Chapter 19
The silence in Paula’s office was suffocating, thick with restrained rage and bitter
disappointment.
Patricia stood stiffly before her, arms crossed in defiance, but there was a flicker of fear in he eyes. “I don’t know what lies you’ve been fed,” she said coolly. “But I’m the one who was raised ir this house. I’m the one who knows how things work. I love this family-”
“Enough.” Paula’s voice cracked like a whip, making Patricia flinch. “I want the truth. All of it
Now.”
Patricia’s bravado crumbled. She turned away, but Paula wasn’t having it. She grabbed Patricia’s wrist and pulled her back around to face her.
“I’ve protected you for years. Chosen you over my own blood. Do not insult me with more lies.”
Patricia’s shoulders slumped. Her throat bobbed as she swallowed hard, then the words came in a bitter whisper.
“I did it. I told the driver to speed up that night. I knew Alicia was driving. I knew she was tired, distracted. But I wanted her to crash. I wanted her to look bad. I didn’t know she’d lose the baby…
I didn’t mean-”
“You didn’t mean?!” Paula’s eyes widened in horror. “You destroyed her!”
“I just wanted her gone,” Patricia cried, voice rising. “She was going to take everything! The family, the business, the attention, you–everything that was mine!”
“I was never yours,” Paula said coldly. “Not by blood. And now, not by loyalty either.”
Behind them, the door creaked open.
Denver stepped in, his expression unreadable, until Patricia turned and met his eyes. Whatever fear had been simmering in her now erupted.
“Denver,” she said, reaching for him. “You have to believe me. I only did it for us.”
Denver’s jaw clenched. “You don’t speak for me.”
He grabbed her roughly by the arm.
“Wh-what are you doing?”
“Something I should’ve done a long time ago,” he said. “You’re going to pay for what you did to
Alicia.”
“Wait, please!” Patricia begged, struggling as he dragged her toward the hallway.
He pushed her into the old storage room and slammed the door shut. Locking it with the iron bolt outside.
“I’ll find Alicia,” he muttered through the door. “And if we don’t… you can rot here.”
Paula appeared beside him, pale and quiet.
“We gave her everything,” she said quietly, mostly to herself. “But it wasn’t enough. Alicia was always my daughter. And I turned my back on her.”
She turned to one of the guards. “Find her. I don’t care what it takes. Track her down.”
“But ma’am… we don’t know where she is. Rain–her friend–she’s been lying to us. We couldn’t
Chapter 18
2:59 pm
even find traces in Japan.”
That’s when Denver’s jaw ticked. “Then investigate Rain. Watch her. She’ll lead us to Alicia eventually.”
And that’s exactly what they did.
A week passed. Rain’s routines were observed, her emails monitored, and then finally–a trail. A UK–based digital payment for a supply store. An England gallery name surfaced.
Then came an article. A feature in an online lifestyle magazine. Paula’s eyes zeroed in on the image–a photo of Julian Thorne, smiling beside a woman described as “the gallery’s new assistant curator, Alicia Montero.”
She dropped the tablet and stood up immediately.
“Get the jet ready,” she ordered. “We’re going to England.”
Hours later, Paula stood outside Julian Thorne’s art gallery, heart thundering in her chest. She didn’t wait for the receptionist to approve her entry. She pushed her way inside.
Julian, in his glass–walled office, looked up in alarm as a woman barged through the doors.
Alicia stood beside him, halfway through organizing the art board. She turned when the noise registered.
And froze.
“Mom?” she whispered.
Paula’s face crumpled. “My baby…” she sobbed.
She ran across the gallery space, ignoring the startled gasps of the staff, and wrapped Alicia in a tight hug.
Alicia stood frozen in shock, her arms hanging stiffly at her sides.
‘Mama, what are you–what is happening?”
‘I’m so sorry,” Paula cried. “I didn’t know. I didn’t see what she was doing. I didn’t protect you.”
Tears sprang to Alicia’s eyes, but she still couldn’t move.
Julian stood behind her, watching, stunned. He took a cautious step forward, unsure whether to
intervene.
‘I was wrong,” Paula whispered, stroking Alicia’s hair. “I was so wrong.”
And Alicia, who had waited a lifetime to hear those words–even when she’d stopped believing they’d ever come–felt her chest cave in as the tears finally fell.
