Chapter 4 – The Man Behind the Lie
The ballroom doors opened once again.
Every conversation stopped.
Marco entered first, followed by two security guards escorting a young man in a tailored navy suit. His tie hung crooked, and sweat soaked through the collar of his expensive shirt despite the cool air inside the mansion.
I recognized him immediately.
Ethan Brooks.
Vanessa's personal assistant.
He handled her schedule, answered her private calls, and seemed invisible to everyone—exactly the kind of man powerful people stopped noticing.
The moment Vanessa saw him, the last trace of confidence disappeared from her face.
"Ethan?" she whispered.
He couldn't meet her eyes.
Marco stopped a few feet from Alessandro.
"Sir, he tried to leave through the service entrance."
"I wasn't running," Ethan blurted out. "I—I panicked."
Alessandro folded his hands behind his back.
"Then don't panic now."
Ethan swallowed hard.
"I've done nothing wrong."
Marco placed a leather folder on a nearby table.
"We found this in his briefcase."
Inside were copies of medical appointments, invoices, hotel reservations, and a prepaid cell phone registered under a false name.
Vanessa shook her head violently.
"No... no..."
Alessandro opened the folder one page at a time.
Every document carried Vanessa's name.
Every date matched the timeline of her supposed pregnancy.
"What exactly do you do for Miss Cole?" Alessandro asked.
"I'm... her assistant."
"No."
Alessandro looked up.
"You don't organize calendars."
He slid one invoice across the table.
"You organize lies."
Ethan's face turned white.
The invoice was from the same theatrical supply company that had sold the silicone maternity belly.
Under "Special Instructions" was a signature.
E. Brooks
"I can explain."
"Please do."
The ballroom waited.
Ethan's breathing became shallow.
"I only picked it up."
"For whom?"
Silence.
"Ethan," Alessandro said quietly, "if you lie again, I won't ask a third time."
The young man closed his eyes.
"For Vanessa."
A wave of whispers rolled through the guests.
Vanessa lunged toward him.
"You traitor!"
Marco stepped between them before she could strike him.
"You promised!" she screamed.
"I promised nothing," Ethan replied, his voice breaking. "You said no one would ever find out."
Vanessa looked around desperately.
"He's lying!"
"No."
Ethan's shoulders slumped.
"I'm done lying."
He turned toward Alessandro.
"She told me you wanted an heir more than anything."
Alessandro's expression never changed.
"So she decided to give me one."
Ethan nodded.
"She said once the wedding happened... she'd figure everything else out."
The silence that followed was suffocating.
But Ethan wasn't finished.
"There was someone else helping her."
Vanessa's eyes widened in terror.
"No..."
Ethan whispered the name.
"Richard Hale."
Several older guests gasped.
I had never heard the name before.
Alessandro had.
His jaw tightened for the first time that night.
"Bring him to me," he ordered.
Marco hesitated.
"Sir..."
"He left the estate twenty minutes ago."
Alessandro's eyes became colder than the storm outside.
"Then find him."
Marco touched his earpiece.
May you like
"Every gate."
"No one leaves the city."
