The Family Crest
Chapter 03 - The Family Crest
Victoria gasped in pain, stumbling backward as her grip broke.
Adrian was standing right there. His face was pale, his deep dark eyes bloodshot with rising fury. He shielded both girls behind his broad shoulders, his body trembling from the sudden wave of shock and realization.
“Adrian... let me explain, they're just stray kids...” Victoria stammered, raising her hands defensively.
“Daddy...” Clara collapsed to the cold floor from exhaustion, but her small hand reached up, holding an object out to him.
In Clara’s bleeding palm lay an old platinum necklace. The locket had popped open, revealing the engraved crest of Adrian’s family—the very crest he had given to his late wife years before she went missing. Resting right beside the crest was a tiny profile photo of Adrian holding a newborn girl.
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It was the exact necklace Adrian had personally placed around his eldest daughter Clara’s neck before he suffered a traumatic accident that caused temporary amnesia years ago—a period Victoria had exploited to separate him from his real family, hiding the children's existence to pave her own way into a wealthy dynasty.
Victoria had promised to support the children in a remote countryside town, but in reality, she had cut off all aid, abandoning them to fend for themselves to erase every trace of Adrian’s past before the wedding day.
