Chapter 3 - The Secret in the Shadow
The penthouse on Madison Avenue was silent, save for the rhythmic hum of the HVAC system and the soft crackle of the fireplace I had immediately ordered lit to warm the room.
Posie was wrapped in a thick, cashmere blanket on the oversized leather sofa, fast asleep after drinking a cup of warm milk laced with honey. The exhaustion of a life lived in the shadows had finally caught up to her.
Mave sat stiffly on the edge of a velvet armchair near the window, staring blankly out at the glittering skyline of a city that had nearly chewed her up and spit her out. She had changed into a clean, oversized sweater I had pulled from my master wardrobe, but her shoulders remained hunched, as if she were still bracing for a blow.
I stood a few feet away, holding a glass of scotch I hadn't touched.
“Mave,” I said softly, breaking the agonizing silence. “Talk to me.”
She didn't look at me. She kept her gaze fixed on the rain sliding down the glass. “There’s nothing to talk about, Garrett. You saw what happened. You have a bride waiting in a cathedral, or at least you did until ten minutes ago.”
“That wedding ended the second I saw those eyes,” I said, walking closer, kneeling down beside her chair so I was forced into her field of vision. “Three years ago, you vanished. No note. No explanation. My mother told me you took a payoff and left town because you couldn't handle the pressure of the Hail family. I hated you for it. Every single day for three years, I let hatred fill the space where you used to be.”
Mave’s head snapped toward me, her eyes flashing with a sudden, fierce anger that cut through her exhaustion.
“Your mother told you that?” she hissed, her voice trembling.
“She showed me bank transfers. Signed papers bearing your signature,” I replied, my brow furrowing as a cold dread began to pool in my stomach.
Mave let out a harsh, humorless laugh that sounded like breaking glass. “Signed papers? Garrett, I couldn't even afford groceries the week I left! Your mother didn't just buy me off; she broke into my apartment while you were away in Zurich, threw a manila envelope on my kitchen table, and told me that if I didn't disappear by midnight, she would ensure my younger brother’s medical trials were permanently canceled, leaving him to die in that hospital bed.”
The room seemed to tilt on its axis.
“Eleanor...” I whispered, the name tasting like poison in my mouth.
“She sat in that velvet chair, looking at me with those exact same cold eyes you inherited, and told me I was a disease eating away at your future,” Mave continued, tears finally spilling over her lashes, tracing paths down her cheeks. “She said if I stayed, she would make sure you never knew I was pregnant. She said a bastard child with Hail blood would either be used as a pawn or buried in an unmarked grave before it drew its first breath.”
Every drop of blood drained from my face.
My mother. The woman who had raised me to protect the family above all else had engineered my worst nightmare. She had stolen three years of my life, three years of watching my daughter grow, and three years of hell for the woman I loved—all to secure a political marriage with the Ashfords.
“I didn't take her money, Garrett,” Mave whispered, her voice breaking as she covered her face with her hands. “I burned the check in my kitchen sink before I packed a single bag. I’ve spent three years running, hiding in cheap motels across three states, working twenty-hour shifts just to keep Posie fed while dodging private investigators your mother apparently sent to make sure I stayed buried.”
I stood up slowly, the glass of scotch slipping from my fingers and shattering against the hardwood floor. The amber liquid pooled around the shards like blood.
“She’s going to pay for every single day,” I said, my voice so cold it felt as though it belonged to a stranger.
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Mave looked up, her expression filled with stark terror. “What are you going to do?”
“What I should have done three years ago,” I replied, walking toward the private elevator. “I’m going to go home and remind my mother who actually runs the Hail empire.”
