Chapter 3 - THE PRENUP
At nine o’clock, Daniel was summoned to his father’s study.
Evelyn waited inside with two attorneys.
A thick contract rested on the desk.
Daniel stopped.
“What is this?”
“Protection.”
Evelyn pushed the document toward him.
“Nora must sign before the ceremony.”
Daniel did not touch it.
“We already have a prenup.”
“This replaces it.”
Charles stood silently beside the fireplace.
Daniel looked at him.
“Did you know about this?”
Charles avoided his eyes.
Evelyn answered instead.
“Your father understands that the circumstances have changed.”
“What circumstances?”
Evelyn placed the investigator’s photograph on the desk.
Daniel picked it up.
He stared at the teenage girl in the photograph.
It was Nora.
But the clothes were wrong.
She wore a formal white coat with gold embroidery.
Uniformed men stood behind her.
“Where did you get this?”
“That doesn’t matter.”
“It matters to me.”
“Your fiancée has been lying to you.”
Daniel looked up.
Evelyn leaned back.
“There are no complete records of Nora Ellis before age eighteen.”
“She grew up in foster care.”
“So she claims.”
Daniel’s expression hardened.
“What are you suggesting?”
“I’m suggesting she may be after more than your charming personality.”
Daniel almost laughed.
“Nora owns a used bookstore.”
“Exactly.”
Evelyn tapped the photograph.
“And yet she somehow attended an event surrounded by European diplomatic security.”
Daniel stared at the image again.
For months, he had noticed things about Nora that did not quite fit.
Her French was perfect.
So was her German.
At a charity dinner, she had corrected a former ambassador on royal protocol without thinking.
She knew which fork to use before the oil executive had tried to humiliate her.
She could identify military medals from across a room.
Once, when a former cabinet secretary had been introduced, the man had stared at Nora as if recognizing a ghost.
Daniel had ignored all of it.
Because Nora never acted important.
That was precisely what made the photograph unsettling.
“Where is she?”
“Upstairs.”
Daniel turned toward the door.
Evelyn spoke behind him.
“If you confront her now, she will invent a story.”
He stopped.
“She deserves the chance to explain.”
“She has had nearly a year.”
Daniel looked back.
“Did you ruin her dress?”
For the first time, Evelyn hesitated.
That was answer enough.
Daniel’s face changed.
“You did.”
“She does not belong here.”
“This is my house too.”
“No.”
Evelyn rose.
“This is the Hawthorne estate.”
“And tomorrow it may belong to someone else.”
Charles finally looked up.
Evelyn froze.
Daniel stared at his father.
“What does that mean?”
Charles said nothing.
Evelyn moved quickly.
“Your father is tired.”
Daniel stepped toward him.
“Dad?”
Before Charles could answer, the study doors opened.
Madison Sterling walked in wearing a pale gold dress.
She held her phone.
“You might want to see this.”
A society gossip account had posted a photograph of Nora.
The caption read:
WHO IS DANIEL HAWTHORNE REALLY MARRYING?
The story had already been shared twelve thousand times.
Someone had leaked the photograph from Evelyn’s investigator.
Daniel slowly turned toward his mother.
Evelyn looked at Madison.
Madison looked away.
Daniel understood.
“You leaked it.”
Madison gave a small shrug.
“The truth was going to come out eventually.”
Daniel walked toward the door.
“Where are you going?”
“To ask Nora myself.”
But when he reached the upstairs hallway, two unfamiliar men in dark suits stood outside Nora’s room.
One stepped forward.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Hawthorne.”
Daniel stopped.
“How do you know my name?”
The man’s face revealed nothing.
“Nora asked not to be disturbed.”
May you like
Daniel stared at the tiny silver insignia on the man’s lapel.
It was the same symbol from the photograph.
