Chapter 6 - The Woman Behind the SecretHadley contacted me the following afternoon.
Her message was brief.
She said she had learned about the baby and wanted to speak before Bennett could change the story again.
Against Gideon’s advice, I agreed to a video call, but only with him present.
Hadley appeared on the screen looking exhausted.
Her hair was pulled back, and a little boy played with wooden blocks behind her.
He had Bennett’s eyes.
“I am sorry,” she said immediately. “I knew he was married, but he told me you had separated and were only staying together because of the family company.”
I felt no anger toward her.
Not then.
There was too much sadness in her voice.
“Did he promise to marry you?”
She looked away.
“He said he would announce the separation after the baby was born.”
The cruelty of that plan became clear.
Bennett had intended to wait until I was at my most vulnerable, then present his departure as an unavoidable decision.
Hadley continued.
“He said your family owed him because he helped expand the company. He told me the house would eventually become his.”
Gideon exchanged a glance with me.
“Did he ask you to sign anything?” he asked.
Hadley nodded.
She retrieved a document from a drawer and held it toward the camera.
Bennett had listed her as the manager of the investment group receiving money from our family company.
She claimed she had signed the documents without understanding where the funds came from.
“I believed it was his company,” she said.
“It was not,” I replied.
Her face lost all color.
“What happens now?”
I looked at the little boy behind her.
He was innocent.
So was my daughter.
May you like
Two children had been placed in the middle of choices they never made.
“You tell the truth,” I said. “That is what happens now.”
