Rich Woman Mistakenly Dropped Her Purse in the Business Class Airplane. She Was horrified At What Happened Next

A chicken sandwich, cheese, caviar sandwiches, coffee, and champagne. “Would you like anything?” Debbie walked around the first-class cabin of the huge airplane where she worked as a flight attendant with a charming smile. Debbie was an experienced employee who could tell at a glance whether her passengers needed anything. She didn’t even need to look at her watch to know when it was time to serve the guests on the flight.

“Darling, some champagne please,” said the elderly, slightly plump man in a business suit, who was flying to London for some business. He sat by the window and was reading the latest newspaper.

When Debbie was walking down the aisle pushing a trolley loaded with snacks and dishes, she replied, “Of course, just a moment.” She deftly pulled out a bottle of champagne from the trolley’s lower compartment, took it to the service area, opened it quickly, and poured the bubbly golden liquid into a crystal glass, which she then brought to the businessman. “Thank you, Debbie,” said the man, and he went back to reading.

Debbie truly loved her job. She had been serving onboard an airline for four years now and had never regretted her choice. The boundless sky, the beautiful uniform, the opportunity to see other countries, and the diversity of time zones all made her feel free and distracted her soul from various current problems, worries, and anxieties, of which Debbie unfortunately had plenty.

After finishing serving the dishes, Debbie returned to her workstation, placed the trolley, and looked at herself in the mirror, adjusting a few strands of hair that had come loose from her hairstyle. Debbie was a very attractive 28-year-old leggy beauty with shiny chestnut hair and dark green eyes like lush summer grass. Her smile made men tremble with delight and women sigh with envy. However, there was something about her appearance that caused deep insecurities for the young flight attendant.

Debbie sighed and looked at her left hand, where the middle finger was about one centimeter shorter than the neighboring fingers. The girl intentionally painted her nails with the most neutral, calm-colored polish and never had a manicure done at a salon, feeling embarrassed about this very noticeable physical flaw.

For the same reason, Debbie hardly ever wore rings, not wanting to draw attention to her long piano-like fingers against their background. The only exception was the modest engagement ring made of gold that the flight attendant wore on the ring finger of her left hand. It was the only thing left to her as a memory of her late husband.

Looking at the ring, Debbie involuntarily plunged back into her own memories. Her husband died just over a year ago, ironically a week before his death, he took out a loan at an incredibly high interest rate. Now Debbie had to pay off the debt alone. For the young flight attendant, the sum of the loan was simply unbearable, and each time she thought about it, hysteria and wild terror immediately seized her.

The loan was not taken out from a bank with which she could somehow try to negotiate, but from very dangerous people, representatives of the criminal layer of the city. Even now, more than a year later, Debbie couldn’t give all the money to these terrible people, and they constantly called the woman, demanding the debt from her.

Debbie still didn’t understand what could have driven Andy to turn to these thugs for money, and most importantly, why did he need such a truly astronomical sum? In the last few months, the bandits had completely lost their minds, writing terrible threats on the walls near the flight attendant’s house or stalking her on the way from the airport to her home, following her taxi in their large tinted black SUVs. It was clear that their main goal was to intimidate the young widow so much that she couldn’t think of anything other than giving them this damned money, and it must be said they were brilliantly successful in exerting this kind of influence.

“Well, beauty, how much longer does my boss have to wait for his money?” asked the tall, broad-shouldered, and completely bald thug, once cornering the unfortunate flight attendant in an alley near her home. Debbie was returning from another flight and was barely able to understand what was happening. The man grabbed her by the arm and forcibly took her into a dark abandoned building, where he and his accomplices began to threaten and intimidate her, demanding the money.

“I gave you another $10,000 last week. I just don’t have any more,” Debbie tried to free herself from his stony grip. “I’ve explained to you a hundred times already that I can’t collect such large sums in such a small amount of time.” The bandit only grinned crookedly. “The chief is too soft on you. He allowed you to pay back your debt in installments and for a whole year, but the time is ticking, and we’re not even close to half the amount. Even if I sell my apartment, it still won’t be enough, and you understand that very well,” Debbie pleaded, looking at the bulky men.

The bouncer extended his huge index finger and slowly stroked Debbie’s cheek, making her immediately nauseous. The sensation was unbearable, especially since the scoundrel’s finger stank intolerably of thick tobacco. “You’re beautiful,” the bandit said in a low voice. “The chief asked to tell you that if you don’t have the whole missing sum in your hands by our next meeting, he will allow you to return the debt in another much more pleasant and easier way.” The man smiled lecherously, and Debbie’s heart immediately sank.

“No, he wouldn’t dare,” she said, looking at the scoundrel with unspeakable horror in her eyes. “I’ll report you to the police, and you’ll all go to jail.” Instead of answering, the scoundrel laughed loudly and struck Debbie in the stomach with such force that she felt like she had been blown out of her mind.

Bent in half, she gasped for the cool autumn air, but oxygen stubbornly refused to penetrate her lungs, burning with pain. “Don’t try anything,” growled the thug. “If you say one word to the cops, we’ll give you such an adventure that you’d wish you’d never been born. Do you understand me?” The man grabbed Debbie by the chin and forced her to look into his small eyes swollen with anger and hatred towards women. “Got it,” he shouted once more. “Yes,” the stewardess replied weakly, writhing in fear and pain in his arms.

