The Heiress He Underestimated novel Chapter 108

The Heiress He Underestimated

Finished

Chapter 108 He Plays Them All

“Just that it’s a family matter. She seems quite distressed.”

Of course she was. Her father had probably sent her, another pawn in his game. But Elera couldn’t completely dismiss her. Aunt Margaret had always been kind, even if she was easy to manipulate.

“Have Frost do a security check. If she’s alone and unarmed, bring her to the sunroom. I’ll see her.”

Twenty minutes later, Elera was sitting in the bright, plant–filled sunroom when her aunt was escorted in. Margaret looked terrible. Her usually perfect hair was disheveled, her eyes red from crying, her hands shaking.

“Aunt Margaret,” Elera said, standing up. “Are you okay?”

“No,” Margaret said, her voice breaking. “No, I’m not okay. Elera, we need to talk. About your father, about the gala and everything.”

Elera gestured to a chair. “Sit down. I’ll have someone bring tea.”

But Margaret shook her head. “I don’t want tea. I want you to know that I didn’t know. About the interview. About him planning to go on television and play the victim. He didn’t tell me. If he had, I would have stopped him, or at least warned you.”

“I know you would have,” Elera said gently. “You’re not responsible for his actions.”

“But I enabled them. For years, I made excuses for him. I told myself he was just stressed, just trying to do his best for the family. I ignored all the signs that he was manipulating us, using us.” Margaret’s hands twisted in her lap. “When he made me call you about your grandmother’s foundation, when he made me set up that meeting, I knew something was off. But I did it anyway because he’s my brother and I’ve spent my whole life doing what he tells me to do.”

“Aunt Margaret, you don’t have to…”

“Yes, I do. I have to say this. I have to tell you the truth.” Margaret looked up, and her eyes were fierce now, determined. “Your father called me this morning, right after his interview aired. He was so pleased with himself, so proud. He said he’d positioned himself perfectly, that public sympathy was on his side, that you’d have to reconcile with him now or look like a monster. And I just… I snapped. I told him he was despicable. I told him he was using me and using you and that I was done being his puppet. We had a huge fight. He said terrible things. And I said some back. And then I hung up on him and came straight here because you need to know.”

“Know what?”

“That he’s planning something bigger. Something involving that Valdris boy and his girlfriend. He’s been in contact with them, feeding them information, trying to form some kind of alliance. I don’t know all the details, but I heard him on the phone last week talking about how if they all worked together, they could force you to do what they wanted. Control you. Use your success for their own ends.”

Elera felt cold. Her father, Xan, and Sarah, working together? That was a nightmare scenario.

“Did he say what they were planning specifically?”

Chapter 108 He Plays Them All

Finished

“No. But he mentioned something about your other businesses. About how you were hiding more than just your writing career. He’s hiring investigators to dig into your finances, your company holdings, everything. He wants to find all your secrets so he can…” Margaret’s voice broke again. “So he can blackmail you into submission. Make you do what he wants or he’ll expose everything.”

Elera sat back, processing this. So her father knew or suspected she had other identities. And he was actively working to uncover them. That accelerated her timeline significantly. She’d been planning to reveal her ownership of Nethys Medical on her own terms, in her own time. But if her father got there first, if he was the one to expose her, the story would be completely different.

“Thank you for telling me,” Elera said. “I know that wasn’t easy.”

“I should have told you sooner. Should have stood up to him years ago.” Margaret reached across and took Elera’s hand. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. For all of it. For being weak, for enabling him, for not protecting you the way an aunt should protect her niece. But I’m done now. Whatever he’s planning, whatever he does, he’s doing it without my help. I’m on your side.”

98

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