From Fake Wife To Untouchable Heiress

Chapter 6

I couldn’t move. Father. The word echoed in my chest, unfamiliar… heavy… real. I stood there, frozen, staring at the man in the hospital bed—the man who was supposed to be a stranger but wasn’t. His eyes didn’t leave my face. There was something in them…it looked a little like regret, longing and pain.

“Come closer,” he said softly. My feet moved before my mind could catch up. Step by step, I walked toward him until I stood beside the bed. Up close, it was worse.

The machines, the oxygen, the weakness in his body.

This wasn’t the powerful man the world feared. This was a man running out of time. “You look like her,” he murmured. My throat tightened. “My mother?”

He nodded slowly, his gaze distant for a moment.

“Elena…” he whispered her name like it still meant everything. I didn’t know what to say. Where do you even begin… with a father you just met?

“I didn’t know about you,” he said suddenly, his voice strained but firm. “If I had… things would have been different.”

I searched his face. I wanted to believe him but a part of me—hurt, guarded—hesitated. “She never told me anything,” I admitted quietly. “About you… about any of this.”

Pain flickered in his eyes. “I know,” he said. “That was her way of protecting you.”

“Protecting me from what?” His expression darkened slightly.

“From this world,” he said. “From the Morrison name.”

A chill ran through me. “That doesn’t sound like something to be afraid of,” I said carefully.

A weak, humorless smile touched his lips. “That’s because you haven’t seen what comes with it.”

My chest tightened. “What comes with it?” I asked.

His gaze sharpened, the weight of his words suddenly heavier. “Power,” he said. “Money. Enemies.”

“Your mother knew that if people found out about you…” he continued, his voice growing quieter, “you would become a target.”

My stomach twisted. This was supposed to be my new beginning not another nightmare. “I don’t understand,” I said. “Why would anyone care about me?”

“Because,” he said slowly, “you are my only heir.”

My heart skipped a beat, only heir. Meaning—

Everything

The wealth

The empire

The power

All of it…

Would come to me.

“I don’t want it,” I said instinctively, the words slipping out before I could stop them. It was too much. Too sudden. Too overwhelming.

His eyes softened. “You may not want it,” he said gently. “But others do.”

A cold realization settled over me. This wasn’t just an inheritance. It was a battlefield. “You don’t have a choice anymore, Daphne,” he added quietly. “The moment that test came back positive… your life changed.” I looked away, my hands clenching slightly.

He was right. Everything had already changed. “I’ve already started putting things in place,” he continued. “Legal protection. Security. Transfers.”

I frowned. “Transfers?”

His gaze returned to mine. “My assets,” he said. “My companies. My shares.”

My breath caught. “You’re giving me everything?” I asked.

“I’m giving you what was always yours.” The room felt smaller. “I don’t even know how to run a company,” I said, my voice tightening.

“You’ll learn,” he replied calmly. “And you won’t be alone.”

Something in his tone made me look at him again “What do you mean?” But before he could answer me—His body suddenly tensed. The monitor beside him spiked.

“Mr. Morrison—” I started, panic rising. He coughed harshly, his breathing turning uneven.

“Doctor!” I shouted, stepping back as nurses rushed into the room. Everything happened at once. Voices, movement, urgency. I stood there, helpless, as they worked around him.

“Please step outside,” someone said, guiding me toward the door. I barely felt it, I barely heard it. My mind was still stuck on his words. The door closed in front of me and just like that—I was alone again only this time…It wasn’t just heartbreak waiting for me on the other side. It was something far more dangerous because somewhere out there…

Someone had just learned—Daphne Harper existed.