“Tell me, how much time do I have?” That’s a different conversation,” said the bandit, almost good-natured. He then set the girl on her feet as if she had weighed nothing at all and continued, “You should have started solving the problem constructively. None of this would be happening to you right now.

” Debbie gave him a look of physical contempt from under her brow and leaned carefully against the wall of the house. Meanwhile, the man took out a small diary and marked a date with a pencil. Debbie stood holding her stomach and looked at the scoundrel, waiting in silence. “You have two weeks,” he finally said and with a thud, he closed the diary.

“If you don’t collect the rest of the money in that time, get ready to meet my boss, and I assure you, you better be nice to him, or we’ll sell you into slavery to the Turks. They love girls like you there.” He smiled at Debbie with a predatory grin like that of a jackal before slowly getting into his black SUV and disappearing into the night.

As soon as the car drove away, Debbie was seized by despair so intense that she was ready to tear out her hair. Sobbing hopelessly, she made her way up to her apartment, holding onto the railing to avoid falling. Debbie didn’t know where she could get the rest of the money. She realized that even if she had asked her superiors to borrow it, it was unlikely that the airport would be able to meet her needs. Andy, how could you leave me like that?” Debbie cried, looking at the photo of her late husband in a funeral frame. “Where can I get money now? God, I can’t even imagine what they might do to me.”

Andy Heslin was a businessman who made a decent income from various entrepreneurial activities, ranging from trading products at the city market to running a network of production for the manufacture of doors. Andy was ready to spend 24 hours a day at his company, seeking to control every process. But unfortunately, he invested a lot of money and time in his companies, but he was wrong about people every time. Recently, cunning managers managed to somehow steal from the businessman’s company. The business suffered inevitable losses, and Andy literally had to start all over again.

When most of the money ran out, Andy risked taking out a huge loan to correct his business mistakes. Banks no longer trusted Debbie’s husband, unlike the criminal leader who willingly agreed to lend money to Andy. The naive businessman believed that he could inject enough funds into each of his companies to revive them and start making profits. And from that profit, Andy planned to pay back the debt. But fate decided otherwise.

The most amazing thing was that despite her husband’s business failures, Debbie still loved him with all her heart. He was smart, gentle, kind—in short, the most perfect man in the world. And Debbie mourned him terribly, even now after so much time had passed, she couldn’t fully believe that he was no longer by her side and that his car would never stop again by their home.

Debbie was upset by the fact that they hadn’t been able to have children during their two-year marriage if she had a son or daughter from Andy, then perhaps she would have coped with all this much easier. No, I’m wrong though.

The flight attendant shook her head to herself. Given the history of this debt, who knows what danger the child could have been exposed to? Perhaps it was better that I didn’t have time to give birth, remembering how her husband had died a terrible death. Debbie shook her head sadly; every time, God forbid anyone, even enemies, to have such a terrible end to their lives.

Andy went to a country guest house for the weekend. He told his wife that he wanted to be alone for a while to think about his life, about how to better manage the money he received from creditors. Debbie offered her husband to go with him; however, Andy politely refused.

“Don’t worry, Debbie. Just think, what would you do there? You just got back from a flight; you need to rest, and I’ll fry kebabs and make strong tea. I will be watching the mountains and thinking about how to save my business,” Andy said.

A worried shadow flickered across Debbie’s face. She felt that it would be better for him not to go anywhere alone. “Andy, I’m scared,” Debbie honestly admitted it to him. “These people, and especially Mr. Connor, are real criminals. Maybe he’s watching you.”

Andy just smiled softly. “Debbie, my dear, you’ve read too many books. Mr. Connor is just an ordinary businessman like me or any other person who runs several large companies at once. Yes, he has some connections with the criminal world in the past, but that was a long time ago. Now his reputation is practically crystal clear.”

Debbie looked at her husband with doubt. “That’s it. The key word here is ‘practically.’ Who knows if he can be trusted? You talk about him as if he’s the kindest person, but that’s far from the truth. How many bad things did he do in the past?”

Andy turned away from his wife irritably. “Don’t start, please. If you believe anything they say in the news, you’ll soon develop paranoia. Besides, Mr. Connor is only a witness in those cases. Come on, Debbie, let’s not discuss the past of my business partner and creditor, okay?”

Debbie pouted but quietly said, “As you wish, Andy. But I just want my husband to live many happy years with me. But you’re getting involved in some unpleasant story.”

The spouses quarreled that evening because of that unfortunate loan. Debbie didn’t want to let him go alone out of town; however, Andy was always stubborn by nature, so he didn’t listen to his wife, packed his sports bag, and left for their country house.

The next morning, Debbie was very nervous all day, and as it turned out, not in vain. Closer to the evening, Andy stopped answering completely. She felt that something terrible had happened. However, she continued to wait and believe until the end that it was all just her own imagination.

Debbie only realized that her intuition had not failed her when her husband did not return home the next morning, and his phone was off. An unpleasant shiver ran down her spine. “God, please let him be alive,” as soon as the young woman thought, her phone vibrated, announcing an incoming call. The number was unknown, so Debbie’s heart immediately sank.

“Hello,” she answered, her voice trembling with excitement.

“Mrs. Heslin,” asked a male voice. “This is Captain Perez. I have sad news for you. Your husband, Andy Heslin, died last night as a result of a fire that broke out in your country house.”

