The Letter That Never Arrived
Chapter 05 - The Letter That Never Arrived
The next morning, Lucas returned to the Whitmore estate and went directly to the locked study his mother had used for decades. Victoria was already there, sipping coffee beneath a portrait of Lucas’s grandfather.
“You humiliated this family,” she said.
“You framed Ava.”
“I protected you.”
“From the woman I loved?”
“From a house employee who understood exactly how close you were to inheriting the company.”
Lucas placed Lily’s photograph on the desk. It showed her holding a cardboard solar system, smiling with his crooked left dimple. “She was pregnant. You knew.”
Victoria’s silence answered before her mouth did.
He searched the study after she left. He knew her habits: contracts in the black cabinet, personal leverage in the hidden drawer behind the map of Europe. The drawer still responded to his grandfather’s birthday. Inside were copies of old checks, private reports, and a cream envelope addressed in Ava’s handwriting.
Lucas sat down before opening it.
The letter was dated seven years and seven months earlier.
Lucas, I don’t know what your mother told you. I did not steal the bracelet. I am pregnant, and I believe the baby is yours. I am not asking for money. I am asking you to call me before fear decides our future for us.
A phone number followed. So did three words that left him unable to breathe.
I still love you.
Beneath the letter was a returned envelope from his Boston apartment. Victoria had redirected his mail while he traveled. There was also a note from Martin Hale confirming that “the Monroe matter” had been contained.
Lucas photographed everything and sent the files to an independent attorney. Then he called Ava.
“I found your letter,” he said.
For a moment, there was only silence.
“You found it now?”
“My mother kept it.”
Ava’s voice turned small, almost like the young woman he remembered. “I waited six weeks for you to answer.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You didn’t know.”
“I should have known you better than to believe her.”
That truth hurt more than blame.
Before they could say more, Lucas received an alert from the foundation’s media office. A gossip site had published a blurred video from the gala. The headline accused an unidentified banquet server of ambushing billionaire Lucas Whitmore with a secret child.
Within minutes, Ava’s name appeared online.
Then her employer called and suspended her for violating guest privacy.
Victoria had fired the first public shot.
May you like
Lucas looked at the hidden letter in his hand and made a decision that would cost him far more than money.
He called a press conference for noon.
