CHAPTER 2: THE SECRET HIS MOTHER BURIED
CHAPTER 2: THE SECRET HIS MOTHER BURIED
Lucas Harrington didn't sleep that night.
The image of Emma standing on that dusty road haunted him.
Her exhausted face.
The pain in her voice.
The twins who looked exactly like him.
And one question that wouldn't leave his mind.
What really happened three years ago?
By sunrise, he was sitting in his office overlooking downtown Manhattan.
A stack of files lay scattered across his desk.
His private investigator, Marcus Reed, stood across from him.
Marcus had worked for Lucas for nearly a decade.
If there was a secret to uncover, Marcus could find it.
Lucas slid a photograph across the desk.
It showed Emma holding the twins.
"I want everything," Lucas said.
Marcus glanced at the picture.
"You think there's more to the story?"
Lucas's jaw tightened.
"I know there is."
Marcus nodded.
"I'll start immediately."
For the next forty-eight hours, Lucas could barely focus on work.
Every few hours he called Marcus.
Every few hours the answer was the same.
"Still digging."
Then, on the third day, Marcus called.
His voice sounded different.
Serious.
Concerned.
"Lucas... I found something."
Twenty minutes later Marcus arrived carrying a thick black folder.
He placed it on the desk.
"You need to sit down."
Lucas felt a chill run through his body.
Slowly, he opened the folder.
Inside were copies of emails.
Hospital records.
Bank transfers.
Phone logs.
Dozens of documents.
Marcus pointed to the first page.
"The day you were supposed to propose to Emma, you were involved in that car accident."
Lucas nodded.
He remembered little about that time.
Only flashes.
Sirens.
Pain.
Darkness.
Then months of recovery.
Marcus continued.
"You were in a coma for almost four months."
"I know."
"What you don't know is what happened while you were unconscious."
Lucas looked up.
Marcus hesitated.
Then he said the words that changed everything.
"Emma visited you."
Lucas froze.
"What?"
"Almost every day."
His heart stopped.
Marcus opened another file.
"She signed visitor logs."
"There are security records."
"There are witness statements."
"She came constantly."
Lucas stared at the documents.
His hands began shaking.
"No..."
Marcus nodded.
"Yes."
A lump formed in Lucas's throat.
For three years he had believed Emma walked away.
For three years he had believed she abandoned him.
But the evidence said otherwise.
She had never left.
She had stayed.
Marcus slid another document forward.
"This is where it gets ugly."
The page showed a large wire transfer.
The sender's name made Lucas's blood run cold.
Victoria Harrington.
His mother.
Marcus looked him directly in the eyes.
"The money was sent to a senior hospital administrator."
Lucas slowly stood.
"No."
"There were more payments after that."
"For what?"
Marcus swallowed.
"To block Emma's access."
Lucas felt the room spinning.
The investigator opened another folder.
Inside were copies of letters.
Dozens of them.
Every envelope was addressed to Lucas.
Every letter had been returned.
Never delivered.
Lucas picked one up.
The date was three years old.
His fingers trembled as he unfolded it.
The paper was stained with tears.
Lucas,
The doctors say you're still sleeping.
I talk to you every day anyway.
I don't know if you can hear me.
But our baby deserves to know how much his father loves him.
Lucas stopped reading.
His vision blurred.
His baby.
Not baby.
Babies.
Emma had written that letter before she even knew she was carrying twins.
A tear rolled down his cheek.
Marcus quietly handed him another letter.
Then another.
And another.
Months of messages.
Months of hope.
Months of love.
All hidden from him.
All stolen.
Lucas slammed his fist onto the desk.
The glass surface cracked instantly.
"Who did this?"
Marcus took a deep breath.
"You already know."
Lucas did know.
But he didn't want to believe it.
His mother.
The woman who had raised him.
The woman he trusted.
The woman who always insisted Emma wasn't good enough.
Marcus opened the final section of the file.
"This came from a former employee of your family's estate."
Lucas read the statement.
Each word felt like poison.
Victoria Harrington had personally met with Emma.
She told her Lucas never wanted to see her again.
She claimed Lucas had moved on.
She offered Emma money to disappear.
When Emma refused, security was ordered to remove her from the property.
Lucas could barely breathe.
Everything suddenly made sense.
The unanswered calls.
The missing letters.
The years of silence.
Emma hadn't abandoned him.
She had been pushed out.
And he had been manipulated into believing she was gone.
For three years.
Three years his sons grew up without a father.
Three years Emma suffered alone.
Three years he lived a lie.
Lucas looked up at Marcus.
His voice was ice cold.
"Where is my mother?"
Marcus hesitated.
"At the estate."
Lucas grabbed his coat.
"Then it's time we had a conversation."
Victoria Harrington sat in her private garden sipping tea when her son arrived.
She smiled.
"Lucas, darling—"
The smile vanished when she saw his face.
He threw the folder onto the table.
Photographs scattered everywhere.
Letters flew across the marble surface.
Victoria's expression changed instantly.
She recognized the documents.
And she knew she had been caught.
Lucas's voice shook with rage.
"You lied to me."
Victoria slowly set down her teacup.
"Lucas—"
"You stole my family."
The words echoed through the garden.
For a moment, neither of them moved.
Then Victoria stood.
Her expression hardened.
"I did what was necessary."
Lucas stared at her in disbelief.
"Necessary?"
"She wasn't right for you."
"She loved me."
"She was poor."
Lucas felt sick.
Victoria continued.
"You were meant for bigger things."
"You were supposed to marry someone from our world."
"Our world?" Lucas shouted.
"You mean a world where money matters more than people?"
Victoria's face remained cold.
"If I had to do it again, I would."
The silence that followed was devastating.
Because in that moment, Lucas realized something.
His mother wasn't sorry.
Not even a little.
Three years of pain.
Three years of lies.
Three years stolen from innocent children.
And she felt absolutely nothing.
Lucas slowly shook his head.
A lifetime of admiration died inside him.
Then he spoke.
"If you ever come near Emma or my sons again..."
His voice was deadly calm.
"You will discover exactly how much power your last name no longer gives you."
For the first time in years, Victoria Harrington looked afraid.
And for the first time in years, Lucas walked away from her without looking back.
Because now he had only one mission.
To find Emma.
To tell her the truth.
May you like
And somehow...
To convince the woman he had unknowingly broken that he never stopped loving her.