Debbie’s legs buckled, and if it weren’t for the sofa next to her, she would have fallen to the floor. Debbie pressed her hand to her lips, trying to stifle a groan. “How… How did it happen?” she managed to whisper.

“The experts have determined that it was an accident,” the policeman explained. “Apparently, your husband didn’t pay attention to the container with the ignition fluid, and it exploded.”

“What? No, it can’t be!” protested Debbie. “My husband was always extremely careful and cautious. He would never leave the liquid near the fire.”

The captain granted slightly irritably before answering, “Mrs. Heslin, I am only saying what has been confirmed. Facts are facts, and you can’t argue with them. Your husband was grilling kebabs on a barbecue, and the barbecue was in the garage, under the roof. Apparently, a spark from the coals hit the container of fluid, and then the fire spread throughout the house. So, your house burned down.”

Debbie asked him, prejudicially, “The cottage is surrounded by a forest on three sides. This created the most, excuse me, favorable conditions for spreading a fire?”

The policeman sighed loudly and answered in the affirmative. “Your cottage is indeed surrounded by a forest on three sides. This unfortunate circumstance created an environment conducive to the rapid spread of the fire. The fire spread from the garage to the interior of the house, and everything burned down to the ground. I’m sorry; I understand that it’s difficult for you to accept the fact of your husband’s death and the complete destruction of your country house, but what happened was just a series of unfortunate circumstances.”

“I wanted to go with him,” Debbie sobbed into the phone. “I wanted to be there with him.”

“Please calm down,” the captain said softly. “If you had been there with your husband, you would have died just the same. There would have been no chance for both of you to survive. I understand that this is a weak consolation for you right now, but at least you are still alive.”

After that conversation, Debbie couldn’t close her eyes and spent the whole night staring at the ceiling. She didn’t want to believe that Andy was gone. This death, so terrible and absurd, seemed very strange to Debbie. The carelessness that the policeman spoke of was completely uncharacteristic of her husband. Ultimately, Debbie began to suspect that Andy had been killed precisely because of the money borrowed from Mr. Connor.

The funeral of her husband was very modest, as there was nothing left of Andy, and they had to bury an empty coffin in the ground. Debbie couldn’t sleep for almost a month, repeatedly returning to thoughts of her husband’s death. The only thing that helped her distract from all this was her work, and Debbie continued to fly one flight after another, hardly noticing how the dates on the calendar passed by quickly.

Then the threatening cause started, and the woman found out that she would now have to pay off the loan for her deceased husband. At first, Debbie thought that she would give them the bag of money that Andy brought from them on the day of the loan. However, after searching the entire apartment and checking all the accounts, Debbie came to a terrible conclusion—the money was nowhere to be found. That’s when she remembered that her husband had gone to the country house with that same bag.

So, the woman thought to herself, “Probably Andy

wanted to hide the money at our summer house, and they probably burned in that monstrous fire.”

Debbie felt herself freeze with fear. She couldn’t imagine how she would be able to pay such a huge sum to the gangsters, risking her own life. She asked to meet with Mr. Connor. When she was brought to his mansion, Debbie thought she wouldn’t come out alive. However, the man, seeing the beautiful wife of his deceased borrower, immediately softened his anger and gave Debbie a deferment for a year.

The deadline was approaching, and the poor woman had not been able to pay even half of her debt. She started working almost every weekend, hoping to earn as much money as possible before Mr. Connor’s henchmen came after her again.

Debbie grew up in a village; her parents were simple but honest people who loved each other. Her father worked as a forester; despite his solid age, the man was still full of energy and could easily take long walks in the forest. Her mother worked in the village post office, delivering letters and newspapers to all the residents of the old settlement. As long as Debbie could remember, there had always been love and understanding in their home, and her parents raised her solely by their own example, trying to be a kind of role model for their daughter.

The girl never heard a rude or mean word addressed to her but always found support and good advice when she needed it. After finishing school, Debbie realized that there were no prospects for her in her village. She wanted to study foreign languages, but there were no opportunities to use them in such a remote place.

Besides, Debbie had a dream that she initially feared telling even her parents. Since childhood, Debbie had been fascinated by the sky. She could spend hours admiring the airplane’s traces in the sky, wondering what was inside them. The flying machines looked small from below and huge when seen up close. The girl’s parents had never flown on airplanes, and Debbie had never been even to the sea. That’s why her passion for travel, coupled with the opportunity to rise above the ground and clouds, gave birth to her passionate dream of becoming a stewardess.

Nevertheless, her father and mother understood that their daughter needed an education and allowed her to go to the city with a calm heart. Debbie thought that studying languages was a priority for her currently, and then, as soon as she settled down in the capital, she would think about a career as a flight attendant.

After graduating, Debbie became a certified translator in two languages: Chinese and Spanish. This opened the doors to a world of high-paying work for her. The first time, the girl worked as a secretary-referent with translation functions in a very prestigious media company. Debbie rented a beautiful apartment in the city and felt absolutely great.

Still, sometimes, she dreamed of the sky and a stewardess uniform night after working for that company for about two years, she realized that she could no longer ignore her dream. It was then that Debbie finally decided to try to enroll in stewardess courses.

The girl studied diligently and crammed the necessary material for days, ignoring parties and walks with friends. But the result of her efforts was exactly what she wanted. Debbie passed the final exam and got the opportunity to get her dream job. Fortunately, she always had good health, and her incredibly attractive appearance allowed her to easily pass the unofficial face control, which was an integral part of getting this job.

