PART 2
I cut the call and pulled the curtains shut, as if Eleanor could somehow see us from the street. For years, I had rehearsed what I would say to Daniel if we ever crossed paths again, but none of those speeches applied when my daughters were caught in the crossfire.
Betty picked up my phone from the counter. “Does that man know you?”
“We worked together a very long time ago,” I said softly.
“Why does his mom want to send you to prison?”
Mia set her pink bowl on the table. She no longer looked like a little girl excited to wear a fancy dress. “We won’t go to the wedding if it makes you cry, Mommy.”
That broke my heart far more than Eleanor’s threat. My daughters shouldn’t have felt responsible for a past I had hidden from them.
The following day, I went alone to the boutique in Denver to return the invitations. Amanda Sterling was waiting for me among the racks of silk dresses. She was a corporate attorney, the daughter of a hotel magnate, and the woman set to marry Daniel in less than forty-eight hours.
“I was the one who put your daughters on the selection list,” Amanda admitted quietly.
“You used two seven-year-old children to trap me,” I said.
“I found a sealed file during a routine financial review for our prenuptial agreement,” she explained. “It was buried deep within documents for an entity Eleanor was trying to liquidate.”
She pulled out a copy of a legal agreement bearing my forged signature. The document claimed I had accepted $250,000 to leave the company and waive all parental claims related to my pregnancy.
“I never signed this,” I breathed.
“I know. The receiving account belonged to a shell corporation managed by David—Daniel’s brother.”
The room seemed to spin. David was the Chief Financial Officer who, eight years ago, had reported the data leak Eleanor used to threaten me.
“Does Daniel know about this document?” I asked.
“Not yet. When I asked Eleanor about it, she tried to destroy the file. Then I recognized your current name on a foundation roster, saw a photo of your twins, and realized why she was so terrified.”
“You should have called me directly instead of putting my daughters on display.”
Amanda looked down. “You’re right. I thought if I brought everyone together in a setting Eleanor couldn’t control, the truth would come out. I miscalculated the impact on your girls.”
I demanded that she cancel their participation. Amanda agreed, but before I turned to leave, she handed me a flash drive and a copy of the original IT audit report.
“Eleanor knows where you live, Rachel. If you run away again, she wins.”
That night, I opened a hidden box containing the tiny yellow booties, my old pregnancy test, Eleanor’s original threat letter, and an inactive cell phone. I remembered our final meeting with agonizing clarity.
“Daniel cannot afford a public scandal before securing foreign investment,” Eleanor had told me cold-heartedly.
“He doesn’t even know I’m pregnant,” I had whispered.
“He knows everything.” Then she laid the false police report on the table, claiming my login credentials had been used to steal the firm’s core intellectual property. “I can have you indicted before that child is born. And when it is born, Daniel has enough legal power to take it from you permanently.”
I hadn’t taken her money, but I had believed the fabricated audio she played. I hid in a small town for months. When I finally tried to email Daniel from a safe account, my messages bounced back blocked. After the twins were born, the terror of Eleanor fulfilling her threat kept me silent.
The next morning, I sat Betty and Mia down and told them a small piece of the truth. “Daniel was someone very important to me. I need to speak with him.”
“Is he our daddy?” Betty asked directly.
I couldn’t lie to her again. “Yes.”
Mia stayed silent for a long moment before sliding her pink bowl across the table to me. “Here, Mommy. To make you feel happier.”
I decided to go to the Aspen estate, but I refused to let the girls walk in the ceremony. Amanda had promised to arrange a private meeting between Daniel and me before the vows.
She failed.
When we arrived at the estate, Eleanor intercepted the event coordinator and had me led into a private office under the pretense that Daniel was waiting for me. The second I stepped inside, two security guards blocked the door.
“You are going to sign a document stating those children have zero biological relation to my son,” Eleanor demanded, sliding a pen across the desk. “Then you will leave.”
“I’m not afraid of you anymore, Eleanor.”
“You should be. The corporate theft report was never formally closed.”
While we argued, Amanda found the twins waiting in the garden. Believing I had authorized their entry, the coordinator put them into their ivory dresses and lined them up with the rest of the bridal party.
I managed to escape the office when one of the guards refused to physically detain me without a law enforcement order. I ran out to the main courtyard just as the bridal march began.
Betty and Mia were already halfway down the aisle.
Daniel looked at them, dropped his glass, and slowly stood up. Mia had her distinct habit of tilting her head to the left when curious. Betty was scowling in the exact same way he did when trying to solve an impossible problem.
“Stop the music,” Daniel ordered, his voice echoing across the courtyard.
Eleanor stepped out onto the terrace behind me. “They’re the daughters of a thief! Get them out of here!”
Mia flinched back in fear, but Betty gripped her sister’s hand tightly.
Daniel walked down the stone steps and knelt directly in front of them. “What are your names?”
“Betty and Mia Miller,” Betty answered clearly. “Our mom said you didn’t know we existed.”
Daniel slowly lifted his eyes to meet mine across the courtyard. Before he could speak, Amanda walked down the steps holding a thick legal binder.
“Don’t marry me yet, Daniel,” she said softly. “First, ask your mother why she forged Rachel’s signature and hid your daughters for eight years.”
