Chương 5
The officer nodded.
“Already working on it.”
Victoria laughed quietly.
“You cannot access confidential board materials from outside the company.”
Julian looked at her.
“You spent fifteen months hiding a child from me.”
He paused.
“I think we both know rules have not been your strongest concern.”
For the first time, Victoria had no immediate response.
The helicopter pilot stepped down.
“Mr. Sterling, we need a decision.”
Julian looked toward the aircraft.
Then back at Harper.
The choice was visible on his face.
Not because he was uncertain about Lily.
Because he was uncertain about what staying meant.
If he left, he might save the company.
If he stayed, he might lose everything he had spent his adult life building.
Harper saw the battle inside him.
She also saw something else.
A fear he had not admitted.
He was afraid that if he chose them, he would fail them.
“Go handle your company,” she said.
Julian looked at her.
“I’m coming back.”
She did not answer.
Not because she doubted him.
Because promises had become dangerous things.
Julian walked away.
Halfway across the yard, Lily made a small sound.
He stopped.
Harper watched him turn around.
The powerful CEO.
The man who could fire executives with a phone call.
The man who had faced hostile investors and international negotiations.
He looked back because his daughter had made a noise.
That was the moment Harper understood something.
Julian Sterling was not walking away from them.
He was walking toward a fight.
The helicopter lifted from the field several minutes later.
Dust covered the yard again.
But this time Harper did not feel abandoned.
She watched until the aircraft disappeared.
Then her phone rang.
She looked down.
Unknown number.
For a second, she considered ignoring it.
Then she answered.
“Hello?”
A woman’s voice came through.
“Harper Hayes?”
“Yes.”
There was hesitation on the other end.
A hesitation filled with guilt.
“My name is Emily Parker.”
Harper’s fingers tightened around the phone.
The world seemed to become very quiet.
“I think you need to know what happened to your letters.”
Harper looked toward the sky where Julian had disappeared.
“What do you mean?”
The woman exhaled.
“I mean I was the person who stopped them from reaching him.”
Harper closed her eyes.
The truth she had waited fifteen months for had finally arrived.
But somehow, hearing it did not feel like victory.
It felt like the beginning of something much worse.
The truth she had waited fifteen months for had finally arrived.
But somehow, hearing it did not feel like victory.
It felt like the beginning of something much worse.
Harper stepped away from the porch railing.
The neighbors were still outside.
That bothered her more than she expected.
Not because she cared about their opinions anymore.
She was tired of caring about people who had already decided who she was before asking what happened.
But Emily’s voice had reopened something she had spent months trying to bury.
The possibility that Julian had never abandoned her.
The possibility that every lonely night, every unanswered message, every moment she held Lily and wondered if she had made the wrong choice, had been built on someone else’s lie.
“Where are you?” Harper asked.
The woman on the phone hesitated.
“I’m in Chicago.”
“Why are you calling me now?”
Another pause.
A longer one.
“Because I saw the news.”
Harper looked toward the empty field.
The helicopter had left a wide circle of flattened grass where it landed.
“News travels fast.”
“It does when Julian Sterling lands in the middle of a small town with half the country watching.”
Harper closed her eyes.
Of course.
The story had already escaped.
The billionaire CEO finding his hidden daughter was not something the media would ignore.
Not when Sterling Enterprises was already fighting rumors about leadership changes.
“Tell me what happened,” Harper said.
Emily breathed in slowly.
“I was his executive assistant for four years.”
“I know.”
“No.”
Emily’s voice became quieter.
“You know the title.”
A pause.
“You do not know what that job meant.”
Harper said nothing.
“I controlled his schedule.”
Emily continued.
“I managed his calls, his travel, his personal appointments.”
Her voice tightened.
“And when his mother wanted something handled quietly, I was usually the person she came to.”
Harper felt cold despite the summer heat.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
The honesty hurt more than denial would have.
Harper gripped her phone.
“You knew I was pregnant?”
“Yes.”
“And you said nothing?”
Emily did not answer immediately.
That silence carried more weight than any excuse.
“When I received your first letter, I thought it was a mistake.”
“A mistake?”
“You have to understand something.”
Emily’s voice became defensive, then immediately softened.
“I am not saying this to justify it.”
Harper leaned against the porch.
“Then what are you saying?”
“I had worked for Julian long enough to know how people approached him.”
“People?”
“Investors.”
“Executives.”
“Family friends.”
“Everyone.”
Emily swallowed.
“Everyone wanted something.”
Harper looked down at Lily, who was now awake and playing with the edge of her blanket.
“And you decided I was one of them.”
“I decided I did not know.”
The answer surprised her.
Emily continued.
“Your letter came through the private office.”
Harper frowned.
“Why?”
“Because Julian gave you access.”
The words stopped her.
“He gave me his private mailing address,” Harper whispered.
“Yes.”
That small detail hurt.
Because she remembered.
She remembered him writing it on a napkin at the diner.
She remembered him telling her that if she ever needed him, she should never go through anyone else.
“Your first letter arrived three days after Julian left for Singapore,” Emily said.
Harper listened.
“His mother was there.”
“Why?”
“Because she had been trying to convince him to accept an arranged engagement with another family’s daughter.”
Harper felt something tighten in her chest.
An engagement.
The same rumor that had spread through magazines.
May you like
The same rumor she had seen online while pregnant.
She had convinced herself it did not matter.