On her first flight, Debbie felt an incomparable delight. Her feelings overwhelmed her, and unable to withstand their pressure, she even quietly burst into tears when no one was looking. Her oldest secret dream had come true, and for the first time since graduation from the Institute, Debbie felt at home.

On one of the flights, the girl met Andy. The young man was three years older than her and was flying to another city for a business deal. They both felt that they liked each other; however, decency made them wait until the end of the flight. Only then did Andy approach the young, beautiful stewardess and invite her to dinner at a restaurant. ‘Please don’t refuse,’ Andy looked at her with a silent plea in his eyes. ‘I know it may seem strange to you, but as soon as I saw you, I knew I just had to try to get to know you.’ An embarrassed smile accompanied his words.

Debbie was overwhelmed with incredible emotions. At that moment, she could not have imagined that she would be fortunate enough to meet someone whose soul would be like the other half of her own. Andy understood the girl so well that sometimes it seemed to Debbie that everything happening to her was a fairy tale.

Standing in front of the mirror in the flight attendant service room, Debbie thought that life with Andy was the happiest period in her life. She was unlikely to ever meet a person with such spiritual qualities again. Her husband was not just a partner with whom she agreed to spend the rest of her life; he was her friend, the most passionate lover, and a like-minded person, always ready to support her in difficult times.

Their last separation was all the more terrible because a silly argument made the loving spouses spend the night apart before their trip to the summer house. Debbie was about to sit down in her seat in the aisle when suddenly the plane began to shake mercilessly.

The light in the cabin flickered, and loud voices of passengers full of dissatisfaction and fear were immediately heard. ‘Oh my God, we are falling!’ cried a woman. ‘What’s happening? Stewardess, where’s the stewardess?’ a middle-aged male voice was heard. ‘Mommy, I’m scared! Are we going to die?’ a child’s voice wailed somewhere very close to Debbie.

Debbie immediately understood that they had entered a zone of turbulence. This had happened to her many times before, but still, every time Debbie was a little scared. However, she had no right to show her feelings to the passengers, as it would be a complete violation of all the rules of conduct for personnel on board.

Taking a few deep breaths, the woman moved into the cabin and tried to maintain an expression of complete composure on her face. Debbie beamed a dazzling smile at everyone she passed by, asking them to fasten their seat belts and remain calm. ‘Why are we shaking like this?’ protested the same businessman who had recently ordered champagne from her. ‘Are you telling us the truth, or are you just trying to drag it out until we find out? We only have a hundred meters left to fly to the ground!’

‘Don’t worry, it sometimes happens during the flight,’ Debbie tried to calm him down. ‘The turbulence zone will end soon, and we will continue our journey. There is absolutely no reason to worry.’ The businessman muttered something in response but still securely fastened his seatbelt.

A little further, Debbie noticed a beautiful lady of about 50. The woman was dressed in an expensive coral suit and held a luxurious cream-colored leather bag on her knees. Debbie immediately realized that the woman was wealthy. Her manicure, hairstyle, and beautiful shoes from the latest collection of a famous fashion house spoke for themselves. However, no matter how much money she had, the woman was first of all a passenger, and like all passengers on this flight, was experiencing genuine fear at the moment.

When the stewardess reached her seat, the plane shook violently again. The lady screamed loudly and dropped her bag on the floor. Debbie instinctively bent down, easily picking up the graceful accessory after which she handed it to the passenger, still maintaining a polite smile on her face. ‘Thank you,’ the lady said with pale lips, and then her gaze fell on the flight attendant’s left hand, which she held the bag with. The woman instantly turned as white as a sheet and with a dumb question looked at Debbie. She immediately recognized this finger, the only one shorter than all the others.

‘Debbie,’ the passenger whispered in shock, ‘Matilda Williams.’ That was the name of this wealthy woman. Suddenly, she felt as if her entire body had been struck by an electric current. Everything seemed to darken before her eyes for a few seconds, and the lady, out of fear, decided that it was only a matter of time before she fainted. ‘Yes, I understand that you are scared, but everything will end very soon, I promise,’ Debbie reassured her. ‘We just need to endure a little longer.’

After that, smiling at Matilda, the flight attendant calmly walked further into the cabin. As soon as she disappeared, the lady grabbed her heart. ‘Oh God, it can’t be! She’s alive and flying on the same plane with me,’ Matilda thought. ‘Is it really her? Who else could have such a specific middle finger?’

The woman eagerly awaited the moment when the airplane would pass through the turbulence zone, and everyone would finally calm down. Crossing herself, Matilda got up from her seat and headed straight to the corridor where the flight attendants were sitting. Debbie was discussing something with her colleague when she caught the wealthy passenger’s surprised gaze.

‘Are you feeling better?’ Debbie politely asked, looking at the woman with genuine concern and sympathy. ‘Yes, thank you,’ the woman replied slowly as she nervously dug her nails into her small purse. ‘I’m sorry, maybe it’s not the right time to do this, but I really need to talk to you. Could you please spare me a couple of minutes?’

Debbie looked embarrassed and glanced at the other flight attendant before nodding. ‘Okay, please have a seat.’ Debbie’s colleague immediately got up from her seat and went to the cabin to check if the other passengers needed anything.

Matilda sat on the edge of the seat and continued to twirl her purse in her hands. For a few seconds, the woman simply didn’t know where to start. She was about to tell this young woman something that might seem like complete nonsense to others, but she couldn’t afford to miss such a chance. Who knows, maybe she wasn’t wrong.

