Chapter 3 - THE THREAT Elena packed slowly.
Not because she intended to leave.
Because she was thinking.
Every instinct told her to take Lily and disappear.
But disappearing had already cost her seven years.
She could not lose another seven.
Lily sat on the bed.
“Mommy, why does that lady hate us?”
Elena sat beside her.
“Because sometimes people are afraid of the truth.”
“Are we in trouble?”
Elena hugged her.
“No. You did nothing wrong.”
The words were more difficult to say than Elena expected.
Because she knew exactly how powerful Victoria was.
Victoria had lawyers.
Money.
Friends in government.
Influence throughout the town.
Elena had a worn bag and a daughter.
Then she remembered something.
The ring.
She pulled a thin chain from around her neck.
Attached to it was a worn gold ring.
Ethan had given it to her seven years earlier.
Inside the band were two tiny engraved letters:
E.V.
Elena had kept it through every hardship.
She touched it.
“This belongs to your father.”
Lily looked at it.
“My father?”
Elena closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
Downstairs, a door slammed.
Victoria.
Elena knew time was running out.
She carried her bags into the kitchen.
Victoria stood near the window.
“You're leaving?”
“No.”
Victoria turned.
“I told you to leave.”
“I want to speak with Ethan.”
“You won't.”
“He deserves to know.”
Victoria's voice became dangerously calm.
“You don't understand how this works.”
Elena looked directly at her.
“I understand perfectly.”
Victoria stepped closer.
“You're a poor woman with no power.”
Elena's voice trembled, but she didn't back down.
“I may be poor.”
She glanced at Lily.
“But I am her mother.”
Victoria grabbed a decorative wooden stick from beside the cabinet.
Lily moved behind Elena.
“Mommy.”
Elena immediately placed herself between them.
“Put that down.”
Victoria raised it.
“You should have listened.”
Elena backed away.
“Please.”
Victoria swung.
Elena ducked.
The stick smashed against the wooden counter.
Glass rattled.
Lily screamed.
“Mommy!”
Victoria raised the weapon again.
“Dead people keep secrets.”
Elena covered Lily with her body.
Then the front door exploded open.
“VICTORIA!”
Ethan rushed into the kitchen.
He saw the weapon.
He saw Elena protecting Lily.
And he saw the terror in his daughter's eyes.
For one terrible second, the mansion became silent.
Then Ethan stepped forward.
“Put it down.”
Victoria froze.
The wooden stick slipped from her fingers.
Ethan looked at his wife as if he had never seen her before.
“What have you done?”
Victoria tried to speak.
But Ethan was already looking at Elena.
And this time, he wasn't looking at the maid.
He was looking at the woman he had once loved.
May you like
The woman who had disappeared.
The woman who had apparently been carrying his secret all these years.
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