Chapter 6 - The Story They Sold
By lunchtime, reporters lined the road outside the estate.
Television vans parked beside the gates.
Cameras pointed toward every vehicle that entered.
Rosa stood behind a curtain and watched strangers discuss her daughter as though Lily were a corporate scandal.
One reporter described Rosa as a former graduate student who had mysteriously abandoned her career.
Another called her an employee who had concealed a billionaire’s child while working inside his home.
A third openly questioned whether she had taken the job to place herself near Ethan.
Rosa turned off the television.
“I’m leaving.”
Ethan looked up.
“No.”
“This is your house.”
“It is Lily’s house too if she wants it to be.”
“That isn’t what I mean.”
Rosa gathered Lily’s coat.
“If we stay here, they will keep saying I came for your money.”
“If you leave, they’ll say I threw you out.”
“I don’t care what they say about me.”
“I care what they say about Lily.”
“So do I.”
Their voices rose.
Lily appeared in the doorway.
Both adults stopped immediately.
“Are you fighting?”
Rosa crouched.
“No, baby.”
Lily looked at Ethan.
“Are you mad at Mama?”
Ethan’s anger disappeared.
“No.”
He knelt too.
“I’m mad because people are saying things that aren’t true.”
Lily hugged Button.
“Tell them to stop.”
Ethan almost smiled.
“I wish it worked like that.”
After Lily returned to the playroom, Ethan’s attorney arrived.
Margaret Sloan was sixty-two, silver-haired, sharp-eyed, and nearly impossible to intimidate.
She read the published reports.
“This leak contains private employment information.”
Rosa folded her arms.
“Meaning?”
“Someone accessed your personnel records.”
Ethan looked at Daniel.
“Victoria.”
Margaret shook her head.
“Maybe.”
She placed another document on the desk.
“But there’s a bigger problem.”
The wedding agreement between Ethan and Victoria’s families contained a business provision.
If the marriage occurred, the Haynes family investment company would join a major Caldwell Global development project.
If the marriage collapsed under certain circumstances, both sides could claim financial damages.
Ethan stared at the page.
“I never agreed to this.”
Margaret tapped the signature.
“Your executive authorization is here.”
Ethan looked closer.
“That isn’t my signature.”
The room became silent.
Margaret nodded.
“I thought you’d say that.”
Daniel immediately requested the original document.
It had been filed six months earlier.
Jonathan’s administrative credentials appeared in the approval history.
Ethan closed his eyes.
The conspiracy was becoming larger.
Victoria had not merely wanted the wedding.
Someone had tied billions of dollars in business to it.
Margaret looked at Ethan.
“If this signature was forged, somebody inside your company helped.”
Ethan’s phone buzzed.
A message from an unknown number appeared.
CANCEL THE PATERNITY ANNOUNCEMENT.
A second message followed.
PAY THE WEDDING SETTLEMENT.
A third came ten seconds later.
OR THE NEXT VIDEO RELEASED WILL DESTROY ROSA.
Ethan showed Margaret.
Rosa stared at the screen.
“What video?”
Nobody answered.
Then her own phone rang.
A link arrived.
Rosa opened it.
Her face went white.
May you like
It showed her entering Ethan’s bedroom.
Three years before Lily was born.
