Chapter 3 - THE DENVER SECRET
The walls of the thirty-fourth floor felt like they were shrinking.
“No,” I whispered, shaking my head. “No, the police said it was a hit-and-run. A drunk driver. They never found the car.”
“They never found the car because my family’s fixers made sure it disappeared before the police even started looking,” Adrian said. The confession was heavy, bitter.
Tears burned my eyes as the memory of that horrible night rushed back. The rain. The sterile smell of the hospital waiting room. The tiny, terrified three-year-old boy I had wrapped in my coat, promising him his mother was just sleeping.
I looked at the billionaire standing in front of me. The man I had respected. The man I had quietly, foolishly begun to care for over the last two years.
“You knew,” I said, my voice shaking with a betrayal so deep it physically ached. “You hired me knowing exactly who I was. This whole job... it was what? Pity? Hush money?”
“Protection,” Adrian corrected sharply. “If my father knew Julian had a son with your sister, he would have taken the boy. You wouldn’t have stood a chance in court against the Vescari lawyers. You would have lost Leo, and my father would have raised him to be a ruthless, hollow monster.”
He walked closer, holding out the silver locket.
“I found this in the hospital. I tracked you down. I gave you this job, a secure building, an income that allowed you to live in a gated community, all to keep you hidden under my wing. Under my father’s radar.”
I snatched the locket from his palm, clutching it to my chest. My mind was spinning, trying to process the magnitude of the lie I had been living. My nephew, the sweet little boy who loved dinosaurs and drew pictures of sunflowers, was a Vescari. He was the heir to a bloodline built on intimidation and power.
“And Vincent Calder?” I asked, a new wave of fear washing over me.
“Vincent works for my father,” Adrian said grimly. “My father suspects Julian left behind a child. He’s been hunting for a ghost for two years. Vincent asking about your boyfriend wasn’t him flirting. He was trying to find out if you have a man in your life—a husband, a partner—someone who would complicate a custody battle.”
The reality hit me like physical blow. They weren’t going to kill me. They were going to take my son.
“I have to go,” I said, panic completely taking over. “I have to get Leo. I have to leave the city.”
“You can’t run, Tessa. They own the airports. They own the banks.”
“I don’t care! I’m not letting your family touch him!”
I spun toward the door, my hand grabbing the brass handle.
Before I could turn it, Adrian’s private cellphone—the one that only rang for absolute emergencies—shattered the tense silence in the room.
Adrian answered it, his eyes locked on mine.
“Speak,” he commanded.
I watched the color drain from his face. The intimidating, untouchable Adrian Vescari suddenly looked terrified.
May you like
He lowered the phone.
“They found the daycare,” he said.
