Chapter 2 - THE LETTER
Dr. Samuel Hayes arrived twenty minutes later.
Daniel refused to leave Elena's side while the doctor examined her in one of the downstairs guest rooms.
Vanessa had been ordered to remain in the library.
Two security guards stood outside its doors.
She protested.
Daniel didn't care.
After several tense minutes, Dr. Hayes finally removed his stethoscope.
“The baby's heartbeat is strong.”
Daniel exhaled.
Elena closed her eyes in relief.
“But you need rest.”
The doctor looked at her sternly.
“No stress.”
A bitter laugh almost escaped Elena.
That sounded impossible.
When the doctor left, Daniel remained beside the bed.
Neither of them spoke.
There was too much history between them.
Too many questions.
Finally, Daniel broke the silence.
“Is the baby mine?”
Elena looked at him.
“Yes.”
Daniel lowered his head.
He had suspected it.
Hearing it still struck him hard.
“When are you due?”
“October nineteenth.”
Daniel calculated silently.
His face tightened.
“The night before I left for London.”
Elena nodded.
Daniel remembered that night.
They had been more than employer and employee by then.
Their relationship had started quietly.
Coffee after everyone went home.
Long conversations in the kitchen.
Walks through the gardens.
Then one night when neither of them wanted to pretend anymore.
They had agreed to tell his family after his London negotiations ended.
Instead, Daniel came home believing Elena was gone.
Vanessa had been there to comfort him.
Four months later, they were engaged.
Daniel suddenly felt sick.
“Elena…”
She looked away.
“I didn't know I was pregnant until after you left.”
“Why didn't you tell me before Vanessa got involved?”
“I tried.”
She reached beneath the pillow.
Daniel watched her remove a small folded envelope.
The paper was worn along the edges.
“This was the first letter.”
Daniel took it.
His own name was written across the front.
Daniel Whitmore.
His hands shook slightly as he opened it.
Daniel,
I don't know how you're going to feel about this, but I'm pregnant.
I'm scared.
But I'm happy too.
Please call me when you get this.
I don't want anything from you except the truth about what you want.
Elena.
Daniel read it twice.
“You sent this?”
“Yes.”
“It never reached me.”
“I sent six more.”
Daniel slowly lowered the paper.
“Vanessa intercepted them?”
“I believe so.”
“Why?”
Elena looked toward the door.
“Because she already knew about us.”
Daniel stood.
He walked to the window.
Outside, evening shadows stretched across the estate.
For months, he had hated Elena.
Not because she left.
Because he believed she hadn't trusted him enough to say goodbye.
Now he realized she had never been given the chance.
“There’s something else.”
Elena's voice pulled him back.
“What?”
“Your father came to see me.”
Daniel turned sharply.
“My father died before I came back from London.”
“I know.”
“When did you see him?”
“Three days before he died.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“What did he want?”
Elena hesitated.
“He knew about the baby.”
Daniel stared at her.
“How?”
“I told him.”
Elena swallowed.
“I needed help reaching you.”
Daniel sat beside her again.
“What did he say?”
“He said he already suspected Vanessa was interfering with your communications.”
Daniel's eyes narrowed.
“He believed she wanted control of the family company.”
That wasn't surprising.
Vanessa's father owned Caldwell Capital.
A marriage between Vanessa and Daniel would merge two powerful business families.
But Daniel had never believed Vanessa cared enough about business to manipulate him this far.
“What did my father give you?”
Elena's eyes shifted toward Daniel's jacket.
“The key.”
“What key?”
Elena reached into the inside pocket where she had hidden something before Daniel entered.
She placed a small brass key in his palm.
A tiny letter W was engraved into it.
Daniel recognized it immediately.
“That belonged to my father.”
“Yes.”
“He wore it on his watch chain for years.”
“He told me if anything happened to him, I should find what it opens.”
Daniel looked at the key.
“Where?”
“He only gave me one clue.”
Daniel waited.
Elena repeated the words exactly.
“Where your mother still watches over the house.”
Daniel's eyes moved toward the wall.
His mother had died when he was sixteen.
Only one large portrait of her remained in the mansion.
It hung above the fireplace in his father's private study.
Daniel stood.
“Elena, stay here.”
She grabbed his wrist.
“Daniel.”
He looked down.
“Don't trust anyone yet.”
“Why?”
“Because Vanessa couldn't have done all of this alone.”
Daniel's expression darkened.
“Who helped her?”
Elena shook her head.
“I don't know.”
Daniel closed his fingers around the brass key.
Then he walked toward the door.
For the first time that evening, he understood something terrifying.
The biggest lie in the mansion might not have been about Elena.
May you like
Or the baby.
It might have been about his father's death.
