Chapter 2 - The Web of Deceit
Camille stood alone in the grand foyer long after Julian had walked away toward the sunroom. Her heart was hammering against her ribs like a trapped bird.
No. No, no, no, she screamed internally. It can’t be her. It’s impossible.
She pulled out her diamond-encrusted phone with trembling fingers and dialed a private number. It rang three times before a gruff voice answered.
"What is it, Camille? I told you not to call this line unless it's an emergency," her father, Arthur Rourke, growled.
"It is an emergency, Dad!" Camille whispered fiercely, ducking into the library and locking the door behind her. "The girl. The maid from the Amalfi coast. She’s here. She’s working as a housemaid at Hartwell House!"
There was a heavy, suffocating silence on the other end of the line. When Arthur spoke again, his voice was laced with pure venom. "Are you certain? We paid the hospital staff in Naples to destroy the records. We made sure she was paid off to disappear!"
"We didn't pay her off, Dad! You paid her greedy stepfather, who told us she ran away!" Camille paced the floor, her nails digging into her palms. "She has the silver hummingbird. The one Julian gave her. He just saw it. He’s with her right now questioning her."
"Listen to me very carefully, Camille," Arthur ordered, his voice dropping to a sinister register. "That marriage contract must be signed. If Julian finds out that Mara is the true savior—and that you swooped in at the hospital, pretended to be the woman from the cave, and used his temporary blindness to secure the engagement—the Rourke empire goes bankrupt by tomorrow morning. Julian will ruin us."
"What do I do?" Camille whimpered, the glamorous façade completely gone.
"You do what Rourkes do. You eliminate the threat. Frame her. Get her thrown out permanently before Julian can verify her story. I’ll handle the DNA angle if he tries to test the kid."
Meanwhile, in the sunroom, the atmosphere was vastly different.
Julian sat on a low velvet ottoman, directly across from Mara, who was fiercely shielding Ivy. The little girl had calmed down, happily coloring on a piece of parchment Mrs. Higgins had provided, oblivious to the storm raging around her.
"Mara," Julian said gently, his usual intimidating demeanor melting away. "Look at me. Please."
Mara slowly lifted her chin. Her eyes were red-rimmed, beautiful but exhausted. "Mr. Hartwell, please don't do this. I know who you are. I’ve always known. That’s why I took the job here under a different name. I just needed to earn a living for Ivy. I never wanted to bother you."
"You saved my life," Julian said, his voice thick with emotion. "I spent a year searching the Amalfi coast for you. Why didn't you come forward? Why did Camille show up at the hospital with the matching chain, claiming it was her?"
Mara let out a bitter, heartbroken sigh. "Because my stepfather stole the chain from my room while I was at the hospital checking on you. He sold it to the Rourke family for a million euros. The next day, two men came to my house. They told me that if I ever approached you, if I ever told you the truth, my family would suffer. I was pregnant with Ivy, Julian. I was terrified. I took my daughter and fled to America."
Julian’s blood turned to ice. Camille had lied. The Rourkes had staged the entire romance. He had spent three years marrying a monster while the woman who had kept him alive in the dark was scrubbing his floors.
But as he looked at Mara, and then down at little Ivy, a sudden, shocking realization struck him. He looked at Ivy’s golden-brown eyes. The exact shade of his own. He looked at the shape of her jaw, the stubborn set of her chin.
"Mara," Julian whispered, his heart stopping. "How old did you say Ivy is?"
"She’s three," Mara said, her voice trembling again.
"October," Julian calculated aloud, his breath catching in his throat. "She was born in July. Nine months after the shipwreck."
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Mara closed her eyes, a single tear escaping and rolling down her cheek. She didn't have to say a word.
HOOK: Before Julian can speak the words out loud, the doors to the sunroom burst open, and three armed police officers step inside, led by a smug, triumphant Camille.
