Chapter 8 - THE TRUTH OF THE ORPHAN
The silence inside the nursery grew so dense you could hear the soft ticking of the grandfather clock in the hall.
Lily swallowed hard, her throat suddenly dry. She didn't look away from Victor’s gaze. She had learned long ago that lying to a man like Victor Blackwood was a death sentence.
"My birth name was Lilianna Vance," she whispered, her voice trembling slightly. "My mother died when I was four. I lived in the St. Jude Orphanage in Cleveland until I was eighteen."
Victor pulled a document from the folder. "And the Vance name? Any relation to Arthur Vance, the corporate financier who disappeared six years ago after his firm collapsed?"
"He was my uncle," Lily confessed, tears welling in her eyes. "When my parents died, he took my trust fund, wiped my legal identity, and dumped me at the orphanage so he wouldn't have to share the inheritance. When I turned eighteen, I changed my last name to Miller and fled to Chicago just to survive."
Victor listened silently, reading through the private investigator’s report. Every detail matched. She hadn't infiltrated his home to spy on him. She hadn't been planted by rival syndicates. She was simply a girl who had been stripped of her identity by greedy relatives—just as Serena had tried to strip her of her dignity.
"I’m sorry, Mr. Blackwood," Lily whispered, bowing her head. "If you want me to leave because I used a false name on my application, I understand. I'll pack my things—"
"Leave?" Victor interrupted smoothly.
He took the manila envelope, held it over the brass trash bin beside the desk, and pulled out a silver lighter.
FLICK.
May you like
The yellow flame caught the corner of the paper, rapidly turning the background report into dark ash. Victor dropped the burning folder into the metal bin, watching it turn to dust.
"Lily Miller died six months ago," Victor said, looking down at her with unshakeable resolve. "You are Lilianna. And as long as you are under this roof, no one—not your uncle, not the Montigues, and not the law—can touch you."
