Twenty Years Later, I Became Her Boss Chapter 10

Twenty Years Later, I Became Her Boss Chapter 10

Later, while Richard was in prison, he sent word through intermediaries more than once, asking to see me.

He said he knew he was wrong, that he regretted everything, and that he wanted to claim me as his daughter again and make it up to me.

He said it was all Lauren’s fault, that he had let that vicious woman blind him.

He wanted me to spare him for the sake of the father–daughter bond between us.

I never went to see him, not until his lawyer brought me a single message from him.

“I failed your mother.”

Only then did I finally go to see him in prison.

Through the cold glass, I looked at the man who seemed to have aged twenty years overnight, the man who was my biological father.

He wore a prison jumpsuit. His hair had gone gray, and his face was covered in regret and despair.

“Emily, I was wrong. I’m sorry. I’m sorry to you, and I’m sorry to your mother…”

He broke down sobbing and repeated it again and again.

I said nothing. I only looked at him calmly.

When his sobbing finally ran out, I took a document from my bag and placed it beside the prison phone in front of him.

It was a paternity test report.

“Didn’t you always dote on your precious son, Andrew Bradford?”

My voice was perfectly calm.

“Take a look at this. Consider it the last surprise I’ll ever give you.”

Richard picked up the report with trembling hands.

When he reached the final section and saw the conclusion excluding him as Andrew’s biological father, his eyes bulged in disbelief.

It was as if every ounce of strength had been drained out of him. He collapsed into the chair and let out a desperate, animal-like howl.

“No. No, that’s impossible… That’s impossible!”

I watched him fall apart, but I felt nothing stir inside me. There was no thrill of revenge either, only a quiet sense of release.

Andrew was Lauren’s son with the man she had been sleeping with behind Richard’s back.

Richard had abandoned his wife and daughter, and all he had gotten in return was a twenty-year lie and a twenty-year betrayal.

Maybe that was the best punishment he could have received.

I stood up, looked at him one last time, and turned to leave.

From that day on, there would be nothing left between us.

On a clear, breezy weekend, I brought Nathan and Aunt Helen to my mother’s grave.

The headstone had been wiped spotless, and in the photo on it, my mother’s smile was gentle and peaceful.

I placed a bouquet of white daisies gently in front of her grave.

“Mom.”

I knelt in front of the headstone and pressed my cheek against the cold stone, as if that could bring me a little closer to her.

“I avenged you.”

“The people who hurt you all got the punishment they deserved.”

“I also found someone who loves me very, very much. His name is Nathan Cole.”

He’s your son-in-law.”

“Aunt Helen is doing well too. We’re all doing well.”

“Wherever you are, you can finally rest easy.”

Nathan knelt beside me and gently wrapped his arms around me.

Aunt Helen stood behind us, looking at the photo on the headstone with a soft, relieved smile.

Sunlight filtered through the leaves and fell over us in warm, scattered patches.

I leaned against Nathan’s shoulder and felt the warmth of a home that had come twenty years late.

The fire of revenge that had burned inside me for twenty years finally went out completely.

And love and a new beginning were quietly taking root in my life.

The road ahead was still long.

But this time, I would not walk it alone.