All Chapters of The CEO Abandoned Hiress : Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

Callie's POV"Read it, Callie."We were in a private room behind the Velvet Room kitchen. Papa sat across from me with his hands folded. Two of his men stood by the door.I broke the seal and pulled out the pages.The first was a death certificate. My full name. A date of death three years ago. A cause. A signature from a doctor I had never met, in a city I had never lived in."I died of pneumonia," I said. My voice sounded flat. "In a hospital I have never seen.""Keep reading."The next page was a hospital record. Then a burial permit. Then a letter from a law firm, politely informing the Dawson family trust that its beneficiary was deceased."Raymond's lawyers filed all of it," Papa said. "Forged, every page. The trust was meant to pass to you at thirty. If you are legally dead before then, it goes to him.""My thirtieth birthday is five years away.""He does not want to wait five years."I put the pages down. My hands were cold."Where were you?" I asked. It came out smaller than

Callie's POV"Papa, I need that plane on the ground."I was shouting into my phone on the apron, bare feet numb on the concrete, while the white jet's lights shrank into the fog."Give me a minute," my father said."I do not have a minute.""Callie." His voice went very quiet. "Listen to me. Every contact I have spent six years hiding from is a contact I can use tonight. Go to the terminal. Stay by the phone."He hung up.Michael put his coat around my shoulders. I had not noticed I was shaking."He will do it," he said."How do you know?""Because he has been waiting six years to do something for you."---The call came at 12:40."Refueling stop," Papa said. "A small airport, four hours north. The fuel supplier has a debt to an old friend of mine. They will find a fault. A paperwork problem. Something that cannot be fixed before morning.""How long?""Twelve hours. No more.""It is enough.""There is a jet waiting on the east side of your airfield. Chartered. The crew has already fil

Callie's POV"Mr. Ashford's counsel has withdrawn the petition."The judge said it without looking up from her papers.I sat at the table with Lily's small hand tucked in mine. She had insisted on coming. She wore her yellow dress and held Mr. Rabbit on her lap, and she was swinging her feet just above the floor."The footage obtained at the airfield has been entered into the record," the judge went on. "The child's statement. The statement of the minor, Noah. The pharmacy records." She finally lifted her eyes. "This court sees no reason to delay."Across the aisle, Harold Whitman did not meet my gaze. Derek's chair was empty."Temporary full custody of Lily Grace Dawson is granted to her mother," the judge said. "Effective immediately. Criminal inquiries into the conduct of Ms. Vanessa Cole, concerning child endangerment, will proceed separately."The gavel came down.Lily looked up at me."Did we win, Mummy?""We did, baby."She thought about it very seriously."Can Mr. Rabbit have

Callie's POV"It is not what it looks like."Michael stood in his bedroom doorway with his keys still in his hand. His eyes went to the drawer. Then to the letter in my fingers."Do not say that to me," I said. "Not that sentence.""Then let me say a different one." He did not move closer. "Raymond sent that to trap you. He wanted you to find it.""It has your name on it.""It has my name on it because he wrote it to me. That is the whole point." He set his keys down on the dresser, slowly, like a man trying not to frighten an animal. "Five weeks ago, a courier left it at my clinic. I read it standing at the front desk. I called my lawyer before I finished the page.""And you kept it.""My lawyer told me to. It is evidence.""In a drawer. With your phone chargers.""In a drawer I knew you would never open." His mouth twisted. "Which tells you how well I planned that."I almost laughed. It died in my throat.He went to the bottom shelf of the wardrobe, took out a gray folder, and held

Callie's POV"What did you promise him, Papa?"I did not take off my coat. I did not sit down. I stood in the doorway of his study with the wire still taped under my shirt and my uncle's voice still in my ears.My father looked up from the desk. He saw my face and slowly put down his pen."He told you something.""He told me to ask."Papa closed his eyes."Sit, Callie.""Tell me.""Please."I sat.The lamp threw a small circle of yellow light across the desk. Outside, Lily was laughing at something on the television, and the sound seemed to come from another world."The night I sent you away," he said. "Raymond did not only threaten the family.""You told me he did.""He did. But he also offered a way out." His voice was very low. "He said he would let all of you live if I gave him two things. The chairmanship. And you.""Me?""Your absence." He opened his eyes. "I had to send you away myself. I had to swear that I would never contact you again. Never look for you, never write, never