Chapter 6: The Secret My Mother Took to Her Grave
I couldn't remember leaving the hospital room.
One moment I was holding my phone. The next, Nathaniel was supporting my elbow while Marcus called for a car.
“Rose, look at me,” Nathaniel said.
I tried.
“Your brother is safe. Marcus is sending two guards to the rehabilitation center.””
“What if they hurt him?””
“They won't.””
“You can't promise that.””
Nathaniel's expression softened.
“No. But I can promise that nobody will get near him without going through my security team.””
I swallowed.
“Why would Victoria know my mother?””
Nathaniel didn't answer.
Because neither of us knew.
The drive to the rehabilitation center took twenty minutes.
I spent every second staring at my phone, waiting for Daniel to call.
When we arrived, two security guards were already standing outside his room.
Daniel was sitting in his wheelchair beside the window.
His dark hair was messy, and a blanket covered his legs.
The moment he saw me, he raised one hand.
“Rose.””
I rushed toward him and wrapped my arms around his shoulders.
“Are you okay?””
“I'm fine. You're squeezing the life out of me.””
I pulled back.
“Sorry.””
He glanced at Nathaniel.
“Is that your boss?””
Nathaniel offered his hand.
“Nathaniel Callaway.””
Daniel shook it cautiously.
“Daniel Bennett.””
“I've heard a lot about you.””
My brother raised an eyebrow.
“Hopefully not the embarrassing stuff.””
Despite everything, I almost smiled.
Then I noticed the photograph on his bedside table.
My mother.
And Edward Callaway.
I picked it up.
“Where did you get this?””
Daniel looked toward the nurse.
“She gave it to me.””
“What did she tell you?””
He hesitated.
“She said Mom had lied about how she died.””
The room became silent.
I sat beside him.
“Daniel, what exactly did she say?””
He reached into the drawer and removed a folded piece of paper.
“She told me Mom wasn't killed in a car accident.””
My fingers went numb.
“What?””
Daniel unfolded the paper.
It contained a handwritten message.
Your mother discovered something that powerful people were willing to kill for. She died protecting it. Your sister has the missing piece.
I stared at the words.
“Who gave you this?””
“A woman named Victoria.””
Nathaniel stepped forward.
“Did she say anything else?””
Daniel nodded.
“She said she was going to marry you. She said that once the wedding was over, everything would finally belong to her.””
Nathaniel's face turned pale.
Daniel looked at him.
“I'm guessing that's not what happened.””
“No,” Nathaniel said quietly.
“It isn't.””
I sat down, trying to make sense of everything.
My mother had died when I was six.
I'd been told the accident happened on a rainy highway outside Boston. The police report said another vehicle had crossed the center line.
There had been no investigation beyond that.
My grandmother had raised us for a few years before passing away, and Daniel and I had eventually been separated between relatives.
I'd spent most of my adult life working to keep us afloat.
Never once had I imagined that my mother's death might have been connected to the Callaway family.
“Daniel,” I whispered, “did Victoria tell you why she came?””
He nodded.
“She asked whether you still had Mom's jewelry.””
My hand went instinctively to my neck.
I wasn't wearing the locket.
It was still at the estate.
Nathaniel noticed my reaction.
“The locket.””
I nodded.
“Victoria knows about it.””
Daniel looked confused.
“What locket?””
“The silver one Mrs. Callaway gave me.””
He shook his head.
“Rose, Mom had a silver locket too. She wore it every day.””
I stared at him.
“What?””
“I remember because I used to play with it when I was little. It had a little tree engraved on the front.””
The exact same design.
My throat tightened.
“Why didn't you tell me?””
“I thought it was just an old necklace.””
He reached for the photograph.
“Look at the back.””
I turned it over.
There were four words written beneath my mother's name.
Two halves. One truth.
Nathaniel studied the photograph.
“Maybe the locket contains something.””
Daniel nodded.
“That's what Victoria said.””
I looked at him sharply.
“What else did she say?””
He hesitated.
“She said Mom had hidden a name inside it.””
“What name?””
“She didn't know. She wanted me to tell her where you kept it.””
Nathaniel looked toward Marcus.
“Did you recover Rose's belongings?””
Marcus checked his phone.
“Sir, the team is at the estate now.””
“Have them retrieve the locket immediately.””
Marcus made the call.
A few seconds later, his expression changed.
“What happened?”” Nathaniel demanded.
Marcus listened.
Then he lowered the phone.
“Victoria is there.””
Nathaniel's face hardened.
“Where?””
“In Rose's room.””
I stood.
“My room?””
Marcus nodded.
“The security team says she was removing items from the bedside drawer.””
Nathaniel turned toward the door.
“Let's go.””
But Daniel grabbed my wrist.
“Rose, wait.””
I looked down.
“What?””
He reached beneath his pillow and pulled out another envelope.
“She gave me this too.””
My stomach tightened.
“Victoria?””
He nodded.
“She said to give it to you if she couldn't get the locket.””
I opened the envelope.
Inside was a photograph of my mother standing in front of a hospital entrance.
She was holding a newborn baby.
On the back, someone had written:
The first child belongs to the Callaways. The second belongs to Catherine.
I read it again.
Then a third time.
My mind refused to accept what my eyes were seeing.
Nathaniel took the photograph.
He stared at the baby.
Then at me.
“Rose…”
I couldn't breathe.
“What does this mean?””
He turned the photograph over.
The handwriting was unmistakably my mother's.
And beneath the sentence was a date.
A date that matched the year Nathaniel had been born.
My hands began to shake.
Daniel looked between us.
“What's going on?””
Nathaniel's voice was barely audible.
“Rose, how old are you?””
“Twenty-six.””
He looked at the photograph again.
Then he whispered:
“My father died when I was eighteen. But before that, he told me something about a child he had lost.””
I stared at him.
“What child?””
Nathaniel didn't answer.
His eyes were fixed on the hospital photograph.
Then Marcus called again.
“Sir, we have a problem.””
Nathaniel put the phone on speaker.
“What now?””
“Victoria has left the estate.””
“Did she take anything?””
Marcus paused.
“Yes.””
“What?””
“Your father's original trust documents. And the locket.””
Nathaniel closed his eyes.
Then Marcus delivered the final blow.
“She also left a message for you.””
“What message?””
Marcus read it aloud.
“Tell Rose to ask her brother who their real father was.””
I looked at Daniel.
His face had gone completely white.
“Daniel?””
He shook his head.
“Rose, there's something I never told you.””
I stepped closer.
“What?””
He looked at the photograph in Nathaniel's hand.
Then he whispered:
“Mom told me before she died that we had different fathers.””
I felt the room disappear around me.
Daniel's eyes filled with tears.
“And she said yours was the richest man in America.””
Nathaniel slowly lowered the photograph.
For the first time since I'd known him, the billionaire looked utterly powerless.
Because if Daniel was telling the truth, then the woman who had saved his mother from falling off the rooftop might be more than the missing beneficiary of his father's fortune.
May you like
She might be his father's daughter.
And Victoria had known it all along.
