Chapter 2 - The Truth About Evelyn
|
For three long years, Garrett completely believed I was just an ordinary, quiet woman raised on a small, struggling farm in Iowa.
That part of my story was entirely true.
Ruth Miller was the incredible woman who patiently taught me to read, packed my school lunches every morning, stayed awake holding cold washcloths to my forehead when I was sick, and worked two exhausting jobs just to make sure I never felt poor.
She was not my biological mother. But she had earned that sacred title every single day of my life through sheer devotion.
What Garrett did not know was that my biological father was Harrison Vance, the reclusive, immensely powerful private owner of Vance Global.
I had been born Evelyn Helena Vance.
After my biological mother died tragically when I was an infant, my identity was strictly sealed by the courts for security reasons. My father’s wealth had brought constant threats. Ruth became my legal, permanent guardian, and I grew up happily using her last name, shielded from the toxic world of high society.
Garrett thought he had married Evelyn Miller, a sweet, naive girl from the Midwest.
He never realized she was Harrison Vance’s only child and primary heir.
He also never knew that his struggling, mismanaged technology company had only survived the last two years because of me.
My private investment fund had secretly covered his executive payroll twice when he miscalculated his burn rate. My father’s massive commercial bank had guaranteed Garrett’s largest, most crucial line of credit. Ruthless Vance Global attorneys had quietly protected his core patents from a massive lawsuit that would have bankrupted him overnight.
Even the very ballroom where he had just humiliated Ruth was owned by a Vance subsidiary.
I stood up, leaving Ruth in the care of two horrified waiters, and walked over to my husband.
Garrett laughed when I told him the truth. A loud, dismissive sound that echoed in the silent room.
May you like
“You don’t have any money, Evelyn,” he sneered, looking around to see if his investors were watching. “You don’t even have a real job. Stop embarrassing yourself.”
I didn't argue. I calmly reached into my purse and pulled out my phone.
