Chương 4 - the shadow of the past
Victoria Hale marched into the foyer below, her pink satin gown rustling violently, followed by two security guards who looked deeply uncomfortable.
"Ethan!" Victoria shouted, her voice echoing off the high plaster ceilings as she spotted him on the second-floor landing. "I know you're up there with her!"
Ethan took a deep breath, resting a hand on the mahogany banister as he looked down at his fiancée. "Victoria, I told you to go home to your apartment."
"I am not going home while that opportunist is sleeping under your family's roof!" Victoria yelled, ascending the stairs two at a time, her high heels clicking sharply against the marble. She reached the landing, her face flushed with anger, her diamond earrings shaking. "She brought an illegitimate kid here to trap your father into funding her life!"
Claire stepped forward, her posture rigid, her eyes blazing with raw authority. "Victoria, touch one step closer to my son's room, and I will personally throw you down those stairs."
Victoria sneered, looking Claire up and down. "You think you're safe because Richard feels sorry for you? You're a nobody, Claire! You were a temporary distraction six years ago, and you're nothing now!"
"That's enough, Victoria!" Ethan growled, his voice booming over both women with frightening authority. He stepped between them, his posture imposing and dark. "Go home. Now."
Victoria stared at Ethan in absolute shock. "Ethan... you're taking her side?"
"I am telling you to leave my house before I have security escort you out," Ethan said coldly, his eyes deadpan and unyielding.
Victoria gasped, her manicured hands clenching into fists. She glared at Claire with pure, unadulterated venom before spinning on her heel and rushing back down the stairs, her heels clicking angrily as she vanished through the front doors.
Silence returned to the grand landing.
Ethan turned back to Claire, his chest heaving under his white shirt. "What did you mean downstairs... when you asked if that's what she told me?"
Claire looked into Ethan's eyes, seeing the genuine confusion in his face. A heavy, painful realization settled into her chest.
"Six years ago, Ethan," Claire whispered softly, "the day you flew to London, Victoria came to my apartment with two men from your father's legal team. She showed me pictures of you and her in Paris... and she gave me an ultimatum."
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Ethan’s face drained of color. "What ultimatum?"
"She told me if I didn't leave Chicago that night, your father would terminate my sick mother's medical coverage at the Blackwood Memorial Hospital," Claire said, tears finally glistening in her brown eyes. "I didn't leave because I stopped loving you, Ethan. I left to save my mother's life."
