PART 4 — The Woman Who Claimed Ellie Was Hers
Three weeks after the wedding, life finally felt...
Normal.
Not perfect.
Just wonderfully ordinary.
Logan learned how to braid hair after watching dozens of online tutorials.
He was terrible at first.
Ellie's ponytails leaned sideways.
Her braids looked like tangled ropes.
She laughed every single morning.
"You'll get better, Daddy."
"I hope so."
"You already make better pancakes than Mom."
Grace pretended to be offended.
"I heard that."
"You were supposed to."
Their little kitchen echoed with laughter.
For the first time in years, silence no longer felt lonely.
It felt peaceful.
Logan had almost forgotten what peace felt like.
Until Tuesday afternoon.
Patrick knocked on his office door.
"You have a visitor."
"I'm not seeing anyone today."
"I don't think she'll leave."
Logan looked up.
"Who?"
Patrick hesitated.
"A woman named Victoria Hale."
The name meant nothing.
"Should it?"
Patrick swallowed.
"She says she's Ellie's grandmother."
Logan froze.
Grace had once told him...
Both of her parents had died years ago.
Patrick lowered his voice.
"She insists she's family."
Victoria entered without waiting to be invited.
Elegant.
Expensive coat.
Diamond earrings.
Perfect makeup.
She looked like someone who had never heard the word "no."
She smiled politely.
"You must be Logan."
"And you are?"
She sat without permission.
"Ellie's biological grandmother."
Logan's expression never changed.
"Grace told me her parents died."
Victoria sighed dramatically.
"That's the story she prefers."
Logan said nothing.
She leaned forward.
"I've come to take my granddaughter home."
The room became very quiet.
Logan folded his hands.
"I'm sorry?"
"You heard me."
"Ellie belongs with her real family."
Logan stared.
"You abandoned Grace."
Victoria smiled coldly.
"We had... disagreements."
"You threw your pregnant daughter out."
Victoria's smile faded.
"She exaggerated."
"You left her homeless."
"She was stubborn."
"You never looked for her."
Victoria's voice sharpened.
"I wasn't expecting a lecture."
"No."
Logan answered calmly.
"You were expecting money."
Her eyes flashed.
"I beg your pardon?"
"You waited nine years."
"The moment newspapers started calling Ellie 'the Carter heiress'..."
"...you suddenly remembered you're a grandmother."
Silence.
Patrick quietly closed the office door.
Victoria finally smiled again.
"A DNA test will settle everything."
Logan nodded.
"I'm sure it will."
"And once everyone knows she's my granddaughter..."
"You'll have visitation."
"You'll have inheritance rights."
"You'll have influence."
Logan interrupted.
"No."
Victoria blinked.
"No?"
"You have DNA."
"You don't have history."
Logan stood.
"You weren't there when Ellie had pneumonia."
"You weren't there during birthdays."
"You weren't there when Grace worked three jobs."
"You weren't there when Ellie cried because every Father's Day she had nobody."
"You weren't there."
Victoria stood too.
"I have legal rights."
Logan looked directly into her eyes.
"Then use them."
She smiled confidently.
"I will."
That evening...
Grace turned pale the moment she heard Victoria's name.
"No..."
Her coffee cup slipped from her hand.
It shattered across the kitchen floor.
Ellie looked confused.
"Mom?"
Grace couldn't breathe.
Logan immediately guided Ellie into the living room.
"Sweetheart, why don't you finish your homework?"
Ellie nodded.
As soon as she disappeared...
Grace broke.
"She found us."
Her entire body shook.
"I knew someday she'd come."
Logan held her tightly.
"You've been afraid all these years."
Grace nodded against his shoulder.
"You don't know what she's capable of."
Late that night...
Grace finally told him everything.
Victoria hadn't simply abandoned her.
She had controlled every moment of Grace's childhood.
Every friendship.
Every decision.
Every dream.
Grace's father had been kind.
But weak.
He never stood against his wife.
When Grace became pregnant...
Victoria saw only shame.
"Leave."
Those had been the final words.
"No daughter of mine will ruin this family."
Grace left with one suitcase.
Seven months pregnant.
Never expecting to return.
Logan listened without interrupting.
When she finished...
He kissed her forehead.
"She can't hurt you anymore."
Grace whispered,
"You don't know her."
"No."
"I don't."
"But she doesn't know me either."
The lawsuit arrived two days later.
Victoria demanded court-ordered grandparent visitation.
She claimed Grace had intentionally alienated Ellie from her biological family.
Television stations loved the story.
Headlines spread everywhere.
"Billionaire's Daughter at Center of Family Dispute."
"Long-Lost Grandmother Fights for Grandchild."
Most reporters never asked why Victoria had disappeared for nearly a decade.
They only loved the drama.
Outside Ellie's school...
Photographers gathered.
Questions flew through the air.
"Ellie!"
"Do you know your grandmother?"
"Does your mother hate her family?"
Teachers hurried the children inside.
Ellie clutched Logan's hand.
"Daddy..."
"They're scary."
He knelt.
"They won't touch you."
"I promise."
That promise became difficult to keep.
Someone leaked their home address.
Letters arrived daily.
Some supportive.
Some cruel.
Grace stopped sleeping.
Ellie stopped smiling.
Logan realized...
This wasn't about visitation anymore.
Someone wanted to destroy them.
Patrick entered Logan's office carrying another folder.
"I found something."
Logan looked up.
"What?"
Patrick placed several documents across the desk.
"Victoria isn't broke."
"She owes nearly sixty million dollars."
Logan's eyes narrowed.
"How?"
"Gambling."
"Bad investments."
"Luxury loans."
Patrick flipped another page.
"Three creditors filed lawsuits this year."
Another page.
"She's days away from bankruptcy."
Logan slowly leaned back.
"So..."
Patrick nodded.
"This has never been about Ellie."
"It's about money."
Meanwhile...
Across town...
Victoria sat inside a private club.
A man in an expensive gray suit poured two glasses of wine.
"You've started the fire."
Victoria smiled.
"They're panicking already."
The man laughed.
"Soon Carter Industries will panic too."
Victoria raised an eyebrow.
"You still think he'll pay?"
"He'll pay."
"If not with money..."
"...then with his reputation."
Victoria lifted her glass.
"To family."
The man smiled.
"No."
"To leverage."
May you like
Neither of them noticed...
Someone at the next table quietly recorded every word.
