Russell took an anxious step forward, his face gone white, only for Gwendolyn to jump between us.

“Russell, look at your arm,” she gasped, grabbing his sleeve. “She scratched you — you’re bleeding.”

He glanced at a microscopic red line on his skin, and instead of checking on his daughter, his eyes went cold again. “Look how you’re raising her,” he spat.

“Aggressive and dishonest, just like you.”

I stared at him as if at a stranger on the street.

Chapter 3 — Six Years of Silence

For six years I had hidden who I was — Heather Walton, concealing a family fortune, real credentials, and a leadership role in one of the most powerful financial groups in the country.