Chapter 7 - The Grandfather Who Came for His Daughter
Anthony arrived without warning.
He stood outside the mansion gates.
Seventy years old.
White hair.
A weathered face.
A photograph of Olivia in his hand.
Daniel met him alone.
“You're Anthony.”
“Yes.”
“You've been looking for Lily.”
“Yes.”
“She is my daughter.”
“She is my granddaughter.”
Neither man moved.
Anthony's eyes filled with tears.
“I thought everyone killed her.”
Daniel shook his head.
“She was alive.”
“And you left her here.”
Daniel accepted the accusation.
“Yes.”
Anthony's voice hardened.
“You failed her.”
“Yes.”
That answer surprised him.
Anthony lowered the photograph.
“I came to take her.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“You won't take her anywhere.”
Anthony looked at him.
“I don't trust you.”
“You don't have to.”
Inside the mansion, Lily watched through the window.
She saw the two men standing in the rain.
Then she walked outside.
Anthony saw her.
His face collapsed.
“Olivia.”
Lily froze.
He approached slowly.
“You look like your mother.”
Lily didn't know what to say.
Anthony stopped several feet away.
“I won't force you.”
Lily looked at Daniel.
Then Anthony.
“I want to know her.”
Anthony smiled through tears.
“That is all I wanted.”
The three of them entered the house.
For the first time, Lily had both sides of her family.
But peace didn't last.
That evening, Anthony discovered a letter Olivia had written before her death.
It contained one sentence that changed everything:
If anything happens to me, do not trust Charles.
Daniel stared at the letter.
“Charles is dead.”
Anthony looked at him.
“Is he?”
Daniel froze.
May you like
Because Charles had died two years earlier.
Or so everyone believed.
