Chapter 2 - TEN YEARS GONE
Daniel followed his mother into Claire’s office and slammed the door behind them.
I stayed outside.
I shouldn’t have.
Every instinct told me to leave.
Go home.
Pick up Mia.
Forget Daniel Vale had ever walked back into my life.
Then I heard his voice through the glass.
“What did you do?”
I froze.
Vivian answered more quietly.
“You were twenty-five.”
“I was married.”
“You were destroying your future.”
“That wasn’t your decision.”
“I protected you.”
“From my wife?”
From the fitting area, Brooke stood in her wedding gown staring at me.
So that was her name.
Brooke Mercer.
I recognized it now.
Her father owned Mercer Development.
Old money.
Private clubs.
Buildings with family names carved into stone.
Exactly the kind of woman Vivian had always believed Daniel should marry.
Brooke marched toward me.
“You knew who he was.”
I almost laughed.
“You slapped me before I even saw him.”
“You expect me to believe this?”
“I really don’t care what you believe.”
Her face tightened.
“You’re lying about being married.”
“Ask your fiancé.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“He would’ve told me.”
“Apparently, there are a lot of things people didn’t tell either of us.”
The office door flew open.
Daniel came out first.
His mother followed.
He looked furious.
“What exactly did you send Elena?”
Vivian glanced around at the customers.
“This is not the place.”
“Then pick one.”
“Daniel.”
“Did you forge divorce papers?”
Brooke gasped.
I stared at Vivian.
She didn’t answer.
That was answer enough.
Daniel stepped closer to her.
“Did you?”
“I arranged for the situation to end.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means I stopped a mistake before it ruined your life.”
Something inside me snapped.
“A mistake?”
Vivian looked at me.
I saw the same expression she’d worn the first night Daniel brought me to dinner at the Vale house.
Like I was a stain someone had forgotten to wipe away.
“You were never right for him.”
“I was his wife.”
“And he was heir to a company employing twelve thousand people.”
Daniel said, “Don’t.”
She ignored him.
“You were twenty-three, working two jobs, living paycheck to paycheck.”
“I loved him.”
Vivian’s mouth barely moved.
“Love doesn’t run a company.”
“No,” I said. “But apparently fraud does.”
Her expression changed.
Tiny.
But I saw it.
Daniel saw it too.
“What did she mean?”
I shouldn’t have said it.
I had promised myself I would never touch that part of the past again.
But Vivian’s face had already told Daniel there was more.
“Elena?”
I shook my head.
“I’m leaving.”
Daniel stepped toward me.
“Please don’t disappear again.”
I looked at him.
“I didn’t disappear.”
His jaw tightened.
“My mother said you left for Arizona.”
“I’ve never lived in Arizona.”
He stared at me.
“What?”
“She said you took the settlement and left.”
“I never received a settlement.”
His face went still.
Behind him, Vivian said nothing.
Brooke slowly turned toward her.
Even she looked unsettled now.
I grabbed my purse from beneath the counter.
Daniel followed me through the front doors.
“Elena.”
“Don’t.”
“I need five minutes.”
“You had ten years.”
“I didn’t know.”
“That doesn’t give me those years back.”
I reached the sidewalk.
A small blue Honda pulled up.
The passenger door opened.
My neighbor Rosa leaned across the seat.
“You ready?”
Then the back door opened.
A girl climbed out holding a math workbook.
Ten years old.
Dark curls.
Brown eyes.
Daniel’s eyes.
“Mom!” Mia called.
Daniel stopped walking.
My blood went cold.
Mia ran toward me.
Then she noticed the tall stranger standing beside us.
She looked at Daniel.
Daniel looked at her.
Neither one spoke.
His face slowly lost every bit of color.
“Elena…”
I grabbed Mia’s hand.
May you like
Daniel’s voice dropped to a whisper.
“How old is she?”
