Chapter 2: The Truth Buried for Twenty-Five Years

Victoria tried to run.

She barely reached the ballroom doors before security blocked her path.

"I only wanted a better life!" she screamed.

"You don't understand!"

The patriarch slammed his cane against the marble floor.

"Then explain."

With nowhere left to hide, Victoria finally broke.

Twenty-five years earlier, the family's fortune had been destined for little Elena.

The child had been the sole legal heir to the family's founder.

Victoria had spent years watching her older sister live the life she wanted.

Jealousy slowly became hatred.

One rainy night, she hired two men to kidnap the little girl.

The plan had been simple.

Leave Elena somewhere far away.

Make everyone believe she had died.

Then, years later, marry into the family herself.

Everything had gone exactly as planned...

Except for one thing.

One of the kidnappers couldn't bring himself to abandon the crying child.

Instead, he secretly left her at the doorstep of a kind couple hundreds of miles away, with the medallion still around her neck.

He hoped someone would one day discover the truth.

When Elena's adoptive mother became terminally ill, she finally revealed everything and handed over the medallion.

"Go home," she had whispered.

"They've been waiting for you longer than you know."

The patriarch could no longer hold back his tears.

"My daughter..."

He reached for Elena's hand.

"I'm so sorry."

She squeezed it gently.

"You didn't lose me."

"You never stopped looking."