Part 2: Frozen in shock. What did she just reveal? đ€«

âDid she just call him Grandpa?â
Richard Hale stood frozen like the world had stopped turning.
The little girl blinked slowly, exhausted and confused, while the boy tightened his grip on her protectively.
âYou know him?â Richard asked quietly.
The boy hesitated.
âMy mom told me never to trust rich people.â
The words hit harder than expected.
Richard crouched slightly to their level.
âWhatâs your motherâs name?â
The boyâs eyes narrowed.

âAnna.â
Richardâs breathing stopped.
Anna Hale.
His missing daughter.
The daughter he told the world was dead.
Twenty years earlier, Anna vanished after falling in love with a poor musician Richard hated. The scandal nearly destroyed his reputation. Newspapers dragged the Hale family for months.
Then suddenlyâ
Anna disappeared.
And Richard made sure nobody searched too hard.
Because protecting the family empire mattered more than protecting her.
But nowâŠ
standing in front of himâŠ
was her son.
And possibly her daughter.
Richardâs voice cracked for the first time in years.
âWhere is your mother?â
The boy looked down.
âSheâs sick.â
A horrible silence filled the bakery.
âHow sick?â Richard whispered.
The boy slowly pulled a crumpled hospital paper from his hoodie pocket.
Richard unfolded it with shaking hands.
Stage 4 cancer.
Due unpaid: $387,000.
Treatment cancelled.
Richard stared at the paper in horror.
All his money.
All his power.
And his daughter had been dying alone in poverty.
Suddenly the little girl coughed violently into the boyâs shoulder.
A small drop of blood stained her lips.
Richardâs heart nearly stopped.
The boy looked terrified.
âSheâs been coughing blood since this morningâŠâ
For the first time in decades, billionaire Richard Hale completely broke.
Tears filled his eyes as he grabbed his phone.
âPrepare the jet. Call the best doctors in the world. NOW!â
The bakery watched in stunned silence.
But the boy stepped backward.
âNo.â
Richard froze.
âYou donât get to help now,â the boy said, tears streaming down his face. âYou abandoned her already.â
Richard looked shattered.
And at that exact momentâ
his phone rang.
Unknown caller.
He answered slowly.
A weak female voice whispered through the speaker:
May you like
âDad⊠if you found my children⊠it means Iâm probably already dyingâŠâ