Chapter 3 - SEBASTIAN'S FORBIDDEN DRAWER
Veronica Hale was Lily’s great-aunt.
I repeated that sentence three times in my head.
It did not become less insane.
Daniel’s mother, Lucia, was Veronica’s older sister.
Nobody had told me.
Not Daniel.
Not Veronica.
The woman who had supervised me for seven months had known exactly who my daughter was.
Sebastian dismissed the dinner service manager and ordered the restaurant closed for the evening.
No explanation to guests.
No dramatic announcement.
Just one sentence.
“Everyone goes home.”
Then he asked me to stay.
I almost refused.
Lily needed food.
I needed air.
I needed to get as far from that basement as possible.
Sebastian opened a cabinet beside his desk.
Inside were diapers.
Baby wipes.
Formula.
A folded blanket.
I stared at him.
He looked uncomfortable for the first time.
“My sister had a child.”
Had.
The word sat between us.
He took out a sealed bottle of water.
“You can use the office.”
“Why do you have baby supplies down here?”
His jaw tightened.
“Old habit.”
I did not ask.
Not yet.
While I fed Lily, Sebastian searched his desk.
One drawer was locked.
He stared at it.
Then at me.
“This office is forbidden to staff for a reason.”
“Because you like terrifying people?”
“Partly.”
I almost smiled.
He did not.
“There are archived recordings in here.”
“What recordings?”
“My father believed every serious conversation should have a record.”
“That sounds healthy.”
“It wasn’t.”
He unlocked the drawer.
Inside were old digital recorders labeled by date.
Some were more than ten years old.
One label caught my attention.
HALE - VEGA.
Sebastian stopped.
“You know that name?”
“Obviously.”
“No.”
He picked up the recorder.
“I mean Vega.”
He looked genuinely unsettled.
“My father had business with a Vega family.”
“What kind of business?”
“He refused to discuss it.”
Sebastian connected the recorder to his computer.
The file was dated nine years earlier.
A man’s voice filled the room.
Sebastian’s father.
Then a woman.
Lucia.
Daniel’s mother.
She sounded younger.
Angrier.
“You promised the Calder name would stay out of this.”
Sebastian’s father replied.
“And you promised no child would ever be used as collateral again.”
I froze.
Sebastian did too.
Lucia laughed.
“You always were sentimental.”
A third voice entered.
A man.
I did not recognize him.
He said, “If the girl has the bloodline, the trust follows her.”
My hand tightened around Lily.
The recording crackled.
Then Lucia said something that made Sebastian stand completely still.
“We lost the first child.”
A pause.
“But Daniel can give us another.”
I looked at Lily.
Sebastian slowly turned toward me.
Neither of us said it.
We did not need to.
Whatever had happened in that office nine years ago had not ended.
May you like
It had simply waited for my daughter to be born.
