Chapter 1: The Woman on the Marble Floor
At 12:04 a.m., I walked into my mansion and found my unconscious housekeeper lying in a pool of blood beside the woman I was supposed to marry.
For three seconds, I couldn’t understand what I was seeing.
Maria Alvarez, the woman who had cared for my home like it was her own for three years, was collapsed on the cold marble floor.
Her dark hair was stuck to her face. A deep cut ran across her cheek. Her hands were twisted against her chest, and two of her fingers were swollen in a way that made my stomach turn.
And standing over her was Vanessa.
My fiancée.
She was wearing the same black silk dress she had worn to the charity dinner earlier that evening. Her makeup was flawless. Her diamond necklace sparkled beneath the chandelier.
She looked completely calm.
Too calm.
“Ethan,” Vanessa said softly, walking toward me.
“You need to stay away from her.””
I stared at her.
“What happened?””
Vanessa looked down at Maria, then back at me.
“She attacked me.””
The words felt impossible.
“Maria attacked you?””
Vanessa nodded slowly.
“She came into the study drunk. She was screaming. She grabbed me, and when I tried to defend myself, she fell.””
I looked at Maria.
Drunk?
The word didn’t belong anywhere near her.
Maria had never touched alcohol in the entire time she worked for me. Not once.
She was the woman who arrived before sunrise every morning. The woman who remembered my favorite coffee order. The woman who stayed late when my father was sick because she didn’t want him to be alone.
She was quiet, gentle, and careful.
She wasn’t violent.
She wasn’t reckless.
She wasn’t drunk.
“Where is the bottle?”” I asked.
Vanessa blinked.
“What?””
“The alcohol. If she was drunk, where is the bottle?””
Her expression changed for half a second.
Only half a second.
But I saw it.
“There was one,” she said quickly.
“Maybe she threw it away.””
I stepped closer.
“Maria wouldn’t drink in this house.””
Vanessa crossed her arms.
“Ethan, are you seriously defending your housekeeper over me?””
Her voice sharpened.
“I’m your future wife.””
“And she’s a woman lying unconscious on my floor.””
The silence between us became heavy.
Vanessa looked offended, but something else flashed behind her eyes.
Fear.
Before I could ask another question, Maria suddenly moved.
A weak sound escaped her throat.
I rushed to her side.
“Maria?””
Her eyelids slowly opened.
Her eyes were unfocused at first, but when she saw Vanessa standing behind me, something changed.
Panic.
Real panic.
“Maria,” I whispered, “who did this to you?””
Her lips trembled.
She tried to speak, but the pain stopped her.
Vanessa stepped forward.
“Don’t listen to her. She’s confused.””
Maria’s eyes locked onto mine.
She ignored Vanessa completely.
With the last strength she had, she grabbed my sleeve.
Her voice was barely audible.
“Ethan…”
“I’m here.””
“She knows…”
I leaned closer.
“Who knows?””
Maria swallowed.
Her eyes moved toward Vanessa.
Then she whispered three words that changed everything.
“She knows about Noah.””
My entire body froze.
“Noah?””
Vanessa’s face lost its color.
Just for a moment.
But it was enough.
Because I had never heard that name before.
And Vanessa’s reaction told me she had.
I called emergency services immediately.
As paramedics lifted Maria onto the stretcher, Vanessa stood beside me in silence.
The woman I loved.
The woman who was supposed to become my wife in six months.
The woman who had just been accused by an injured woman who trusted me.
On the way to the hospital, I kept replaying Maria’s words.
She knows about Noah.
I didn’t know who Noah was.
But Vanessa did.
And that terrified me.
At the hospital, doctors rushed Maria into surgery while I sat outside the operating room.
Vanessa sat across from me.
She hadn’t said a word in twenty minutes.
Finally, I looked at her.
“Who is Noah?””
Her face tightened.
“I don’t know.””
“Maria said you knew.””
“She was injured. She was probably confused.””
I watched her carefully.
“Vanessa, why did you look scared when she said that name?””
She looked away.
“I didn’t.””
“You did.””
Her hands clenched around her purse.
Then her phone rang.
She looked at the screen.
And immediately stood up.
“Excuse me.””
She walked down the hallway before answering.
I couldn’t hear everything.
Only a few words.
“She survived…”
A pause.
Then:
“No, Ethan doesn’t know yet.””
My heart sank.
She wasn’t talking to a friend.
She was reporting to someone.
When Vanessa returned, her expression was controlled again.
But it was too late.
Because I had already made my decision.
I was going to find out who Noah was.
And why my fiancée was afraid of a name connected to my injured housekeeper.
An hour later, the surgeon walked out.
His face was serious.
“Mr. Carter?””
I stood immediately.
“How is Maria?””
“She’s stable.””
I exhaled.
Then the doctor hesitated.
“But before surgery, she kept asking for you.””
“Why?””
The doctor looked at me.
“She said there was something you needed to know.””
“What?””
The doctor lowered his voice.
“She said Noah is your brother’s son.””
My blood went cold.
My brother Andrew had died six years ago.
At least, that was what my family had always believed.
May you like
The doctor continued.
“And she said Andrew never died.””
