Chapter 23: Explosion

‘This is hardly proof of anything.’

Adam’s words kept replaying in Charlotte’s mind for the rest of the day. A simple dismissal of all her efforts for the morning.

She barely heard a word he said after that, all she knew was that the little miss b*stard had such a control over Adam’s mind that he wouldn’t hear a single bad word about her. Even if it was in contrived, fabricated and highly distorted videos. The audacity was shocking to behold.

And Charlotte, well and truly, for not the first time in her life, wanted to kill someone.

She would settle for making a scene.

________________________________________


Abigail left work that evening, absolutely excited. She made it all the way to the elevator, excitedly messaging Mark all the details of everything that had just happened.

Abigail had been wanting to message him all day, but she didn’t want to be on her phone all the time. And she definitely didn’t want her dad thinking he’d brought her here all this way just for her to be texting, instead of learning from all the great minds she’d been around.

So she hadn’t messaged Mark even once, and this was the first chance she’d gotten. So she was a little excited. She might have gone a bit overboard with all the wall of texts she was sent him.

“Miss Woodtriche!” Abigail turned now, at the call of her new name. She had become accustomed to it, when her dad had simply introduced her as his daughter, and everyone had made the assumption.

Abigail had wanted to correct them, but realized that it wasn’t the right thing to do. That was her name, that should have been her name, and it would have been, had circumstances been different.

She also realized, that it would make for a more cohesive flow of work, if she simply went by that name.

“Yes?” Abigail asked, turning to the woman.

“Your father is requesting you to wait, either here, or in his office, but he would like you to join him on the way home.” The woman explained.

“Oh,” Abigail stuttered, she didn’t want to be rude, or even appear rude to her father at his place of work, but she didn’t want to stay that long here. “Doesn’t he normally stay until seven? I was told I could clock out at five.”

“Mr Woodtriche just asked me to ask you to wait, either here or in his office, Ma’am,” the woman shrugged. “I know nothing else.”

“Alright then,” Abigail nodded. “Thank you very much, Miss, I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name?”

The woman blinked for a second, like she was trying to process what Abigail had just asked her.

“It’s,” the woman spoke, and then cleared her throat. “It’s Samantha.”

“Thank you, Samantha,” Abigail said again. “I’ll go to him now.”

Abigail found her father sitting in his office, behind the desk.

“Abby,” he greeted her, as soon as he saw her in the doorway. “Come in, come in.” He made hand motions towards her, beckoning her in.

“Uhm, sure,” Abigail said, as she slowly made her way into the room.

“I thought we could go out for supper tonight, just the two of us,” Adam said, leaning back in his chair.

“For what?” Abigail asked, seating herself down in front of her father.

“A celebration, of course,” Adam said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

They headed for the door together, and a car took them straight to an exclusive restaurant, and as Abigail sat, laughing and eating with her father, she thought she could definitely get used to this life. Maybe.

________________________________________


Abigail and Adam walked in through the door laughing, and nearly caught a piece of glass at their head.

They both ducked in time, and the glass shattered against the wall behind them, splintering into a thousand pieces.

“Mom!” Olivia screamed at her mother, who stood there, staring at Adam and Abigail like she wanted them both to die.

“Are you insane?!” Abigail screamed. “You could have hurt us.”

“I was trying to kill you!” Charlotte screamed back, hatefully.

And a small part of Abigail’s mind told her to take her phone out, and record this insanity happening. But she disregarded it, wondering at her own sanity for even suggesting it to her.

“Charlotte,” Adam said calmly, like he might have gotten a crystal glass vase thrown at him before this. “You need to calm down.”

“Calm down?” Charlotte sobbed, breaking down into hysterical tears. “You want me to calm down? I’ve just lost everything I’ve worked my whole life for, and you want me to calm down.”

“Charlotte, what on earth are you talking about?” Adam asked her.

“Don’t you see?!” Charlotte screamed. “You’ve insulted us! You’ve insulted me! You claimed that bastard child as your own, don’t you see what that does to my reputation?!”

“No, actually,” Adam answered calmly. “Abigail was born before you and I even met. I don’t see how her birth is a betrayal against you at all.”

“Now we’ll have to leave!” Charlotte said. “The shame you’ve brought down on us.”

“Excuse me,” Olivia interjected, turning her nose. “I’m not leaving here. Not just because she’s living here now too. You can leave, if you want, mother. But I’m staying right here.”

“Do you see?!” Charlotte shrieked. “You’ve caused a rift between me and my daughter!”

Abigail really couldn’t understand how Charlotte was putting these pieces together, it was truly baffling to her mind.

“I bet she isn’t even your daughter!” Charlotte screamed. “Just some Anastasia fake pretending so she can get her hands on your money! And your company! A company that rightfully belongs to Olivia!”

“Actually,” Adam told his wife, still in a calm and neutral tone. “I already had a paternity test done, years ago, when her mother called me and told me about her existence.”

Abigail turned to Adam in shock. She had never known any of this.

“Her mother very happily allowed me to do the tests I needed in order to confirm it,” Adam continued. “I have the paternity test if you’d like to see it. Also, I had asked her mother if we could have a separate birth certificate made for Abigail, registering me as the father. Also, in my vault, if you’d like to see it.”

Abigail felt guilt rising inside of her. She had no idea her mother had done all that, agreed to all that.

“But,” Abigail objected. “I saw my birth certificate, it only had my mom’s name on it.”

“That’s the old one, I asked her to keep it, so she could show it to you, I couldn’t have you come searching for me,” Adam turned to Charlotte. “To prevent exactly what Charlotte was speaking about. So you see, she never came searching for me, she never did anything at all. And the money that you claim so rightfully belongs to you and your daughter, you’re right. It is yours, and Abigail will have none of it.”

Charlotte gave a gloating smile.

“I have already set aside an equal amount for Abigail,” Adam said. “I have since the day I knew about her.”

Charlotte’s face fell. She looked like she’d been kicked in the face.

“But,” Adam wondered. “May you are right about who should head the company.” Adam started to pace up and down, glancing between his two daughters.

“I propose a contest,” Adam said, “To well and truly test which of them should inherit the company. Let’s do it right now.”

Abigail felt she had to speak up, now or never.

“Please,” she implored her father. “It’s late, and I’ve had a long day. Can we do this tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow then!” Adam said, with renewed excitement, unaware of the pain flashing on both his daughter’s face.

Completely oblivious to the horror pasted on his wife’s.

________________________________________


Getting to her bedroom, Abigail leaned against the door behind her. Was nothing good enough for this man? She’d done the assignment, correctly. She’d presented it to the board, perfectly. Even managed to convince them, who wouldn’t side with her father, that this was the correct choice.

She’d thought she’d already earned his respect.

Abigail sighed, heaving herself off the door, she stripped out of her clothing, leaving a trail behind her as she headed for the bathroom.

She needed a shower.

She allowed the hot water to wash over her, and she wasn’t really sure when the tears started. But all of a sudden she was sobbing into the shower.

How could he do this to her? How could he keep testing her, keep putting her in these circumstances. Had her mother been so right about him? That he really hadn’t cared for her at all.

Abigail turned off the water, toweled herself dry, and slipped on pajamas. She crawled under the cover, cradling her phone against her. She wished more than anything, for Mark to be here.

He wouldn’t even say anything, promise her anything. He would just hold her.

And right now, that was all she needed, his arms wrapped around her.