CHAPTER 2: THE SECRET THEY BURIED
Ethan’s mind raced as memories resurfaced — fragments his family had hidden from him.
A scandal. A disappearance. A servant who “ran away.”
Lily wasn’t dead.
She had been erased.
“Where is your mother now?” Ethan asked, voice shaking.
The girl lowered her eyes. “She went to heaven last winter.”
Pain stabbed through him.
Victoria stepped forward, trying to regain control.
“Ethan, this is clearly some kind of scam. That child—”
“Enough,” he snapped.
His voice, calm but deadly, froze her in place.
“Security,” he said without looking away from Victoria, “review every camera in this building. I want to know how this child was treated tonight.”
Victoria’s face drained of color.
Because she knew.
Minutes later, the footage appeared on the ballroom screen.
Her voice. Her words.
“Remove this trash.”
The room shifted instantly.
Whispers turned into judgment.
Disgust.
Victoria staggered back as her perfect image shattered in seconds.
May you like
“You’ve humiliated me,” she whispered.
“No,” Ethan said quietly. “You did that yourself.”
