Chapter 2 - The Ghost of ColumbiaThe heavy oak doors of the study locked with a definitive click.
Ethan stood by the floor-to-ceiling mahogany bookshelves, a glass of amber whiskey untouched in his hand. Across from him, sitting rigidly on the edge of a leather armchair, was Rosa. Little Lily was fast asleep on the sofa, her tear-streaked face buried against her worn cloth rabbit, clutching a corner of Ethan’s cashmere throw blanket.
"Four years," Ethan said, his voice dangerously low. He didn't look at her; he stared out the window at the manicured boxwood hedges. "You vanished off the face of the earth, Rosa. One day you're a brilliant biochemistry grad student with a bright future, and the next—gone. No forwarding address. No university records. Nothing."
Rosa kept her chin up, though her hands trembled in her lap.
"People change their minds, Mr. Caldwell. People realize they don't belong in certain worlds."
"Don't play games with me," Ethan whipped around, his eyes flashing with a mix of fury and anguish. "You didn't just change your mind. You dropped out three months after we... after we stopped seeing each other. And you were pregnant."
"I was young. I was stupid," Rosa spat back, her eyes finally flashing with long-suppressed fire. "I thought a billionaire's plaything would get the fairy-tale treatment? Please. I saw how your circle looked at me. I saw the way your society friends smiled to my face and whispered behind my back about the 'scholarship charity case.' I didn't want your pity, Ethan. And I certainly didn't want a check."
"You denied me a child!" Ethan slammed his glass down, the whiskey sloshing over the rim. "You kept my flesh and blood a secret for three damn years while you worked as a maid in my own house!"
"I didn't choose this house!" Rosa stood up, her voice rising, shaking with fierce maternal protection. "An employment agency placed me here! I didn't know whose estate it was until my first day on the job. By then, I needed the money, and you... you barely looked at me twice. You were too busy climbing corporate ladders and entertaining socialites like Clara!"
Ethan flinched. The name hung in the air like poison.
"Clara," Ethan muttered bitterly. "A strategic alliance. A merger of family names. Nothing more."
"Well, your fiancée has a lovely way of treating 'nothing more,'" Rosa said, stepping toward the door. "She shoved my daughter. She called her dirty. And for that, Mr. Caldwell, our business here is finished. I resign. Give me my final paycheck, and you will never see either of us again."
She reached for the doorknob.
"Try it," Ethan said quietly.
Rosa froze, her hand hovering over the brass handle.
"Try walking out that door, Rosa," Ethan continued, stepping closer, his shadow falling over her. "And I will file an emergency custody injunction within ten minutes. I own half the judges in this state. You will spend every cent you don't have fighting me in court, and by tomorrow morning, Lily will be living in this mausoleum whether you like it or not."
May you like
Rosa turned around, her eyes blazing with absolute hatred. "You wouldn't."
"Try me," Ethan whispered, his gaze intense. "I lost four years of my daughter's life because of your stubborn pride. I am not losing another second."
