All Chapters of THE FAKE HEIRESS and Her OBSESSIVE BROTHER: Chapter 71 - Chapter 75

Vivian woke before sunrise in the small house at the end of the lane. She had slept in the spare room, on a narrow bed beneath a window that looked out at the garden. The room was clean and quiet, and for the first time in weeks she had slept without dreaming. She rose and dressed and found Elizabeth in the kitchen, standing at the counter with a cup of tea in her hands. Her mother turned when Vivian entered, and something in her expression was different from the day before. It was heavier and more guarded. "You slept well?" "Yes." "Good." Elizabeth set down her cup. "There's something I need to tell you. Something I should have told you years ago." Vivian sat down at the table. "What is it?" --- Elizabeth was quiet for a long moment. "I have never told you the full story of why I gave you up. I told you that Richard threatened me and that I believed he would hurt you. But I never told you what happened the night I made the decision." She paused. "When you were five years old

Vivian returned to the city with the folder tucked beneath her arm.Marcus drove, and neither of them spoke for most of the journey. The road stretched ahead beneath a gray sky as Vivian spent the hours going through the notes her mother had given her. Names she did not recognize. Places she had never been. Dates that meant nothing to her yet.By the time they reached the city, it was late afternoon, and she went straight to David's office.David was in a meeting when she arrived, but he stepped out when he saw her. He looked at the folder in her hands and led her into the conference room without asking questions. "You found something.""I found my mother. And I found this."She set the folder on the table and opened it. David sat down and began to read. He turned each page carefully, studying the notes and the names, and when he finally looked up, his expression had changed. "Where did you get this?""From Elizabeth. She infiltrated the network years ago and copied records, documents

The drive back to David's office took less than twenty minutes, but to Vivian it felt like hours. She kept one hand pressed against her coat pocket the entire way, feeling the sharp corners of the memorandum through the fabric. Every time they stopped at a red light, she checked the mirrors to make sure no one was following them.When they finally walked into the office, David was waiting in the conference room. He looked up as they entered, his expression shifting from impatience to concern when he saw their faces."You found it," he said.Vivian pulled the memorandum from her pocket and placed it on the table, followed by her phone with the photographs of the ledgers. "We found everything," she said. "But I need you to keep the original documents. Marcus and I are going to have to move fast, and I can't risk carrying all of it."---David nodded, immediately pulling on a pair of latex gloves to handle the paper. He read the memorandum first, then scrolled slowly through the photogra