Chapter 3 - WHAT HIS FATHER BURIED
Ethan tore the envelope open.
Inside was a letter.
Three pages.
The first line stopped him cold.
Ethan, I’m pregnant.
His hand began to shake.
Victoria leaned toward him.
“Give me that.”
He pulled it away.
“No.”
“Ethan, we’re standing at our wedding.”
“I know exactly where we are.”
His voice was suddenly sharp.
He kept reading.
Rosa had written about doctor visits.
Fear.
Hope.
The fact that she didn’t expect him to marry her.
She only wanted him to know.
At the bottom was a phone number Ethan remembered by heart.
Richard stepped forward.
“You were twenty-nine.”
“So?”
“You were about to take control of the company.”
“So you decided I shouldn’t know I had a child?”
“You were reckless.”
Rosa laughed bitterly.
“And apparently I was disposable.”
Richard looked at her as if she were furniture speaking out of turn.
“You accepted employment here.”
“I accepted a housekeeping job because my daughter needed insurance.”
“You could have worked anywhere.”
“I tried.”
Ethan looked up.
“What does that mean?”
Rosa hesitated.
Richard said, “Enough.”
Ethan faced him.
“No.”
The room seemed to shrink around that one word.
“Not enough.”
Rosa took a breath.
“Every major hotel I applied to somehow knew I had once worked for the Cole family.”
Richard’s eyes narrowed.
Ethan understood.
“You blacklisted her?”
“I made calls.”
“You ruined her career?”
“I prevented complications.”
Ethan moved so quickly that two security men stepped forward.
He pointed at them.
“Stay where you are.”
Then he faced his father.
“You knew about Lily.”
Richard said nothing.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
Victoria covered her mouth.
Not from grief.
From calculation.
Her eyes were moving.
Guests.
Press.
Phones.
The wedding photographer.
The board members sitting in the first rows.
Ethan saw it too.
“Everybody out.”
Victoria grabbed his arm.
“No.”
He turned.
“What?”
“You are not dismissing my wedding guests because some woman showed up with a child.”
Rosa stiffened.
Ethan pulled his arm free.
“She didn’t show up.”
Victoria blinked.
“What?”
“She works here.”
He turned to the estate manager.
“How long?”
Mrs. Hall looked nervous.
“Eight months.”
Ethan stared at Rosa.
“You’ve been in this house eight months?”
“Yes.”
“And you never came to me?”
Rosa looked at Richard.
Then back at Ethan.
“I learned my lesson the first time.”
That hurt.
He couldn’t hide it.
Lily slipped her tiny hand into Rosa’s.
“Mommy, can we go home?”
Rosa looked down.
“Yes.”
Ethan stepped forward.
“Wait.”
Rosa’s expression changed.
There was fear in it now.
“No.”
“I just found out I have a daughter.”
“And she just found out a stranger might be her father.”
“I’m not asking to take her.”
Victoria muttered, “Not yet.”
Rosa heard.
So did Ethan.
He turned slowly.
Victoria’s face went pale.
“Did you say something?”
She forced a smile.
“Nothing.”
But Rosa was watching her.
And suddenly Rosa remembered a face.
A car outside Lily’s daycare.
A woman in sunglasses.
The same woman.
The same posture.
The same cold stare.
May you like
Rosa whispered—
“You already knew.”
