Chapter 4: The Sister Everyone Wanted Forgotten
The ballroom was no longer a celebration.
It had become a courtroom.
Every person inside the room was watching Alexander Valemont.
The man who had always controlled every situation suddenly looked like someone who had lost control of his entire life.
His eyes remained fixed on Victoria.
“Twenty years.”
His voice was calm.
Too calm.
“Twenty years, I believed my sister abandoned this family.”
Victoria said nothing.
Alexander stepped closer.
“I believed she chose to disappear.”
His jaw tightened.
“I believed she left me.”
The last words came out softer.
Almost broken.
“But you knew the truth.”
Victoria looked uncomfortable.
“Alexander…”
“Answer me.”
The entire room froze.
Nobody had ever heard him speak like that.
Not with anger.
Not with power.
With pain.
Victoria looked toward Lily.
The little girl was still holding the old hairpin against her chest.
Protecting it like her life depended on it.
Maybe it did.
Finally, Victoria sighed.
“Isabella made mistakes.”
Alexander's expression darkened.
“My sister was not a mistake.”
“She fell in love with someone your family hated.”
Silence.
Alexander stared at her.
“What?”
Victoria looked away.
“Your father never wanted Isabella to marry him.”
“Who?”
Victoria hesitated.
Then whispered:
“Daniel Cross.”
The name hit Alexander like a shock.
Daniel Cross.
A young man from a normal family.
A talented architect.
A man who had once been Isabella's closest friend.
A man Alexander remembered.
Because his father had destroyed him.
Twenty years earlier.
Alexander was seventeen.
Isabella was twenty-one.
She was the perfect daughter.
Beautiful.
Intelligent.
Kind.
Everyone loved her.
But she had one secret.
She was in love.
Not with someone wealthy.
Not with someone powerful.
With someone who treated her like a human being.
Daniel didn't care about the Valemont fortune.
He cared about Isabella.
And that was exactly why the Valemonts hated him.
Alexander remembered the night everything changed.
His father had called Isabella into his office.
Hours later...
She came out crying.
The next morning, she disappeared.
The family told everyone:
"Isabella ran away."
But now Alexander understood.
That was a lie.
“Where is Daniel?”
Alexander asked.
Victoria looked nervous.
“He died.”
The answer was immediate.
Too immediate.
Alexander noticed.
“How?”
Victoria remained silent.
“How did he die?”
“A car accident.”
Alexander stared at her.
Something felt wrong.
Everything about his sister's story felt wrong.
Then Lily spoke.
“My mommy said Daddy was a good man.”
Everyone turned.
The little girl wiped her tears.
“She said bad people tried to hurt him.”
Alexander's heart sank.
“Lily…”
He knelt beside her.
“Did your mother tell you anything else?”
The girl looked at the hairpin.
“She said…”
Her voice became quiet.
“She said Uncle Alex would come for me one day.”
Alexander froze.
Uncle Alex.
Not Alexander.
Not Mr. Valemont.
Uncle Alex.
The name only Isabella used.
The name she called him when they were children.
He looked away.
Because tears were forming in his eyes.
For twenty years, he thought his sister forgot him.
But she hadn't.
May you like
She had believed in him.
Until the very end.
