Chapter 5 - A HOUSE BUILT OF SECRETS
By noon,
my street was lined with black cars.
The news had broken.
“Billionaire Graham Whitaker’s Secret Triplets Found,”
the headlines screamed.
I kept the curtains closed,
watching the shadows of paparazzi through the fabric.
Graham was on the phone constantly,
his voice rising in anger.
He was building a wall around us,
but I felt like I was back in a cage.
“We have to move,”
he said,
hanging up the phone for the tenth time.
“They know where you live,
Emily.”
“It’s not safe here.”
“This is their home!”
I argued,
gesturing to the height marks I had drawn on the doorframe.
“They feel safe here.”
“I’ll buy the house next door,”
he suggested,
“and the one across the street.”
“I’ll put security on every corner.”
I looked at him,
realizing that his solution was always to throw money at the problem.
“They don't need security guards,
Graham.”
“They need a father who isn't always on the phone.”
He stopped,
his hand dropping to his side.
He looked at the triplets,
who were currently trying to fit all their toys into a single box.
He walked over and sat on the floor with them.
He didn't say a word about the company or the safety.
He just picked up a toy truck and handed it to Noah.
“Where does this go,
big guy?”
he asked.
Noah looked at him,
then at the box,
and gave a toothy grin.
“In!”
For the next two hours,
Graham Whitaker,
the man who ran empires,
did nothing but play.
I watched from the kitchen,
my heart aching with a mixture of love and fear.
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I realized then that I still loved him.
And that was the most dangerous secret of all.
