Chapter 4: The Photograph
Chapter 4: The Photograph
Ethan left the table without explanation.
Victoria followed him into the study.
“What was in the envelope?”
“Nothing.”
“You are lying.”
He placed the photograph face down on his desk.
Victoria reached for it.
Ethan covered it with his hand.
“Do not.”
She stared at him.
“You are shutting me out over a woman who lied to you for years.”
“She did not shove a child.”
Victoria’s nostrils flared.
“You keep saying that as if repetition makes it true.”
“Lily said it.”
“Lily is three.”
“She has no reason to lie.”
“Her mother does.”
Ethan’s phone rang.
Rosa.
He answered immediately.
“Are you home?”
“Yes.”
“Is Lily all right?”
“She’s asleep.”
He hesitated.
“I received a photograph.”
Silence.
“Of what?” Rosa asked.
“You and my father outside a clinic.”
Rosa did not respond.
Ethan’s grip tightened around the phone.
“What clinic?”
Victoria moved closer, trying to hear.
Ethan turned away from her.
“Rosa?”
“It was a prenatal clinic.”
The answer landed like a blow.
“My father knew?”
“He found me before I could contact you.”
Ethan closed his eyes.
“Explain.”
Rosa’s voice shook.
“I called your office after I found out I was pregnant. Your assistant transferred me to your father.”
“My father was not running my office.”
“He was that week. You were in London.”
Ethan remembered.
His father had taken control during the merger crisis.
“What did he say?”
“He asked me to meet him.”
“At the clinic?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“He offered me money.”
Ethan’s eyes opened.
Victoria was watching him carefully.
“How much?”
“Two hundred thousand dollars.”
Ethan’s stomach turned.
“To disappear?”
“To terminate the pregnancy.”
His hand went numb around the phone.
Victoria’s expression changed.
Not shock.
Recognition.
Ethan noticed.
He spoke into the phone.
“What did you tell him?”
“I told him no.”
“And then?”
“He said you were engaged to someone else.”
“I wasn’t.”
“I know that now.”
“Who did he say?”
Rosa took a breath.
“Victoria.”
Ethan slowly turned toward his fiancée.
Victoria’s face had gone pale.
Rosa continued.
“Your father said the Haynes family had already agreed to the match. He said I would destroy your future.”
Ethan’s voice was barely controlled.
“Why did you believe him?”
“Because after that meeting, every number I used to contact you stopped working.”
Ethan stared at Victoria.
She looked away.
Rosa’s voice softened.
“I thought you had chosen your life.”
Ethan ended the call after promising to speak with her the next morning.
Then he placed the phone down.
“Did you know?”
Victoria folded her arms.
“Know what?”
“My father met Rosa.”
“No.”
“He told her I was marrying you.”
“That sounds like something your father would do.”
“He blocked her calls.”
“I had nothing to do with your office.”
“But you knew her name.”
Victoria hesitated one second too long.
Ethan saw it.
“You knew who Rosa was before today.”
“No.”
“You did.”
Victoria’s voice rose.
“I may have heard your father mention a scholarship girl you were embarrassing yourself with.”
“A scholarship girl?”
“Those were his words.”
“They sounded comfortable in your mouth.”
Victoria’s face hardened.
“You want honesty? Fine. Your father believed Rosa was beneath you. So did everyone else.”
“Everyone?”
“My parents. Your board. Your family friends.”
“And you?”
Victoria looked him in the eye.
“Yes.”
The answer was calm.
Unashamed.
Ethan felt something inside him close.
He reached for her hand.
For one brief second, Victoria thought he was comforting her.
Then he removed the diamond ring from her finger.
She gasped.
“What are you doing?”
“The engagement is over.”
“You cannot do this.”
“I just did.”
She grabbed his wrist.
“You will humiliate me in front of everyone.”
“You humiliated yourself when you put your hands on a child.”
“I barely touched her!”
The study door was open.
Every guest in the hallway heard her.
Silence spread through the house.
Victoria realized what she had admitted.
Ethan looked at her with disgust.
“You said you didn’t touch her.”
Victoria’s mouth opened.
No words came.
Behind her, Charles Haynes lowered his champagne glass.
Caroline’s face remained composed.
But her eyes were furious.
Ethan placed the ring on the desk.
“Get out of my house.”
Victoria stared at him.
Then she whispered, “You have no idea what my family did to protect you.”
Ethan’s gaze sharpened.
“What does that mean?”
Victoria smiled through gathering tears.
“It means Rosa is still lying.”
She walked out.
But Caroline remained behind.
Before leaving, she leaned close to Ethan.
May you like
“Ask for the original medical records,” she whispered. “Not the copies Rosa gives you.”
Then she followed her daughter.
