. CHAPTER 8 — Charles Bellmont Answers
The video call appeared on the large private screen near the bar, the one meant to show donor numbers and polished foundation speeches.
Instead, it showed Charles Bellmont in a dim study, wrapped in a dark robe, an oxygen tube beneath his nose. Age had thinned him, but not weakened his eyes. They were the same gray as the man in Amelia’s photograph.
Grant stood straighter. “Grandfather, I’m sorry to disturb you.”
Charles ignored him.
His gaze had already found Amelia.
Daniel lifted the necklace toward the camera. “Sir, she has the heart pendant.”
For several seconds, Charles said nothing. The entire rooftop waited.
Then the old man raised one shaking hand to his mouth.
“Evelyn,” he whispered.
Amelia’s throat tightened. “My mother is dead.”
Pain moved across his face so openly that even the guests looked away.
Charles leaned closer to the camera. “Come here, child.”
Amelia stepped forward, still soaked, still holding Daniel’s handkerchief around her palm. She hated that he saw her like this. She hated that her first moment before him was covered in champagne and humiliation.
But Charles looked only at her face.
“You have Thomas’s eyes,” he said.
No one laughed. No one whispered.
Amelia opened the plastic sleeve and held up the birth certificate. “My mother said he wanted me.”
Charles closed his eyes.
“He did,” he said. “He fought me for you before I even knew your name. I thought I was protecting the family. I told him to wait, to handle it quietly, to avoid scandal. He left my study furious. He died that night.”
His voice broke.
“When Evelyn disappeared, I believed she had taken the money willingly. I let myself believe it because the alternative made me a coward.”
Vivienne suddenly spoke. “Mr. Bellmont, with respect, this is emotional, not legal.”
Charles’s eyes shifted to her, and the temperature of the rooftop dropped.
“With respect,” he said, “your family has profited from my cowardice long enough.”
Vivienne went still.
Charles looked back at Amelia.
“Daniel will bring you to me tonight. There will be DNA tests, lawyers, documents, all the cold things rich men use when they are too late for warm ones. But hear me now, before witnesses.”
He took a breath.
“You are Thomas Bellmont’s daughter.”
May you like
Amelia covered her mouth.
“And if you choose to claim it,” Charles said, “this family will finally claim you.”
