Chapter 3 - Victoria’s Smile Hide Something Worse
The Caldwell estate went into lockdown before sunset.
Security guards sealed the gates.
Every employee was questioned.
The camera found in Leo’s room was taken to a private technology firm.
And Victoria was nowhere to be found.
That frightened me more than if she had stayed.
People who acted out of anger were predictable.
People who smiled while planning were not.
Ethan spent the next three hours in meetings.
I stayed with Leo.
He asked why everyone was upset.
I told him adults were having a difficult day.
Children deserved simple answers.
They did not deserve the burden of adult failures.
At eight o’clock, someone knocked on my door.
I expected Ethan.
It was Victoria.
She stood in the hallway wearing a long black coat.
“How did you get past security?” I asked.
“My father owns forty percent of the company that provides the Caldwell estate’s security systems.”
I should have known.
She stepped inside without waiting.
“Where is the boy?”
My entire body stiffened.
“Asleep.”
“I want to see him.”
“No.”
She smiled.
“There it is.”
“What?”
“The courage.”
I frowned.
“I was beginning to think you had none.”
“You shoved my son.”
“And you still work here.”
“I don’t work here anymore.”
“Ethan hasn’t formally dismissed you.”
“He doesn’t have to.”
Victoria walked closer.
“You think Ethan loves you.”
I said nothing.
She laughed softly.
“He barely knows you anymore.”
“He knows enough.”
“No. He knows the woman he remembers.”
She looked at me with something almost like pity.
“You were his fantasy. The poor girl who disappeared. The beautiful tragedy.”
“I don’t care what you think.”
“You should.”
She reached into her purse.
Then she placed a photograph on the table.
My heart stopped.
It was Leo.
Taken in a public park three months earlier.
He was holding Button.
Beside him stood a man whose face I could barely see.
I knew the park.
I knew the date.
I had taken Leo there.
“Who took this?”
Victoria smiled.
“I did.”
“You were following us.”
“Not personally.”
I picked up the photograph.
“Why?”
“Because I was curious.”
“About what?”
“About the child I knew would eventually become my problem.”
My blood ran cold.
“You knew?”
Victoria sat down.
“I knew about Leo six months ago.”
I stared.
“How?”
“Your former landlord.”
I remembered the woman.
Mrs. Bell.
She had been kind to me after Leo was born.
Victoria continued.
“She sold information.”
My stomach twisted.
“How much?”
“Enough.”
“You’re lying.”
“I’m not.”
“Then why wait?”
“Because I wanted proof.”
“Proof of what?”
“That Ethan had a child.”
I looked at the photograph again.
“You knew he was Ethan’s?”
She nodded.
“Before Ethan did.”
I felt sick.
“Why didn’t you tell him?”
“Because I needed leverage.”
“Against whom?”
“His father.”
I blinked.
Victoria’s expression changed.
For the first time, I saw fear underneath the arrogance.
“My father was never going to let me marry Ethan without securing control over Caldwell Holdings.”
“And Leo?”
“Leo was an obstacle.”
I stood.
“You mean my son was an obstacle.”
“Yes.”
The honesty was horrifying.
“And now?”
“Now that Ethan knows, everything has changed.”
She stood too.
“You have to understand something, Rosa. I never shoved your son because I hate children.”
“Then why?”
“Because I wanted to see whether Ethan would choose you.”
I stared at her.
She smiled.
“He did.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means the wedding is over.”
I felt no victory.
Because Victoria had not come to surrender.
She came to warn me.
“Your biggest mistake,” she said quietly, “is believing I am your enemy.”
I frowned.
“I am.”
“No.”
She picked up her handbag.
“The person behind this is much closer to Ethan than I am.”
She walked to the door.
“Who?”
She stopped.
“Ask Ethan why his father’s first heir disappeared.”
Then she left.
I found Ethan in his office ten minutes later.
He was standing in front of a wall of windows, staring at the city lights.
“Victoria came to see me.”
His shoulders tightened.
“What did she want?”
“She said she knew about Leo six months ago.”
He turned.
“What else?”
“She said I should ask you about your father’s first heir.”
His face changed.
“Where did she hear that?”
“You tell me.”
Ethan walked to a cabinet.
He unlocked it.
Inside was an old wooden box.
He brought it to the desk.
“I found this after my father died.”
He opened it.
Inside were letters.
Old photographs.
And a birth certificate.
He handed me the paper.
The name on it made my hands go numb.
Alexander James Caldwell.
Male.
Date of birth: seven years before Ethan.
Mother: Margaret Caldwell.
Father: Thomas Caldwell.
I looked up.
“Your mother had another son.”
Ethan nodded.
“They told me he died.”
“Did he?”
“I was twelve. I remember the funeral.”
“Did you see the body?”
“No.”
I stared at the certificate.
“Then someone lied.”
Ethan nodded.
“Exactly.”
A letter fell from the box.
I opened it.
The handwriting was Ethan’s father’s.
My dear Ethan,
If you ever find this, it means the family has failed to protect you.
Do not trust anyone who tells you Alexander died.
The first heir is alive.
And one day, he may come back for what he believes is his.
I felt cold.
Ethan took the letter.
“There’s more.”
At the bottom was one sentence.
He has your mother’s eyes and my blood.
Leo’s eyes.
Ethan’s face turned pale.
“No,” he whispered.
“What?”
“What if Alexander is still alive?”
Before I could answer, Ethan’s phone rang.
His security chief.
“Sir, we have an issue.”
“What?”
“One of the outer cameras recorded a vehicle leaving the estate.”
“Who?”
“There was no plate.”
“Did anyone see the driver?”
“No.”
The chief hesitated.
“But there was a passenger.”
“Who?”
“Your father’s old caretaker.”
Ethan’s gaze sharpened.
“Joseph?”
“Yes.”
Joseph had been missing for four years.
And suddenly I understood why someone had waited so long.
The past had not disappeared.
May you like
It had been watching.
Waiting.
