Chapter 5 - The Unwelcome Heir
Life at the Whitmore estate was like waking up in a completely different universe.
Annie had an entire playroom to herself, filled with toys she had only ever seen through store windows.
Grace was receiving round-the-clock medical care and eating rich, nutritious meals that brought the color back to her cheeks.
Arthur bought me new clothes, books, and even enrolled me in a prestigious private academy.
But the mansion was not entirely a peaceful sanctuary.
A few days after we arrived, Arthur’s estranged son, Julian, returned from Europe.
Julian was a tall, sharp-featured man with eyes as cold as ice.
He hated us from the absolute second he walked through the front doors.
I was reading in the library one evening when I heard Julian shouting in Arthur’s private study.
"You brought street rats into my mother’s home?" Julian yelled.
"They are Thomas's children, Julian," Arthur shot back, his voice booming with authority.
"They own thirty percent of this company, and they belong here."
"They belong in the gutter!" Julian screamed.
"If you give them my inheritance, I swear to God I will finish what those men started ten years ago."
I froze in the hallway, my blood turning to pure ice.
Julian wasn't just angry about money.
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He knew about the crash.
And based on the venom in his voice, he might have even been involved.
