CHAPTER 2: THE SECRET INSIDE THE LOCKET
Adrian's fingers trembled as he took the silver locket from Mia's tiny hand.
The ballroom disappeared around him.
The music.
The whispers.
The shocked faces.
Everything faded.
Because there was no mistake.
This was his mother's locket.
A delicate silver heart with a small scratch across the front—the scratch he had made himself when he was nine years old while trying to open it with a screwdriver.
He would know it anywhere.
His mother had worn it every day.
Then, on the night she died in a car accident ten years ago, it vanished.
The police never found it.
Neither did he.
Yet now…
a three-year-old girl was holding it.
"Where did you get this?" he asked softly.
Mia blinked.
"My grandma gave it to me."
"What's your grandmother's name?"
The little girl looked at her mother.
Rosa looked completely confused.
"I… I don't know what she's talking about."
Adrian frowned.
"You've never seen this locket before?"
Rosa shook her head.
"No, sir."
Mia looked between them.
"Grandma said Mommy shouldn't know."
The room became even quieter.
Even the guests were listening now.
Rosa's face turned pale.
"What grandmother, sweetheart?"
"The old grandma."
"There is no old grandma."
Mia looked confused.
"Yes, there is. She comes to visit me."
A cold feeling slid down Adrian's spine.
Children imagined things all the time.
But this…
this felt different.
"Can you tell me about her?" he asked gently.
Mia nodded.
"She has white hair and pretty blue eyes. She gives me cookies and tells me stories."
Rosa suddenly looked frightened.
"Sir… my mother died when I was seventeen."
Adrian slowly lifted his head.
"Died?"
"Yes."
"And Mia's father's family?"
Rosa's expression changed.
"There isn't one."
The answer came too quickly.
Too carefully.
Adrian noticed.
So did several guests.
Before he could ask another question, his butler, Mr. Collins, stepped forward.
"Sir… perhaps this isn't the best place for such a conversation."
He was right.
Forty pairs of eyes were staring.
Adrian looked around the ballroom.
Then he made a decision.
"The party is over."
The guests gasped.
"Thank you all for coming."
Nobody moved.
They were waiting for gossip.
For drama.
For explanations.
But Adrian's face made it clear that no one would get any.
One by one, the guests began leaving.
The whispers started immediately.
"Did you see the child?"
"He ended his engagement!"
"That locket…"
"Who is that little girl?"
Within twenty minutes, the grand ballroom was empty.
Only Adrian, Rosa, Mia, Mr. Collins, and a few staff members remained.
The mansion suddenly felt enormous.
And strangely cold.
Adrian looked at Rosa.
"Would you come with me to the library?"
She swallowed hard.
"Am I… fired?"
"No."
Tears immediately filled her eyes.
She had expected the worst.
"Then why…?"
"Because I need answers."
A few minutes later, they sat inside the library.
Mia was asleep on the couch, still clutching her rabbit.
The fire crackled softly.
Adrian placed the locket on the table.
"Tell me everything."
Rosa looked exhausted.
"There isn't much to tell."
"Start with Mia's father."
Silence.
She looked down.
"There isn't one."
"Everyone has a father."
A long pause.
Then she whispered:
"I never told anyone."
Adrian waited.
Three years of secrets seemed to weigh on her shoulders.
Finally, she looked up.
"I was working at another estate four years ago."
"What estate?"
"The Blackwood estate."
Adrian recognized the name immediately.
The Blackwoods were old-money aristocrats and longtime rivals of the Hastings family.
"What happened there?"
She took a shaky breath.
"I fell in love."
"With whom?"
"I never knew his real name."
Adrian frowned.
"What?"
"He worked there temporarily. He said he was an architect."
"And?"
"We were together for three months."
Her eyes filled with tears.
"Then one day… he disappeared."
"You never saw him again?"
She shook her head.
"I found out I was pregnant two weeks later."
Silence filled the room.
"Did he know?"
"No."
"You never looked for him?"
"I tried."
She laughed bitterly.
"I didn't even know his last name."
Adrian leaned back.
The story sounded tragic.
But it didn't explain the locket.
Or the mysterious grandmother.
Then—
Mr. Collins suddenly stood.
His face had gone pale.
"Sir…"
Adrian looked up.
The old butler was staring at Rosa.
"What is it?"
Mr. Collins didn't answer.
Instead, he walked closer.
Very slowly.
"Miss Delgado…"
"Yes?"
"Did you say… four years ago?"
She nodded.
"And the man worked as an architect?"
"Yes."
The old butler's hands began shaking.
"What did he look like?"
Rosa frowned, trying to remember.
"He was tall. Dark hair. Gray eyes."
Mr. Collins nearly dropped the tea tray.
"Impossible."
Adrian stood.
"Collins?"
The old man looked horrified.
"He can't be…"
"Who?"
Mr. Collins swallowed hard.
Then he whispered:
"Your brother."
The room froze.
Adrian stared at him.
"My… what?"
The butler looked as though he had seen a ghost.
"Four years ago… your younger brother, Daniel, disappeared for almost four months."
Adrian's heart skipped.
Daniel Hastings.
The black sheep of the family.
The charming rebel.
The man who hated wealth and responsibility.
The man who traveled constantly.
The man who had been declared dead two years ago after his boat disappeared during a storm.
"No," Adrian said.
"Sir… the description…"
"No."
But memories were suddenly flooding back.
Daniel had been an architect.
Daniel had worked undercover on construction projects.
Daniel had gray eyes.
Daniel had vanished for months without explanation.
Rosa's face turned white.
"What are you saying?"
Mr. Collins looked at her.
"Miss Delgado… I believe the father of your child may have been Daniel Hastings."
The words hit the room like thunder.
Rosa stopped breathing.
Adrian's hands tightened into fists.
"No…"
Then he slowly looked at the sleeping little girl.
The child with the familiar eyes.
The child carrying his mother's locket.
The child who might—
No.
It couldn't be.
Yet suddenly everything felt possible.
Mia moved in her sleep.
Then she opened her eyes.
She looked at Adrian and smiled.
"Uncle."
Everyone froze.
Rosa blinked.
"What did you say, sweetheart?"
Mia rubbed her eyes.
"The old grandma said he's my uncle."
The room went completely silent.
A log cracked in the fireplace.
Nobody moved.
Nobody breathed.
Then the grandfather clock struck midnight.
One.
Two.
Three.
And at that exact moment—
Someone knocked on the library door.
Three slow knocks.
Mr. Collins opened it.
A young security guard stood there, pale as death.
"Sir…"
"What is it?"
The guard swallowed.
"There's an old woman at the front gate."
Adrian frowned.
"At this hour?"
"Yes."
"Who is she?"
The guard looked terrified.
"She says her name is Isabella Hastings."
The silver locket slipped from Adrian's hand.
May you like
Because Isabella Hastings…
had supposedly been dead for twenty-five years.
