An Orphan Played My Late Sister's Secret Song—Then She Told Me Her Mother's Name

The Threat in the Ballroom

The girl’s voice was barely audible over the sudden murmur of the crowd.

"Her name was Clara Vance," she said, tears welling in her eyes. "She told me that if I was ever cold and hungry, I should find this ballroom and play her song. She said my family would hear it."

Richard felt as though the ground had vanished beneath his feet. This little girl, Chloe, was his niece—the daughter of the sister he had spent a decade searching for. He knelt beside her, ignoring the expensive fabric of his trousers pressing against the floor.

"Where is she, Chloe? Where is Clara?"

he asked, his voice cracking with emotion.

Chloe’s chin trembled as a single tear rolled down her smudged cheek.

"She got very sick last month, sir. She didn't make it. Before she went, she gave me this."

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a tarnished silver locket. Richard recognized it instantly; it was the heirloom Clara had taken with her when she fled their father’s wrath.

But before Richard could touch it, a harsh voice cut through the emotional silence. Arthur Pendelton, the late patriarch's former business partner and a major shareholder in the Vance family estate, stepped forward. He snatched the locket from Chloe's small hand, his face twisted in a sneer.

"This is an absolute farce!" Arthur roared, addressing the whispering guests. "Richard, you cannot possibly believe this street urchin. She is a fraud who probably stole this locket and looked up your family's history to scam you out of your inheritance!"

Arthur signaled the security guards, who quickly surrounded the piano. Richard stood up, placing himself protectively in front of his niece. "Arthur, put the locket down. That is my sister's daughter," Richard warned, his eyes narrowing. But Arthur knew that if Chloe was proven to be Clara's daughter, she would inherit the controlling share of the family empire—a share Arthur had been trying to seize for years.