Chapter 13 - The Job Was a Trap
I went back to the mansion because I wanted answers from the one person who had been arranging my life without permission.
Mrs. Thornbury waited in the servants’ kitchen.
I put Fern in a high chair with crackers.
Then I closed the door.
“You hired me because you knew Stellan was Fern’s father.”
“Yes.”
“You knew my mother was alive.”
“Yes.”
I gripped the edge of the counter.
“How long?”
“Until six months ago.”
“What happened six months ago?”
“She stopped contacting me.”
“Dead?”
“I don’t know.”
“Missing?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me anything?”
“Rose made me promise.”
I slammed my palm on the counter.
“I am so tired of dead women making decisions for me.”
Fern looked up from her cracker.
I lowered my voice.
Mrs. Thornbury said, “Rose believed ignorance protected you.”
“It made me poor. Scared. Alone.”
“I know.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because I do.”
“No. You know the file. You do not know what it feels like to choose between formula and rent while thirty-eight million dollars moves through your daughter’s fake grave.”
Mrs. Thornbury cried then.
I did not comfort her.
Maybe that was cruel.
I had no room left.
Stellan entered quietly.
He heard the last part.
“Selene.”
“Don’t.”
“I wasn’t going to defend her.”
“Good.”
He placed a folder on the table.
“We found who approved your hiring paperwork.”
I stared at Mrs. Thornbury.
“She did.”
“No.”
I opened the folder.
Mrs. Thornbury had submitted the recommendation.
Final approval came from Stellan’s uncle, Roman Cross.
The same man now running corporate operations.
“Why would Roman approve me?”
Stellan’s eyes were cold.
“Because Roman signs nothing himself. His office does.”
Darius entered behind him.
“We found the HR email.”
He showed me.
One line had been added to my hiring note.
PLACE HART ON EAST WING ROTATION. ENSURE CHILD ACCESS IF NECESSARY.
I stared.
“They wanted Fern inside the house.”
Stellan nodded.
Mrs. Thornbury shook her head.
“No. That wasn’t me.”
“Then who?” I asked.
Darius said, “The email originated from Roman’s executive server.”
Stellan picked up his phone.
“I’m bringing him in.”
I grabbed his wrist.
“No.”
He looked surprised.
“If Roman wanted Fern here, walking into his office and saying ‘hello, we figured it out’ seems stupid.”
Darius’s mouth twitched.
Stellan stared at me.
“You’re getting comfortable giving orders.”
“I learned from an expert.”
Fern threw a cracker on the floor.
Darius said, “She did too.”
Stellan actually smiled.
Then his phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
A woman’s voice came through the speaker.
“Do not bring Roman anywhere.”
I stopped breathing.
I knew that voice.
Older.
Rougher.
But I knew it.
“Mom?”
Silence.
Then Rose Hart said, “Selene, if you can hear me, take Fern and leave Stellan’s house.”
My eyes filled.
“Where are you?”
“Not safe.”
“Why did you fake your death?”
“I will explain.”
“No. Explain now.”
Her voice broke.
“I did it to protect you.”
I laughed through tears.
“Everybody did.”
Then Rose said the one thing that made Stellan’s expression disappear.
“Roman is not the person who created Ava Cross.”
Stellan leaned toward the phone.
“Who did?”
Rose answered.
“Your mother.”
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