When Family Became a Place I Couldn’t Return To novel Chapter 5

After she finished her call with the lawyer, Nelly opened a drawer and took out a business card.

The name on it was unfamiliar. Jonah Watson.

A week ago, Westhaven’s most famous foundation had reached out to her. They’d set up a meeting with a young man, someone she’d never seen before.

He’d shown her a paternity test and proof of an inheritance worth billions.

For as long as she could remember, Nelly only knew her father as a wealthy businessman. She was his secret daughter. She and her mother had been left behind.

She never imagined that the man who abandoned them turned out to be Christopher Watson, the most powerful tycoon in Westhaven.

News of Christopher’s death had just shaken the business world. Every tabloid was obsessed with the same question: what would happen to Christopher's fortune now that he was gone, leaving behind no children—at least, none that anyone knew about?

Nelly thought maybe Christopher had changed his mind and decided to leave something for her. But all she got was a letter.

In it, Christopher wrote that her mother had only wanted to marry a rich man, so he had no intention of ever recognizing Nelly. Still, since she was his only blood relative, he would give her the chance to inherit his fortune.

Reading that, Nelly was furious. She’d stormed off before the man could finish talking.

But the foundation kept contacting her, and eventually they passed along that man’s business card. She could reach out to him anytime.

Jonah Watson. Was he somehow related to her father too?

Nelly wanted to call him, but she knew she wasn’t in the right headspace. Instead, she sent a text, asking if he could meet tomorrow.

*

It was a workday.

Normally, Nelly would be up early, making sure Carrie was washed, dressed, and fed. After seeing Carrie off in Brody’s assistant Alan’s car, she’d rush to Garland Inc. and work herself to exhaustion, staying late every night.

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