All Chapters of Father's Secret, Daughter's Ruin: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

I was actually having a decent morning, which in my life lately, was basically a miracle. The sun was out, my iced matcha was hitting just right, and I was on my way to get my nails done. I had a vision for this set—deep, "rich girl" red with a almond shape.The Greg family gala was coming up, and my dad was doing the most as usual. He decided it was going to be a masquerade theme. The "party of the season." Pure dramatic energy. I already had my wig delivered—a 30-inch, bone-straight masterpiece—and my dress was sitting in my closet looking like a million bucks. I was ready to serve looks while secretly planning a funeral for everyone’s reputation.I pulled into the parking lot of the nail salon, feeling a little bit like my old self. I put the car in park and reached for my purse, ready to go in and let my nail tech, Chloe, work her magic.

I reached for the burner phone I had hidden under my pillow. A notification popped up.Transaction Complete: $100,000,000.00I stared at the screen until the numbers blurred. He actually did it. My father—the man who audits every single expense at his company, the man who lectures me on "financial responsibility"—just dropped a hundred million dollars to keep a secret. He didn't even fight it. He didn't call the police. He didn't try to negotiate. He just paid the "I slept with my son-in-law" tax.I had set up a complex offshore account through some deep-web stuff Marie helped me find. It was untraceable, a digital black hole. I looked at those zeros and felt... nothing. No joy. Just a cold, hard confirmation that my father valued his image more than the truth. More than me.

I sat in front of my vanity, staring at my reflection, but I didn’t see Kassy. I saw a girl who was about to become a hurricane. My 30-inch wig was laid to perfection—bone straight, touching my waist, looking like it grew out of my scalp. My dress was hugging every curve like it was stitched onto my skin. I looked expensive. I looked powerful. I looked like a woman who was ready to end a whole empire. Marie and I had spent all night finalizing the plan. We had the flash drives and the leaked info that would turn my father’s "Man of the Year" reputation into a heap of trash. Tonight, at the Greg Family Masquerade Gala, I was going to pull the rug out from under him. I wanted to see him lose everything. "Ready?" Marie whispered, stepping into the room. She looked lethal in a structured black gown. "I was born ready," I said, checking my deep red nails one last time. "Let’s go light this match." The gala was the definition of extra. The ballroom was dripping in gold and crystals,

Two days later, Marie still couldn’t sleep properly. Every time she closed her eyes, she heard Greg’s voice again: "If anyone hears a word of this… I will kill your daughter." The threat sat in her chest like a heavy stone. Marie stood in her kitchen early that morning, staring at her phone. The sunlight coming through the window looked normal and the street outside looked normal, but nothing in her life felt normal anymore. She rubbed her forehead, whispering to herself, “I have to tell Kassy.” Keeping the secret felt wrong, but telling it felt dangerous. Greg was powerful—the kind of man who could make problems disappear, the kind of man people were scared of. Marie looked at the photo of her daughter on the fridge; the little girl was smiling with two missing teeth, and her stomach twisted. “I will find another way,” Marie muttered. She picked up her phone and typed: I need to talk to you. It’s urgent. Let’s meet at the lounge, the quiet spot. A few seconds later, the reply came

The drive back from Elsa’s house was a blur of red lights and rage.Beside me, Marie was unusually quiet, probably because she knew the version of Kassy sitting next to her wasn't the same girl who had woken up that morning. That girl was dead. This new Kassy was made of glass and gasoline."Kassy," Marie said softly as we pulled into the long, winding driveway of the Greg mansion. "What’s the move? We have the recording of Elsa. We have the bank records. Do we drop the nuke now?""Not yet," I said, staring at the massive front doors. "I have to talk to Elena. She’s been living in a simulation for twenty-four years. She thinks she birthed me. She thinks Greg is a devoted husband who 'saved' her when she lost her mind from grief. She deserves the truth before the rest of the world sees it.""She’s going to break," Marie whispered."Better she breaks now in private than on the 6 o'clock news," I replied. "You find James. He’s the Golden Boy, and this is going to wreck his entire reality