Chapter 7 - Richard’s Military Box
Richard Ashford never served in combat.
His “military box” referred to an old olive-green storage case he kept from prep school ROTC.
Adrian found it in the attic.
Locked.
Eleanor claimed she had no key.
Adrian broke it.
Inside:
Old letters.
Corporate seals.
Photographs.
And a blue envelope.
Not the one from the clock?
Perhaps.
Same thick paper.
No address.
Inside was a typed list.
Dates.
Names.
Payments.
1989 — Rebecca Vale — St. Catherine’s House.
1990 — Infant Female — transferred.
1998 — Charlotte Vale — settlement.
2018 — Marion Chase — $750,000.
2019 — Madeline Cross — relocation.
Adrian stared.
His father died in 2014.
How could Richard’s file contain payments from 2018 and 2019?
Someone continued using his system after death.
Who?
Then Adrian noticed handwriting on the back.
Eleanor’s.
She admitted maintaining the file.
Why?
“Your father asked me to.”
“He was dead.”
“Before he died.”
Richard knew there were unresolved obligations.
Rebecca.
Her child.
Other people harmed by the family.
He instructed Eleanor to continue payments.
Then:
“Why Lily?”
Eleanor began shaking.
“I didn't know until Marion called.”
“Know what?”
“That Madeline was connected to Rebecca.”
How?
Madeline Cross was Rebecca’s granddaughter.
Adrian stared.
Rebecca’s child survived.
A daughter.
Raised outside the Ashford family.
That daughter later had Madeline.
Madeline had Lily.
Therefore Lily was Rebecca’s great-granddaughter.
Adrian’s mind raced.
But Rebecca had been married to Richard.
Was her baby Richard’s?
If yes—
then Lily descended from Richard.
Which would make Lily blood-related to Adrian.
How closely?
Rebecca’s baby would be Adrian’s paternal half-sibling.
Her granddaughter Madeline would be Adrian’s half-niece.
Lily would be his half-grandniece.
Strange.
But not “worse.”
Then Eleanor said:
“Rebecca’s baby wasn't Richard’s.”
Another turn.
Whose?
She refused.
Adrian slammed his palm onto the desk.
“Enough.”
Eleanor whispered:
“I promised.”
“To whom?”
“Richard.”
“Richard lied to everyone.”
“Yes.”
“Then stop protecting him.”
Eleanor finally broke.
Rebecca had been pregnant before she reconciled with Richard.
The father was someone from Ashford Holdings.
A senior employee.
Married.
Scandalous.
Richard agreed to claim the child as his if Rebecca stayed quiet about his affair with Eleanor.
A mutual cover-up.
Then the staircase accident happened.
The baby was born prematurely but survived.
She was placed with another family.
Name:
Sarah.
Sarah later became Madeline’s mother.
This made Lily biologically unrelated to Richard.
So why would Ashfords care?
Because the unknown biological father of Rebecca’s baby was still the key.
Eleanor whispered his name.
“Thomas Ashford.”
Adrian stared.
“Who?”
Richard’s younger brother.
Adrian’s uncle.
A man Adrian had been told died before he was born.
May you like
Another erased Ashford.
And Thomas had not died.