‘You see,’ Matilda began, blushing heavily, ‘it just so happened that I noticed a certain peculiarity on your hand, your finger.’

It was Debbie’s turn to blush with embarrassment. The young woman instinctively clenched her

left hand into a fist so that the shortened phalanx wouldn’t be visible. ‘Yes, I understand. It must have been unpleasant for you to see that, but I was born with it, and I can’t do anything about it,’ she explained.

The woman shook her head with feeling. ‘No, no, please don’t think that way. I had no intention of offending or belittling you in any way, not at all.’ Debbie looked at her somewhat bewildered. ‘Then what is it that has upset you so much?’

Matilda took a deep breath and then decided to tell her. ‘You see, many years ago, I lost my daughter. She was only three years old at the time. My husband, her stepfather, was driving her to another city, and they got into an accident. My husband couldn’t control the car, and it went off the road.

When he came to his senses, the child was nowhere to be found. He, being injured, searched the surrounding areas but never found her. She just disappeared without a trace. Even now, 25 years later, memories of my lost child cause me almost physical pain. The deep maternal wound in my heart never healed, and every word spoken aloud about my daughter is like a cutting knife for me.’

The lady wiped her tearful eyes with a handkerchief, but Debbie’s face showed only sympathy and confusion. ‘I really sympathize with you,’ Debbie sincerely said, ‘but forgive me for being rude. I really don’t understand how I can help you.’

Matilda smiled weakly. ‘Your name is Debbie, right?’

‘Debbie, that’s right,’ the flight attendant nodded. ‘Debbie Heslin, formerly Yacht Siva, but how does that relate to your story?’

Suddenly, the wealthy woman extended her hand to Debbie and affectionately patted her on the shoulder. ‘My little girl’s name was Debbie too, and she had the same peculiarities as you. It runs in our family going back to my grandfather. One of his fingers was shorter than the others, and then it was passed down to my daughter through the generations.’

Matilda looked at Debbie, crying and smiling at the same time through her tears, when it dawned on the flight attendant what she meant. It was as if the world around the young woman had wobbled, and the turbulence was no longer relevant.

‘Are you saying that you think I could be your daughter, lost over 20 years ago?’ The wealthy woman slowly nodded her head and said, ‘I don’t just think so; I’m sure of it. Everything fits: your name, your age, Debbie. How happy I am to have found you and to know that you’re alive!’

In a burst of emotion, Matilda couldn’t help but try to hug Debbie. However, the flight attendant gently stopped her movement. To say that Debbie was stunned by what she had heard would be an understatement.

‘I’m sorry, but don’t you think it could just be a coincidence?’ Debbie looked at Matilda with doubt. ‘The tragic disappearance of your daughter is undoubtedly a great sorrow, and I understand why you seized on my peculiarity, but I already have parents, and thank God, they are alive and love me, and I love them too.’

The woman looked at her with sadness but still stood her ground. ‘My dear, I don’t know how this could have happened. Maybe you should ask your own parents about it. However, I still believe that you are my Debbie, my lost little daughter. I really beg you to meet with me later and do a DNA test.’

Debbie sat there unable to speak. She didn’t know how to react to everything she had heard. In the end, she had to take a few sips of water to manage her emotions. After thinking for a while, she agreed to meet with Matilda again and took her business card.

After landing at the airport, Debbie immediately took a taxi and went to the nearest bus station, where she bought bus tickets to her native village. If this woman is telling the truth, does that mean that my mum and dad have been hiding the secret of my past from me all these years? But why would they need to do that? Did I have a childhood full of lies? All these questions were swirling in the young woman’s head. However, she was determined to find out the truth, and so she eagerly awaited the bus to take her to her family home.

Her parents were pleasantly surprised to see their beloved daughter at the doorstep. ‘Debbie, my soul!’ the happy mother chirped around the stewardess. ‘You could have at least warned us that you were coming. I would have baked your favorite raspberry pie. You’ve been away for too long!’

‘You don’t take care of yourself on these flights. Do they even feed you there? You’ve lost a lot of weight, dear,’ the man took his daughter’s suitcase and carried it into their beautiful log house, which the forester built many years ago using ancient technology without a single nail. He was very proud of that.

Soon, the whole family settled in the kitchen to drink tea. The young woman was very nervous, and for the first time, did not know how to ask her parents about what was currently bothering her the most. ‘Mum, dad,’ Debbie began thoughtfully, ‘first of all, I want to tell you that I love you very much.’

‘We love you too, daughter,’ the father replied, ‘and we always will, no matter what happens. But you didn’t come here for that, did you?’

Debbie said, ‘I always see the essence of things right away, dad.’ And then asked directly, ‘Tell me, are you my natural parents?’

Debbie looked at her parents intently, shifting her gaze from one to the other. There was nowhere else to back down. A light shadow passed over the mother’s face, and her smile slowly began to fade. ‘Why on Earth are you asking such questions, Debbie?’ the woman asked with concern. ‘Of course, we are your parents, who else?’

At that moment, the man covered his wife’s hand with his own and then said in a low voice, ‘Debbie, I had hoped that you would never ask such a question, but apparently, it cannot be that the truth will not come to light sooner or later.’ The man shook his head helplessly and silenced any objections from his wife with his gaze. After that, he poured himself a new cup of tea and took a big sip.

