Alicia stared in disbelief. "Wait… I was left at the orphanage—he did that to me?"
Chester's voice was heavy with concern. "Yes. He confessed. He said he was the one who left you there all those years ago. Claimed he should've killed you back then, but lost his nerve at the last moment. Said if he didn't get rid of you, he'd end up dead himself."
It was clear now—there was something deeply wrong about Alicia's past.
"What else did he say? My parents—" Alicia's voice broke as panic crept in.
Had her parents really abandoned her?
"He wouldn't say more," Chester replied quietly. "He seemed unhinged. We've already requested a psychological evaluation. Still, this gives us something to work with. Whatever the truth is, your background is complicated, and I'll get to the bottom of it. In the meantime, you need to be careful."
A tightness gripped Alicia's chest. Would this finally be the answer she'd searched for—or just another disappointment?
Even if she found her birth parents through this lead, would they even want her? Why did they give her up in the first place? Was it just because she was a girl, or had they never loved her at all?
"Has anyone from the Holloway or Lawson families tried to contact you?" Chester's tone sharpened with worry, knowing Henry and Mira's families might try to pressure Alicia into signing a settlement.
"They have…" Alicia admitted. "But I'm not backing down."
She took a steadying breath. Jade's threats still rang in her ears. Crossing Jade meant trouble in the world of architecture, and Alicia knew her career could suffer for it.
But to just let Henry and Mira off the hook? She couldn't accept that.
"If Tyrone is your husband, you should talk things over with him," Chester advised. "The Lynch family has more influence than the Holloways or the Lawsons. With Tyrone backing you, they'll think twice."
"I will. Thank you, Chester," Alicia said gratefully.
"I'll let you know as soon as I hear anything else."
After hanging up, Alicia sank into the couch, her mind spinning.
What kind of people were her birth parents? Why did they give her up? Was it simply because she was a daughter, or was it something else—something worse?
She drifted off to sleep on the couch, her worries swirling and unresolved.
***
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