Episode 9: the heiress nobody knew

The Heiress Nobody Knew

The letter trembled in Isabella's hands.

The daughter you raised is not the daughter you were given.

She read the sentence again.

And again.

"What does this mean, Adrian?"

He stood beside the study door, his expression unusually tense.

"I think we should sit down."

"No!" Isabella snapped. "I've spent days listening to people tell me what I should know. I'm done with secrets!"

She held the letter toward him.

"Tell me who my real mother is."

Adrian took a deep breath.

"Three years ago, your father discovered that a powerful family had been searching for a missing child. The child disappeared from a private hospital shortly after birth."

Isabella stared at him.

"And you think that child was me?"

"I don't know for certain."

"Then why did someone leave this letter in my father's box?"

Before Adrian could answer, the study door burst open.

Victoria stood there.

"Because your father was a liar."

Isabella turned sharply.

"What are you doing here?"

Victoria ignored her and faced Adrian.

"You should have told her everything before marrying her."

Adrian's voice hardened. "Get out."

"Not until she knows what her name really means."

Victoria placed a newspaper clipping on the desk.

The headline read:

MISSING HEIRESS OF THE OKAFOR FAMILY: ₦50 BILLION FAMILY FORTUNE STILL UNCLAIMED.

Below the headline was a photograph of a wealthy couple standing outside a hospital.

Isabella's fingers went numb.

The woman's eyes looked remarkably familiar.

Her own eyes.

"Who are they?" she whispered.

Victoria smiled.

"Mr. and Mrs. Okafor. One of the wealthiest families in the country."

She tapped the photograph.

"Their daughter disappeared twenty years ago. And according to the records your father hid, you were born in that same hospital on the same night."

Isabella shook her head.

"No. My father and mother raised me. They loved me."

"Perhaps they did," Victoria replied. "But that doesn't mean they were your biological parents."

Isabella looked at Adrian.

"Did you know about this?"

He hesitated.

That hesitation was enough.

"You knew!" Isabella cried.

"I suspected something. I didn't have proof."

"Yet you married me?"

Adrian stepped toward her.

"Isabella, please—"

She backed away.

"Don't touch me."

For the first time, the billionaire looked completely helpless.

Then Isabella's phone rang.

It was Grace.

"Grace?" Isabella answered immediately. "Where are you?"

Her sister was crying.

"Isabella, you need to listen to me. I'm safe, but I discovered something terrible."

"What happened?"

Grace lowered her voice.

"The person who told Adrian where to find you is the same person who arranged my disappearance."

Isabella froze.

"Who?"

A door slammed somewhere on Grace's end of the call.

Grace gasped.

"Isabella, it's—"

The call disconnected.

"GRACE!"

Isabella tried calling back.

No answer.

She turned to Adrian.

"Find my sister. Now!"

Adrian immediately called his security team.

But as he issued instructions, Isabella noticed something.

Victoria wasn't surprised.

She was smiling.

And that was when Isabella realized the danger might be standing right in front of her.