‘That was a long time ago,’ he began, looking into the distance. ‘We went through a great sorrow then.’

The man paused for a moment, but Debbie’s mother continued for him. ‘I already had a miscarriage three times. I couldn’t carry a baby, and the doctor said that if I tried again, then I wouldn’t survive. I could die from bleeding and complications.’ Debbie’s mother sobbed and wiped her eyes with the edge of her scarf. She really didn’t want to remember that difficult period in her life.

‘I used to go into the woods all the time back then, trying to calm my grief and dull the pain,’ the father continued. ‘And one day, when I was walking past the walnut grove, I saw you sitting on the edge there, crying with burning tears. That’s why we called you Squirrel because you were sitting there

under the walnut tree with your fluffy red braids and rubbing your face with your hands like a sad little squirrel.’

Remembering this, Debbie’s father smiled slightly, but it was clear that he was experiencing forceful emotions as he spoke, and although not a single muscle twitched on his face, the father’s shoulders trembled with soundless sobs that he was trying to suppress with all his might, you were only three years old then,” the mother explained.

“Your father picked you up in a bundle and brought you to our home.” The woman smiled sadly, looking at her daughter with tenderness. “I remember thinking back then that the Lord had finally taken pity on me and sent you to me.

You were so weak with a huge scratch on your forehead, and you kept calling for your mum, and you cried endlessly inside, Debbie. Everything seemed to turn upside down, so that woman on the plane could really be her mother. The very thought of it did not settle in her mind.”

“How did you manage to hide my appearance from everyone? You and Dad basically kidnapped me,” Mum Debbie protested, although tears of regret and understanding were already glistening in her eyes. Her mother shook her head and squeezed her husband’s hand a little tighter.

“We didn’t kidnap you; we found you. Those are entirely different things.” A mother’s jealousy flared up in the woman’s eyes. “You were left in the woods, and you were wounded. That woman was a cuckoo, not a real mother,” the father patted his wife’s shoulder, trying to calm her down, while his daughter spoke up. “We gave all our family golden savings to our then-chairman so that he would help us get documents for you. That’s how you became our daughter.”

Debbie sat before her parents, looking at them with sadness and love at the same time. She understood perfectly well what had driven them to such a desperate step, but it didn’t make it any easier. “And how did you find out that we had adopted you?” the father asked, squinting. “We didn’t tell anyone about it and hoped that this secret would die with us.”

Debbie looked at her parents and realized that they really knew nothing about her biological mother. She told her parents about the wealthy lady, showing them her business card. The father carefully examined the card and then calmly said, “Daughter, if you think it’s the right thing to do, you can meet this woman.

We have no right to stop you. You are an adult, independent person now. But if you suddenly become disillusioned after finding out the truth, know that your mother and I will always be there for you, and nothing will change for us. It doesn’t matter whether we share the same blood or not; we will always be your parents.”

In gratitude, Debbie hugged her mother and father tightly. “Thank you,” she whispered. “I have the best parents in the world.” After staying with her parents for a couple more days, Debbie returned to the city. She wanted to meet Matilda and ask one of her colleagues to replace her on the flight.

When Matilda learned that Debbie was willing to take the DNA test, she was overjoyed. A few days later, the test results arrived, and to Debbie’s huge surprise, her new acquaintance was right. She really was her biological mother. Learning this, the rich woman immediately invited Debbie to her house.

When the luxurious car brought Debbie to Matilda’s estate, the young woman could not contain her admiration. She had never in her life seen such luxury and style that literally squeezed into every piece of furniture and the magnificent green garden of the mansion. She was led into the living room where her biological mother greeted her.

“Matilda, I’m so glad you came, dear!” the woman exclaimed, throwing her hands up. “Oh my God, I can’t believe I finally found you after so many years.” Matilda hugged her, and Debbie felt it would be wrong to reject this heartfelt embrace. It wasn’t that Debbie was uncomfortable with the display of parental affection from Matilda; in fact, she still couldn’t get used to the idea that it was this woman, not her mother from the village, who gave her life.

“Let me introduce you to someone,” said Matilda, and she let her daughter into a cozy little room where a presentable-looking man in a business suit sat in a wide leather chair. Upon seeing Debbie, he immediately stood up and extended his hand in greeting. “I am Oliver,” the businessman introduced himself, cautiously shaking the guest’s hand. “You probably don’t remember me, Debbie.”

Debbie shook her head and looked at her mother questioningly. “This is your father, Debbie,” Matilda said, almost crying with happiness. “Oh,” was all Debbie could say. She scrutinized Oliver’s features but saw no resemblance to herself.

Then, when they went to the dining room to have tea, Oliver behaved strangely. He was nervous and smiled widely, but his smile was insincere. If you only knew how scared I was then, what I went through when I woke up and saw that you weren’t around,” her father told her. “I woke up, and the car was already on fire. I got out of the car, but with great difficulty; my leg was badly hurt. I thought maybe you had hidden somewhere near the road because you were scared, but as soon as I moved a few meters away from the car, it exploded.”

The man spoke very emotionally but kept looking at his newly found daughter as if he wasn’t happy about her return at all. Of course, Debbie had no idea that Oliver wasn’t her biological father. He married her mother when she was already three months pregnant with her first husband, who died in an accident in a neighboring city, Arthur Clark. Debbie’s real biological father had made a deal with very unreliable partners who eventually arranged his death at a large residential complex construction site.

