Fake Daughter Is the Real Legend novel · Chapter 23 of 24

Chapter 23: Twenty-Five

On the morning I turned twenty-five, the whole Ashcroft family stood in the old ballroom to watch me open a chair.

My father sat in a wheelchair at the head of the room, blanket over his knees, wearing his best grey suit.

The trust's lawyer stood beside him with a sealed envelope in a plastic sleeve.

"This letter was found in a locked drawer in Helen Ashcroft's possession," he said. "The seal has not been broken. I confirm it in front of this family."

He held it out to me.

I broke the wax and read my grandmother's handwriting aloud.

"My dear girl. If you are reading this, I am gone, and your father has been less brave than he should. I leave the Ashcroft trust to Gregory's own child by blood, whom I have known by the mark behind her left ear since the day she was born. The key I gave you opens the arm of the chair at the head of this room. Sit in it. It is yours."

Every head in the ballroom turned to the carved chair at the end of the long table.

Leander walked beside me down the room.

I put the brass key into a small lock hidden beneath the left arm. It turned with a click.

The arm swung open. Inside lay a rolled parchment tied with ribbon and a photograph.

I unrolled the parchment. It was the original trust, signed in my grandmother's hand, with my name in the margin.

The photograph showed a baby in her arms. Behind the baby's left ear was a small crescent mark.

"The trust passes to Marin Ashcroft," the lawyer said, and his voice rang. "Today."

My father wept openly. Bethany, standing at the back, looked at the floor and did not leave.

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