CHAPTER 3: THE SECRET
“Everyone out.”
The command wasn’t shouted.
But it carried weight.
Guests began to move—quietly, quickly, eager to escape what was no longer entertainment.
Within minutes, the ballroom emptied.
Only four people remained.
Caleb.
Nora.
Lily.
And Sloane.
“This is ridiculous,” Sloane snapped. “You’re overreacting—”
“Leave,” Caleb said.
“I’m your fiancée.”
“Not anymore.”
Silence crashed between them.
Sloane laughed once, sharp and disbelieving.
“You’re ending our engagement over a servant’s child?”
Caleb didn’t answer immediately.
Instead, he reached into his jacket.
He pulled out his phone.
Opened a photo.
Claire.
Smiling.
Alive.
He turned the screen toward Nora.
Her breath caught.
“I… I’ve seen her,” Nora whispered.
Caleb went still.
“Where?”
Nora hesitated.
Then the truth broke free.
“Three years ago. A shelter in Boston. She was pregnant. Scared. She said she couldn’t go home.”
Caleb’s entire body locked.
“She gave birth a few months later,” Nora continued, voice shaking. “She left the baby with me… said someone would come for her.”
Caleb’s gaze dropped slowly to Lily.
“…No one ever did.”
Sloane’s composure cracked.
“This is insane,” she said. “You’re believing this?”
Caleb didn’t look at her.
“Get out.”
This time, Sloane obeyed.
Not because she wanted to.
May you like
But because she finally understood—
She had lost.
