newborn baby. Ethan’s breath hitched in his throat. He carefully slipped the photo out, and on the back, written in Amelia’s unmistakable elegant handwriting, were five words: OUR LILY LOOKS LIKE YOU. Ethan stopped breathing entirely as the room began to spin. Lily was the secret name he and Amelia had selected only two days before the tragic fire—a name no newspaper had ever published.
He turned the locket over in his trembling hands to find a faded pink hospital bracelet meticulously folded inside. The typed ink read: BABY GIRL BLACKWOOD. MOTHER: AMELIA BLACKWOOD. Looking up slowly, Ethan’s eyes locked onto the child’s left shoulder. He gently pulled the edge of her pajama top aside, revealing a small, distinct crescent-shaped birthmark on her collarbone. It was the exact same birthmark shown in the only 3D ultrasound photograph he had kept in his wallet for seven years.
Tears blurred his vision. “Where did you get this, sweet girl?” Lily pointed her shaking finger toward the captured housekeeper. “I found it in her locked box. She said I wasn’t ever supposed to find it.” Ethan rose slowly to his feet. He was no longer just a billionaire CEO; he was a father who had just found his stolen world. “Who is she, Nora?” Ethan's voice was deadly calm, like the eye of a hurricane. Nora stopped struggling and slumped forward, defeated by the absolute truth.
For seven agonizing years, Ethan had believed his daughter died without ever opening her eyes. He had buried an empty white coffin beside Amelia’s tragic grave. Now, a frightened child stood inside his home wearing the hospital bracelet of the daughter he had never stopped mourning. Nora began sobbing uncontrollably, confessing that she hadn't taken the baby willingly. “Your uncle paid me!” she wailed.
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Ethan’s expression instantly morphed into lethal fury. Victor Blackwood, his father's brother, had become the acting chairman after the hospital fire. Under the iron-clad Blackwood family trust, Victor would inherit total control only if Ethan died without a surviving biological child. Lily was the sole living heir preventing Victor from legally taking the entire billion-dollar empire. Nora admitted that Victor had arranged the hospital fire on purpose to kill Amelia and the baby. When Lily miraculously survived, a corrupted nurse handed the infant to Nora along with a massive briefcase of cash.
“Why bring her into my house?” Ethan demanded, his fists clenched. Nora looked toward the terrified little girl. “Victor ordered it. He needed to know whether you would recognize her face as she grew older.” As for the poison, Nora's voice dropped to a pathetic whisper. “The board of directors votes tomorrow morning. Once you were dead, Victor planned to have Lily declared a random impostor. He was going to take everything.”
