Chapter 21 Chapter 21
As Iris ended the call and approached the library steps, she straightened her shoulders. Whatever happened inside, she would face it with the strength the Maxwells had helped her build.
In the Kennedys' sleek black sedan speeding toward campus, Helga checked her phone. Eleanor had posted a photo of her and another woman, holding hands, with the message.
Just got home from lunch with my childhood friend to find my girlfriend waiting for me. As soon as I opened the door, I found her on one knee with a ring in her hands, asking me to marry her. What did I say? I said YES.
Helga stared at the post, her perfectly manicured fingers tightening around her phone. This changed everything. Eleanor Preston, Antony's carefully selected match, was not only uninterested in her son but also publicly engaged to another woman. The strategic alliance she'd spent years cultivating with the Preston family suddenly crumbled before her eyes.
"What is it?" Julius asked, noting his wife's rigid posture.
"Eleanor Preston is engaged. To a woman." Helga's voice was ice, each word precisely formed despite her fury. "She's been playing us for fools."
Julius absorbed this information with far less shock than his wife. He'd suspected Eleanor's preferences for years but had seen no reason to disrupt Helga's plans until necessary. "Perhaps this is fortuitous timing. If Antony has genuinely developed feelings for the Maxwell girl..."
"And if she is Roxanne Lawson," Helga finished, her strategic mind already recalibrating, "a Kennedy-Lawson union would be far more valuable than the Preston connection."
In the university library, Iris paused at the entrance to the main reading room, her heart hammering against her ribs despite her outward composure. Through the glass doors, she could see four men at a table near the centre of the room, three younger, one older. All impeccably dressed, all with the same watchful alertness. The Lawsons.
She drew a deep breath, clutching her portfolio case like armour. Whatever happened in the next few minutes would change her life irrevocably. The logical part of her brain, the part that had gotten her this far, tried to calculate all possible outcomes, but there were too many variables, too many unknowns.
Richard Lawson was the first to notice her. Twenty years of searching had honed his attention to an almost supernatural acuity. His breath caught as he took in the young woman standing in the doorway, slender and dark-haired, with a quiet grace that reminded him, painfully, of his wife in her youth.
"Theodore," he said quietly, not taking his eyes from Iris. "Is that her?"
Theodore followed his father's gaze and nodded, standing slowly. "Yes. That's Miss Maxwell."
The four Lawson men rose in unison as Iris approached their table, their movements careful, as though afraid any sudden gesture might frighten her away. Bryce, the youngest, couldn't tear his eyes from her face, searching desperately for traces of the sister he had never known.
"Miss Maxwell," Theodore said, his voice measured and formal despite the emotion threatening to overwhelm him. "Thank you for coming. I'm Theodore Lawson. These are my brothers, Victor and Bryce, and our father, Richard."
Iris nodded, her expression composed, though her knuckles were white around her portfolio handle. "Mr Lawson," she acknowledged, addressing Richard directly. "I understand you have questions about me."
Richard Lawson had rehearsed this moment countless times in his mind, imagining what he would say when they finally found his daughter. But now, faced with this poised young woman whose very existence might answer twenty years of prayers, words failed him.
"Please, sit," he managed, gesturing to an empty chair across from him.
Iris hesitated only briefly before taking the seat, setting her portfolio case carefully beside her. The reading room hummed with the quiet activity of studying students, none of whom were aware of the life-altering conversation unfolding in their midst.
"Miss Maxwell," Richard began, his voice steadier now. "I believe there is a possibility, a strong possibility, that you may be my daughter, Roxanne."
Iris met his gaze directly. "Based on coincidences of timing and location."
"Not just coincidences," Bryce interjected, unable to contain himself. "The private jet that left New Jersey the night of the kidnapping landed near the Canadian border just hours before you were found."
Victor shot his younger brother a warning glance, but Richard nodded.
"My son is correct. We've been tracking that flight for twenty years, but the trail always went cold." Richard's weathered hands clasped tightly on the table. "The pilot disappeared. The flight log was altered. Someone went to great lengths to cover their tracks."
Outside the library, Tony arrived, hanging back near the entrance to observe without being noticed. His heart clenched at the sight of Iris sitting alone at a table with four Lawson men. She looked so small compared to them, yet her posture remained impeccable, her expression controlled.
"I understand your suspicions," Iris said to Richard, "but I was adopted by a wonderful family. The Maxwells have been my parents in every way that matters."
"We would never wish to diminish their role in your life," Theodore said quickly. "If you are our sister, we would be forever grateful to them for loving you when we couldn't."
Richard nodded in agreement, though the pain of those lost years flickered across his face. "Your adoptive family would always have a place in our lives, Miss Maxwell. We would never seek to separate you from them."
Across campus, Helga and Julius Kennedy arrived, their driver pulling up to the library's main entrance. Two members of their security team approached the car.
"The girl is inside with the Lawsons," the team leader reported. "Your son is also present, observing from a distance."
Helga's perfectly made-up face revealed nothing of her thoughts as she stepped from the car. "Good. Let's join this family reunion."
Inside, Iris was struggling to maintain her composure as the conversation with the Lawsons continued. They seemed sincere, their grief and hope palpable, yet accepting their theory meant dismantling everything she believed about herself.