Oliver Williams, a longtime friend of the Clark family, had been supporting the grieving young widow for many months. In gratitude, Matilda began to invite him to her home more and more often and eventually married him. In reality, Debbie’s stepfather had hated her since childhood. He always felt that she was a possible competitor, as he wanted to take over his deceased friend’s business completely over time. And now he was unpleasantly surprised when Debbie suddenly reappeared years later like a ghost from the past and tried to upset all his plans.

The most unpleasant thing for the businessman was that his wife was seriously considering bringing her daughter into their business. After the first meeting, Matilda started to invite Debbie to her house more and more often, and Debbie was, of course, happy to learn more about her past and get to know her biological mother better. At the same time, the young woman did not perceive her father at all, as if she felt he was not her real father. Matilda never said anything to her daughter about it, hoping that Debbie and Oliver’s misunderstanding would disappear over time.

“Matilda, dear, forgive me, but I don’t understand why you’re so fixated on the idea of Debbie becoming a full-fledged shareholder. After all, so much time has passed, and her profession is entirely different. She won’t be able to become a decent business lady from a stewardess,” excused Oliver.

Matilda looked at her spouse with bewilderment. “Ah, Debbie is a descendant of the Clarks. She was raised by entirely different people, rural people, but that didn’t stop her from graduating from school and college with honors. She knows two foreign languages perfectly. I’m certain that once she learns a little more and delves deeper into our business, our genes will definitely take their course.”

Oliver was beside himself with rage. He was at a loss for words, but he was not going to leave it at that. He began to think about how to get rid of this old thorn in his side. The point was that he already had his own trusted people in his wife’s company with whom he had been quietly engaged in fraud and embezzlement for a long time. They laundered money through third-party projects and transferred it to their personal foreign accounts.

Oliver planned to fully subordinate the entire board of directors to himself to control all the resources alone. However, for this to happen, he needed to make sure that Matilda would not suspect anything. With the appearance of Debbie in their lives, Oliver’s plan risked falling apart, and he intended to do everything possible to ensure that his step-daughter never touched the inner workings of her mother’s company.

Summoning one of his shadow operation assistants to his office, Oliver told him, “It’s time to take decisive action. This little stewardess is already planning to do an internship with our company. I need you to finish what I couldn’t do many years ago.” Oliver looked closely at the assistant, and he turned pale, realizing exactly what the boss wanted from him.

Oliver continued, “I set up that accident when I almost crashed with my adopted daughter. I thought I’d get rid of her while she was still little, and all the problems would be solved. For so many years, I hoped that she disappeared somewhere in the woods and would never be heard from again. And now she has appeared and wants to try her hand at her mother’s business.”

The assistant, listening to Oliver, swallowed in fear. He never thought that he would be asked to commit the most terrible crime that could exist in a civilized society. It was already beyond the pale. “I can’t allow her to ruin everything that I have been collecting bit by bit for so many years. After all, I even brought her father, Arthur, into contact with those companions to eliminate him, and so Matilda would not find out anything.

Now I have to do the same thing with her daughter. Oliver looked pointedly at the man standing before him, but don’t worry, I’ve thought of everything in advance. The day after tomorrow, I’ll schedule a meeting in the park. In the evening, I’ll say I want to talk to her without witnesses and discuss some prospects in our company. Then, you understand perfectly well what you need to do. Just make sure everything looks like a simple robbery. I don’t want to be the first to be suspected.

The assistant, though not happy, was such a terrible task, agreed. What else could he do? After all, he was a person under duress. Debbie agreed to meet her stepfather without any ulterior motives, not knowing what terrible fate he had in store for her.

Late in the evening, when the deserted space of the park was illuminated only by the weak light of evening lanterns, Debbie stopped near the agreed-upon meeting place with the businessman. The young woman did not suspect that Oliver was not her biological father, so she did not sense the danger emanating from him. Anyway, she explained their disagreements about her possible work in her mother’s company by saying that they had not seen each other much in recent years.

Debbie waited at the meeting place for at least half an hour before deciding to call Oliver. To her surprise, the mechanical voice on the other end of the line told her that the subscriber was out of range. “Strange,” she said aloud, and she was about to go home when someone grabbed her from behind and covered her mouth with their hand so that she couldn’t make a sound.

“Stay still, otherwise I’ll cut you like a sheep,” she heard a male voice behind her, which seemed very vague to Debbie but was still familiar. However, when the robber turned the victim to face him, Debbie’s horror knew no bounds. The criminal turned out to be her ex-husband, Andy. He also did not expect to see his former spouse at the ordered location and, therefore, for the first few seconds, simply stared at her in silence, losing the gift of speech due to surprise.

Andy didn’t even bother wearing a mask, so he was sure he could quietly get rid of his victim. “Andy, is it really you? Are you alive?” Debbie struggled to say, looking at her ex-husband straight in the eye. “But how? You died in that fire. The investigator told me…” Debbie, Andy interrupted her, still holding the woman in his steel embrace.

“Believe me, I’m very sorry it turned out this way, but I didn’t have any other choice. Then they would have killed me.” Debbie didn’t understand anything. “Mr. Connor with his cronies, and he shook her by the shoulders. I overheard one of them discussing how they were going to bury me somewhere in the forest about a couple of weeks after that damned loan was given to me. So I decided to run away with the money. I staged my own death in the fire. I had to cheat them, sorry, but I didn’t have another choice.”

