The Name Inside the Heart
Chapter 02 - The Name Inside the Heart
The gala continued without Emily. Eleanor brought her to a private sitting room while Thomas dismissed the curious guests and ordered security to keep reporters away. The sudden silence felt more frightening than the ballroom. Emily sat on the edge of a velvet chair, clutching the locket as Eleanor examined its worn silver edges.
“My daughter’s name was Lydia Blackwood,” Eleanor said. “She left home twenty-two years ago.”
Thomas stood by the window, guarded but not cruel. “She married a man our father disliked. Samuel Harper.”
Emily looked up. “Harper is my last name.”
“It’s also common,” Thomas replied, though his voice had softened.
Eleanor explained that Lydia had been twenty-four, stubborn, and determined to build a life without the Blackwood name. After an argument, she left with Samuel. For several months, she sent letters. Then they stopped. A year later, police reported that Samuel had died in a mountain road accident. No reliable trace of Lydia was ever found.
Emily told them what Anna had told her: a social worker received an unidentified infant from a rural hospital after a crash during a winter storm. The child wore no bracelet, only the silver heart. Anna fostered her, then adopted her when no relatives were located.
Eleanor touched the tiny lilies engraved on the back. “Lydia chose these because they were in my wedding bouquet.”
Julian entered without knocking. “The press already has photographs. We need to end this before it becomes a spectacle.”
Emily stood. “I didn’t ask for any of this.”
“No,” Julian said, “but people who want money rarely admit that at first.”
Eleanor’s expression hardened. “She has not asked for a dollar.”
Julian produced a tablet. An online account had posted that a banquet server claimed to be the missing Blackwood heir. The story included Emily’s name, her apartment building, and an old photograph from high school.
“That went online ten minutes ago,” Thomas said. “Who gave them her identity?”
Julian’s face remained calm. “Someone in the ballroom, obviously.”
Eleanor asked Emily to come to the Blackwood estate the next morning and bring Anna. She promised a private investigation and a DNA test.
As Emily left through the service corridor, her phone rang from a blocked number.
A distorted voice said, “The Blackwoods buried Lydia once. Keep asking questions, and they’ll bury your future too.”
May you like
The call ended.
Emily stared at the locket in her hand. For the first time, the little silver heart did not feel like a comfort. It felt like a key—and someone was terrified of the door it might open.
