He Chose Her, But I Inherited His Empire Chapter 02

He Chose Her, But I Inherited His Empire Chapter 02

Ten years ago, my mother left the estate to pick up the birthday gift she’d ordered for me and never came back.

Her car was found abandoned on the route, and the men who’d gone with her had nothing to report.

No one knew if she was still alive or if she had died somewhere even the Ricci family couldn’t reach.

My father pulled every string he had. Every road leading out of Los Angeles was watched, but he never found her.

In those first days, I cried for her constantly.

My mother had always spoiled me. If I cried, she would scoop me up in her arms.

One day, when the nanny couldn’t calm me down, she brought me to my father.

He stared at me for a long moment before kicking me to the floor.

“Get out.”

His voice was raw. “You still have the nerve to cry?

“If you hadn’t insisted on that birthday present, Helena would never have left her security detail.

“Don’t let me see you again.”

From that day on, my father withdrew the guards from my door and forbade anyone from calling me a daughter of the Ricci family.

Whether the kitchen staff fed me or not depended entirely on their mood.

On this estate, when the head of the family withdrew his protection, it was a signal to everyone else that hurting you would come without consequences.

Later, my father brought Blair home from an adoption agency.

She looked so much like my mother.

My father gave her my room, my dresses, and my birthday. He let her use the Ricci name and publicly declared she was the only daughter he recognized.

When he took six-year-old Blair to her first interview, I was in the kitchen eating leftovers that had been in the fridge for days.

When he told a national magazine that he had only one daughter, I finally understood.

I didn’t have a father anymore.