Slowly, the meaning of her husband’s words began to dawn on Debbie. “So what was your plan?” she asked. “You were going to abandon me, get away with the money, and leave me to be torn apart by these scumbags. Is that what you planned?” Debbie began to resist with all her might, trying to free herself from Andy’s grip while showering him with accusations.

“How could you do this to me? I loved you so much and trusted you so much.” Her ex-husband only held her tighter and closed his eyes tightly. Of course, he did not expect anything like this from his plan when he faked his own death in the fire and disappeared with the gang’s money. For a while, he thought he had completely robbed Mr. Connor and his gang and didn’t have any leverage over him.

But he couldn’t imagine that they would demand his wife pay back the debt. Having squandered all the money in a short period of time and being left with literally nothing, he somehow managed to make himself new documents and use them to get a job at Matilda’s company. Oliver immediately realized that he had an employee with fake documents in his ranks but decided not to fire him for the time being, perfectly understanding that he could use that against Andy. That’s why when it was time to get his hands dirty, the businessman chose Debbie’s ex-husband, and Andy couldn’t even think that the woman he had to eliminate was his ex-wife.

Now more than ever, Andy understood that Debbie was the only witness to all his crimes, and he couldn’t leave her alive. “Forgive me, Debbie,” he tried to calm his wife, holding her tighter while all the time raised a long, sharp blade in the dark with his free hand. “It’s all going to end now,” he said meaningfully, and he was about to plunge the blade into the woman’s body.

But at that moment, someone suddenly knocked the knife out of his hand with a strong movement, turning her hand 180 degrees. The villain screamed in pain, and Debbie managed to free herself from his choking grip finally. She watched in horror as a homeless man in ripped jeans and an old jacket tried to twist her ex-husband’s arm. “Call the police quickly,” he shouted to Debbie, and she noticed that her savior was not much older than her.

She didn’t have to repeat it twice, so Debbie immediately dialed the short number, and a few minutes later, the police arrived to arrest the scoundrel. The homeless guy gave his testimony; he had been sleeping on a bench nearby, June weather permitting, and then heard a woman screaming and immediately rushed to help, knowing that the park was not safe in the evenings.

In the end, the police arrested Andy, and he confessed without any qualms during questioning that Debbie’s stepfather had organized the entire assassination attempt. At that moment, a shocked Matilda learned about her daughter’s loan and her husband’s terrible intentions, and Debbie herself learned that Oliver was not her biological father.

Then a special police operation was carried out, and Mr. Connor and all his gang were caught red-handed. After resolving all her problems, Debbie went back to the park to find and thank the homeless man who saved her life. However, she couldn’t find him and went home disappointed. As she got out of the taxi, she noticed a young man with a huge bouquet of red roses standing near her entrance.

“I wonder who got so lucky,” Debbie thought to herself with a smile as she walked past him. Just as she was about to pass the young man, she realized she had seen him before. “Good afternoon,” the recently homeless man, who was now dressed in a beautiful light gray business suit, smiled at her. “I apologize for showing up so unexpectedly, but I just had to see you again.”

Debbie stood there, looked at him in amazement as a shy smile slowly appeared on her face. “Is it you? You’re the very homeless man who saved me in the park, aren’t you? Why are you here and looking so amazing?” the guy joked. “Yeah,” Debbie laughed sincerely. “That’s exactly what I wanted to say.” The man whose name was Glenn, explained to her that he actually worked as a psychologist, solving the emotional problems of successful businessmen and showbiz stars. He was brought to the park by his professional needs.

He had been writing his thesis on social inequality in modern society for a long time and to test some of his theories in practice, he dressed up as a homeless person, hoping to evaluate people’s reactions to him from different social strata. Where else but in a huge city park is the best place to conduct such experiments? The psychologist said, handing the young woman a fragrant bouquet.

Debbie was flattered and happy at the same time. After all, the man who wasn’t afraid to help her in a difficult, life-threatening moment turned out to be such an interesting and intelligent man. Glenn invited her on a date, and Debbie agreed with pleasure. The young people went to the Opera and then talked for a long time, discussing what they had seen.

Gradually, the conversation shifted from the theater to other areas of life, and Debbie told Glenn about all the surprises that life had given her. “You’re a wonderful woman, Debbie,” Glenn said with a smile. “To go through so many truly shocking and tragic events and not break, not lose faith in goodness and something truly high… You know, I would really like to meet you again if you don’t mind.”

Debbie agreed with a laugh. “Of course, I would be happy to see Glenn again. His tactfulness and attentiveness, as well as his perfect manners, left an indelible mark on her soul. Soon after that, Glenn and Debbie started dating.

The young people were literally charmed by each other, and their feelings blossomed like a beautiful and delicate lily flower. After a few months, Glenn proposed to Debbie. The wedding was not the loudest, but it was definitely the most beautiful and memorable for all the guests and the newlyweds themselves. Debbie was happy that she now had two mothers. Matilda did not hold a grudge against Debbie’s adoptive mother and father as they had protected her daughter from possible harm for many years.

A year later, Debbie gave birth to a beautiful daughter. Debbie stopped flying and focused on her family, while Glenn continued to work as a psychologist and later successfully defended his research, improving his qualifications and confirming his first-class professional level. Now Debbie and her family have many years of serene family happiness, security, and peace of mind ahead of them.”