The Heiress They Left To Die Chapter 07
“That necklace…”
“Where did you get it?”
Richard’s voice had changed too. “Did you grow up in the South Boston foster system?”
I looked at them coldly and said nothing.
“Clara…” Margaret reached out, trying to catch hold of me, her voice trembling. “You’re Clara. You’re our daughter.”
Ethan took a step back, staring at me as if he couldn’t look away.
Josie bit down on her lip. Blood beaded up almost immediately.
I watched Margaret’s outstretched hand and stepped back.
“Don’t touch me, Mrs. Hawthorne. My name is Ava Blackwood.”
Then I turned and took a portable rapid toxicology analyzer out of the medical case.
A nurse drew a vial of blood from Josie’s IV line. A few minutes later, the preliminary panel came back.
I handed the readout to Dr. Carter.
“Dr. Carter. Explain this.”
“Why would a patient in supposed end-stage heart failure have concentrations of digoxin and beta blockers this high in her blood?”
Dr. Carter’s face went bloodless in an instant.
“Those two, combined, can manufacture the exact picture — arrhythmia, chest pain, weakness, syncope. All of it.”
I turned to Josie.
“How long have you had doctors falsifying your records? A year? Three? Five?”
Josie’s mouth opened. Not a single word came out.
I kept going.
“And just so you know — every second of your performance today has been going out on a livestream.”
At the word livestream, Josie went rigid.
Her head snapped around, and she finally saw the cameras in the room.
Dr. Carter looked down at the toxicology results and didn’t say another word.
The room was silent for a few seconds.
Then Josie panicked.
“Dad, Mom, Ethan… please, let me explain…”
She slid off the bed and grabbed at the hem of Richard’s trousers.
“I didn’t mean any of it… I was just afraid of losing you, afraid that once she came back, she’d take everything I had…”
Tears kept spilling down her face.
But this time, no one moved to lift her up.
Richard took a step back and pulled the fabric out of her hand.
“If you’re not sick, stop performing.”
“The Hawthornes gave you twenty years of a name, money, a home, and protection.”
“Tomorrow, legal will freeze and audit every account, property, and trust in your name.”
“Every dollar you took from this family will be clawed back.”
He looked down at her, voice flat.
“From now on, you deal with the consequences yourself.”
Josie collapsed onto the floor, tears still on her face — but she’d forgotten to keep crying.
Margaret looked at her. For the first time, she didn’t step forward.
“I lost sleep for years over your illness. I chased down doctors. I hunted for specialists.”
“For you, we didn’t even recognize our own daughter.”
“Josie. You frighten me.”
Her voice shook. But she didn’t move any closer to Josie.
“From now on, you’re on your own.”
Ethan stood where he was, staring at Josie on the floor.
A long time passed before he spoke.
“For you, I left Clara outside that door.”
“For you, today, I threw money at destroying her career, arranged for someone to walk into a hospital, and tried to burn her license and her name on a live camera.”
“I stood in front of you like a fool. And all of it was an act.”
He turned his head away and didn’t look at her again.
“Josie. You were never my family.”
Margaret turned to me, eyes red.
“Clara… I didn’t look hard enough. It was my fault.”
Her voice was soft, tentative.
“Come home with me. To the Hawthorne estate. That house, the trust, the inheritance — it was always meant to be yours.”
Richard’s voice dropped too.
“You’ve suffered all these years. Come back. I’ll have the lawyers reprocess everything — your identity, your trust, your inheritance.”
I looked at them, and felt absolutely nothing.
Ethan looked at me too.
There was guilt on his face — but more than guilt, wariness.
“Ava… did you know? All along?”
“Everything today — tearing Josie apart step by step — was that to humiliate the Hawthornes in front of the world?”
“You’re getting revenge on us. Aren’t you?”
I looked at that face that shared a few of my features. I paused for a few seconds. And then I smiled.
“Ethan. There’s one thing I never understood.”
“Why were you all so willing to believe someone who lied to you for twenty years — and never willing to give your own biological daughter one second of trust?”
I stepped forward.
“Twenty years ago, you were the one blocking the door, telling them I wasn’t your sister. That I was a con artist.”
“Twenty years later, you were the one throwing money at my job, planting someone in a hospital, trying to burn my license and my name on a live camera.”
“And now you want to ask if I’m getting revenge?”
Ethan froze. His lips moved a few times. Nothing came out.
“Clara. We really do know we were wrong…”
Margaret was still trying to close the distance.
“Don’t.”
I cut her off.
“I don’t need your apology.”
“I don’t need your money.”
“And I don’t need the Hawthorne name.”
I turned and walked over to Arthur.
He’d been standing there the whole time. He hadn’t cut in once.
“Dad. Let’s go.”
Arthur gave a small nod.
Then he looked at the Hawthornes.
“As of today, Blackwood Medical Group is terminating every partnership with Hawthorne Group.”
“Your legal notice is on its way.”