Chapter 4 - THE LETTER I NEVER RECEIVED
Three days later, Ethan asked me to meet him in the library.
Lily was asleep upstairs with Mrs. Bennett, the housekeeper who had helped me settle into the estate.
The library smelled of cedar and old books.
I remembered standing there once during a holiday party, years earlier, when Ethan had kissed me beneath a mistletoe branch and promised we'd spend the next Christmas together.
We never did.
Now he stood beside the desk holding a faded envelope.
“There's something you should see.”
I approached cautiously.
He handed it to me.
My name was written across the front.
Rosa Alvarez.
I recognized the handwriting immediately.
Mine.
My stomach tightened.
“Where did you get this?”
Ethan looked at me.
“It arrived at my office four years ago.”
I stared.
“No.”
He nodded.
“It was delivered to my father's former executive assistant. She told me you had left a letter.”
My hands trembled.
I remembered writing that letter.
It was the night I discovered I was pregnant.
I had spent hours trying to find the right words.
I told Ethan I loved him.
I told him I was frightened.
I told him I needed to know whether there was still room for us in his life.
And I told him about the baby.
I mailed it to his private office.
Then waited.
Days passed.
Weeks.
No answer.
Eventually, I convinced myself he had chosen not to respond.
I stared at the envelope.
It had been opened.
Inside was a single sheet of paper.
But it wasn't my letter.
It was a typed message.
Rosa Alvarez has decided to end all contact. She requests that you respect her wishes.
My knees weakened.
“This isn't what I wrote.”
Ethan's expression hardened.
“I know that now.”
I looked up.
“Who did this?”
He swallowed.
“My father's assistant.”
“Why?”
He hesitated.
“Because someone instructed her to.”
A terrible feeling settled in my stomach.
“Who?”
Ethan looked toward the window.
May you like
Then said:
“Victoria's father.”
