Chapter 2: The Child Who Wasn't Supposed to Exist
The ballroom grew silent.
Richard Hawthorne approached immediately.
"Elena, what's happening?"
The maid struggled to speak.
Her voice shook violently.
"That mark."
Charlotte glanced down at her wrist.
"What about it?"
Elena wiped tears from her face.
"My daughter had that exact birthmark."
Monica's expression changed instantly.
Only for a moment.
But Richard noticed.
"What daughter?" he asked.
Elena swallowed hard.
"Seven years ago, I gave birth to a little girl."
The room listened.
"Three days later, the hospital told me she died from complications."
Her voice cracked.
"They never allowed me to see her body."
Richard frowned.
Monica stepped forward quickly.
"This is ridiculous."
But Elena wasn't finished.
"My baby was born on June 18."
Richard's face slowly drained of color.
Charlotte's birthday.
June 18.
The exact same date.
Monica grabbed Charlotte's shoulder.
"Enough of this nonsense."
The little girl winced.
Richard immediately noticed.
"Take your hand off her."
Monica released Charlotte.
Too quickly.
Too nervously.
That night Richard ordered a private DNA test.
Monica protested.
Then demanded.
Then threatened.
Which only convinced him more.
Three days later the results arrived.
Richard opened the report alone.
His hands shook as he read.
Then he read it again.
And again.
Because the results were impossible.
Charlotte Hawthorne was not biologically related to Monica.
But she was the biological daughter of Elena Reyes.
The maid.
May you like
The woman crying in the ballroom.
The woman who thought her baby had died.
