Chapter Two: The Letters in the Locked Drawer
Victoria demanded that the conversation continue privately. Ethan led Amelia and Noah into the estate library while his mother, Eleanor Langford, followed with a pale face.
The moment Eleanor saw Amelia, she stopped.
“You,” she said.
Amelia stood slowly.
“Yes, Mrs. Langford. Me.”
Ethan looked between them. “You knew she was alive?”
Eleanor gripped a chair.
“Ethan, this is not the time.”
“It is exactly the time.”
Seven years earlier, Ethan and Amelia had planned to marry. She was the daughter of a housekeeper at one of the Langford hotels, and Ethan’s parents believed she wanted the family fortune.
Two weeks before the wedding, Amelia vanished. Ethan received a typed note saying she had changed her mind and never wanted to see him again.
He called every number he had. Her apartment was empty. Eventually, he believed she had chosen to leave.
Amelia removed a folded letter from her purse.
“This is what your mother gave me.”
It was an agreement offering her two hundred thousand dollars to disappear, remain silent about her pregnancy, and surrender any future claim against the Langford family.
Ethan looked at his mother.
“You knew she was pregnant?”
Eleanor began to cry.
“I believed I was protecting you. Your father’s company was under investigation. The board was threatening to remove him, and a marriage to Victoria’s family was already being discussed.”
“She wasn’t a business problem,” Ethan said.
Amelia’s voice shook.
“I refused the money. The next morning, my mother was fired, our lease was canceled, and every Langford hotel rejected my applications. Your father said that if I contacted you, his attorneys would call me a liar.”
Ethan stared at Noah.
“Why didn’t you find another way?”
“I wrote to you eleven times.”
She handed him a bundle of returned envelopes. Each had been opened before being marked undeliverable.
Eleanor covered her mouth.
“Those were kept in your father’s office,” she admitted. “After he died, I locked the drawer. I told myself too much time had passed.”
Ethan stepped back.
His father had died eighteen months earlier. Ethan had inherited the company and every secret hidden inside it.
Victoria entered without knocking.
“We have guests waiting,” she said. “This woman appears after seven years with a child, and everyone accepts her story?”
Amelia faced her. “I did not come here for Ethan. I came because I needed a shift.”
Victoria pointed toward Noah.
“Then control your son.”
Ethan’s expression changed.
“You frightened him in front of an entire room.”
“He ruined my dress.”
“He is six.”
“And you are willing to destroy our future because he looks like you?”
Ethan removed his engagement ring.
“No. I’m ending this because of the way you treated him before you knew who he might be.”
He placed the ring on the desk.
Victoria stared at him, then left.
Ethan knelt in front of Noah.
“I don’t expect you to understand any of this,” he said softly. “But I am sorry I wasn’t there.”
Noah looked at Amelia.
“Are you my dad?”
Ethan’s eyes filled.
“I believe I am. Your mom and I will make sure before we promise you anything.”
May you like
A DNA test three days later confirmed it.
Ethan was Noah’s father.
