He Chose His Daughter Over the New Bride

Chapter 3 - Clara's Will

The ceremony was canceled quietly at first, but rumors spread like fire.

Guests waited in the main hall among white flowers, gold candles, and string music. No one knew whether to stand, leave, or pretend this was only a small delay. Daniel walked out with Lily's hand in his and ordered his assistant to send everyone home.

Vivian followed him, her gown dragging over the carpet.

"You cannot humiliate me like this in front of everyone."

Daniel stopped.

"Humiliate you?"

The word came out with bitter disbelief.

"My daughter thought she was going to lose me today."

Vivian pressed her lips together.

"She needed discipline."

"No. She needed me to listen."

That same afternoon, Daniel gathered his lawyers at the mansion. The house was still decorated to welcome a new wife. Fresh flowers. Prepared glasses. Engagement photos on the tables. Everything looked false.

Lily stayed with Nora in the library, hugging her stuffed rabbit.

Daniel entered his study and opened Clara's will fully for the first time in years.

He had avoided reading all of it.

It hurt too much.

Now he understood that pain had become a closed door behind which others had hidden secrets.

His lawyer, Samuel Price, read in silence, then looked at Daniel gravely.

"Your late wife left a significant trust for Lily. Companies, properties, shares. While Lily is a minor, you manage everything. But if you remarry, your new wife can become co-administrator if you sign the marriage addendum."

Daniel looked at the document Vivian had asked him to sign that morning.

"She told me it was a formality."

Samuel shook his head.

"It is not."

Then Nora entered with something else.

An old phone that had belonged to Clara, kept for years in one of Lily's memory boxes.

"I found it in the child's room," Nora said. "Lily used it to listen to her mother's voice."

Daniel turned it on.

There was one final voice message.

Clara.

Her voice filled the room.

"Daniel, if anything happens to me, do not trust Vivian Cross. I saw her with my brother in the office. They were talking about Lily, the inheritance, and speeding things up. I did not have time to explain. Please protect our daughter."

The air left Daniel's lungs.

Vivian had not acted alone.

Clara's brother, Adrian, was involved too.

Lily's uncle.

The man who had cried at Clara's funeral.

And the man now listed among the wedding guests.