“Why?”
“Because he knew Camille intended to remove him from the board.”
Daniel lowered his voice.
“And because if Camille died, you would become the sole heir.”
Elena stared at him.
“What happened?”
“Richard arranged the crash.”
Her knees weakened.
“Your mother died.”
“And me?”
“You survived.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“But Richard didn't know.”
“Then why did he tell everyone I was dead?”
“Because he needed the world to believe you were gone.”
Elena's voice became barely audible.
“What happened to me?”
Daniel looked at her.
“They gave you a drug.”
She stepped backward.
“They put you in a coffin.”
Her face went white.
“You were alive.”
Elena covered her mouth.
“No.”
“They intended to bury you.”
“But someone found you?”
Daniel nodded.
“The cemetery caretaker heard you crying.”
Elena stared at him.
“He opened the coffin.”
“Who?”
“His name was Tomas.”
“Where is he?”
“Dead.”
Elena closed her eyes.
A memory surfaced.
Darkness.
Wood pressing against her hands.
The smell of wet earth.
A voice.
A man's voice.
“Please.”
Then another voice.
“Keep quiet.”
She opened her eyes.
“I remember.”
Daniel looked at her.
“What?”
“The man who opened the coffin.”
Daniel's eyes widened.
“What did he look like?”
Elena whispered:
“He had a scar across his eyebrow.”
Daniel went completely still.
“Tomas had that scar.”
The room seemed to shrink.
For twenty years, the Laurent family had buried a dead heir.
But the dead heir had survived.
And she had just walked into their gala wearing a maid's uniform.
By midnight, the gala had been evacuated.
The guests were told there had been a security incident.
But everyone already knew something had happened.
Someone had filmed the slap.
Within an hour, the video was spreading across social media.
A billionaire's daughter slapping a maid.
The maid slapping her back.
The caption read:
“Wrong girl to humiliate.”
Richard Laurent watched the video in his office.
His face was expressionless.
Vanessa stood beside him with an ice pack against her cheek.
“She attacked me.”
Richard said nothing.
“She embarrassed me.”
Nothing.
“She hit me.”
Richard finally looked at her.
“You hit her first.”
Vanessa stared.
“Dad?”
“Where did you learn that?”
“What?”