The Hidden Daughter-From Abandoned Small-Town Girl to Wall Street Legend Chapter 08
Time moved fast. Three years later, I
founded my own investment firm.
The people I used to look up to? I was
standing shoulder to shoulder with them
now.
Including James. Mom’s husband.
We ran into each other at an industry mixer. He had a blonde on his arm and greeted me. in Mandarin, accented but deliberate.
“Sue, long time no see.”
As my reputation in the industry grew, more and more Western players had started
paying attention to the Chinese market.
Learning Mandarin had become their
favorite hobby.
“Long time.” I raised my champagne glass in a casual salute from across the room.
Something flickered in his eyes, and he made
a beeline for me. “Sue, I had no idea your childhood was so…” He searched for the
word, settling on it like he was handling something fragile. “Tragic.”
I shrugged and let him keep going.
“You have to understand, where I come from, abandoning a child is a felony. And for someone as talented as you-if I’d known earlier…”
He trailed off under my half-amused stare.
“Anyway, I’m getting off track.” He waved a hand. “But seriously, Sue, you should come over for dinner sometime. Sophia would love
to get to know her big sister.”
Neither of us mentioned Mom. As though.
she’d never existed.
After the event, I’d had a few too many drinks. The organizers had reserved the
penthouse suite, and someone walked me to
the elevator.
While I was waiting for the doors to open, I heard a voice I recognized.
A voice I’d listened to through a phone receiver more times than I could count.
Mom’s voice was distinctive-clear, cool, with a little upward lilt at the end of every sentence, almost like she was being coy.
Part of me was startled that I remembered it so precisely. The other part of me simply followed the shouting.
It was Mom and James.
“James, what is this? You bring your
mistress to an event like this?”
“What are Sophia and I to you?”
She’d aged. The lines on her face had
deepened, and she clearly hadn’t had time-
or money-for upkeep. Even her clothes
were last season.
James’s look of barely concealed irritation. seemed to set something off in her, and her voice rose, her chest heaving. “My daughter is Holly Sue-the youngest investment manager in the entire industry. How dare you treat me like this?”
James let out a sharp, mocking laugh. “Sue? Go ahead-ask her if she claims you as her
mother.”
“Oh, and in case you didn’t notice, she was at the event tonight too. Funny how she didn’t come looking for you, huh?”
“Mandy, they say Chinese people are
reserved, but I’ve never met anyone ast
shameless as you.”
For some reason, when James delivered those last lines, he switched to Mandarin.
His tones were off, but his word choice was.
razor-sharp.
A small crowd had gathered in the hallway.
The ones who understood Mandarin started
whispering among themselves.
“You don’t push me!” Mom spat, turning on her heel to storm off.
Her eyes met mine, and she stopped dead.
“Holly…”
“Ms. Sue.” My voice was even, clinical. “I’ll acknowledge the biology-your blood runs. in my veins. But my only family is gone. So please, stop introducing yourself to people. as my mother. It’s really getting old.”
The life drained from her face right before my eyes. Her lips moved, forming words that
never made it out, until she swallowed them
back down.
In the end, I didn’t even have to do anything.
James jogged over, grabbed her by the arm,
and hauled her away.
“Keep it together, would you?”
“Everyone knows Sue has an eight-figure
deal on the table and she’s looking for a
partner. If it weren’t for her, I’d have divorced you a long time ago.”
The elevator doors closed. In the last sliver
of light, I saw Mom standing alone in the hallway, utterly lost, as if she still couldn’t fathom how the daughter she’d abandoned in a small town could have possibly risen to a height she’d never reach.
It seemed like everywhere she went now, whenever people mentioned me, it was with
admiration.
“Honestly, having someone like Sue in this
industry is a gift.”
“Not even thirty, and half the big-name VCS
in the country would kill to take her under
their wing.”
“She’s already donated two buildings to her
alma mater-named them after her
grandmother, no less. Kid’s, a force of
nature.”
Sometimes, in her weaker moments, Mom
let herself wonder: what if she hadn’t
abandoned her daughter and left the
country? What if she’d shown just a little more love? Would things have turned out. differently?
I’d wondered “what if” too.
What if I’d taken that money, kept my head down, and finished college like a good girl? What kind of person would I be? What kind of life would I be living?
But life doesn’t deal in “what ifs.”
And thank God it doesn’t.
When the sun came up, I was still the same
Holly Sue – the one they all talked about.
No weaknesses. No cracks. Untouchable.
