The Girl They Called Trash Was His Lost Sister

Chapter 2: The Child Who Should Not Exist

The ballroom erupted in whispers.

At the top of the staircase, Charles Ashford stopped moving. For ten years, he had lived with two graves in his heart: his wife Catherine and his baby daughter Sophia. They had both supposedly died in the fire at Ashford Hall.

Now his son was standing in front of him, claiming a crying child was the sister they had buried.

"What did you say?" Charles asked.

Adrian held the little girl close. "I said she is Sophia."

Vanessa laughed, but the sound was too forced.

"That is ridiculous. A symbol on a pearl proves nothing. Anyone could copy a family crest."

Adrian looked at her. "Mother had those pearls made privately. Each one was engraved by hand. No one outside the family knew."

Charles came down the stairs slowly, his eyes fixed on the child.

Adrian knelt again. "What's your name?"

The girl swallowed. "Lily."

"How old are you?"

"Nine."

Charles nearly lost his balance.

Sophia would have been nine.

Vanessa quickly stepped in. "Charles, listen to yourself. You are grieving. This is exactly how scams work. They find a weak spot and push."

The child flinched at her voice.

Adrian saw it.

"You are frightening her," he said.

"I am protecting this family," Vanessa snapped.

An elderly woman near the front stepped forward. It was Mrs. Whitcomb, the Ashford family's former housekeeper.

"Miss Catherine's baby had a crescent birthmark behind her right ear," she said, her voice trembling. "I saw it the night she was born."

The entire room froze.

Adrian gently moved Lily's hair aside.

There it was.

A small crescent mark behind her right ear.

Charles covered his mouth.

Vanessa's face changed for half a second.

Not shock.

Fear.

Adrian turned toward the family lawyer. "Call the doctor. We are doing a DNA test tonight."

Vanessa's eyes sharpened.

While everyone watched Lily, she slipped one hand into her small bag and sent a message.

She is still alive.