Chapter 1 - THE OTHER GIRL
Stellan Corsaro heard his daughter before he saw her.
The banquet had been running for nearly two hours.
Music drifted across the south lawn.
White lights hung between old oak trees.
Long tables covered in ivory linen stretched across the terrace while nearly one hundred guests moved between dinner, champagne, and quiet conversations that usually became louder when Stellan walked away.
He had been at the front gate greeting an elderly family friend when he heard something faint behind the service courtyard wall.
“Daddy!”
Stellan stopped.
The man beside him kept talking.
Stellan did not hear a word.
“Daddy!”
Dulcie.
He turned.
His security chief, Noah Mercer, saw his expression.
“What?”
Stellan was already moving.
They crossed the terrace.
Past the catering entrance.
Past stacked chairs and silver service carts.
Then Stellan rounded the courtyard wall.
He froze.
An oversized kennel stood beneath the covered service awning.
It had been used years earlier for a family mastiff.
The dog was long gone.
The kennel remained.
Inside it sat Dulcie.
Eight years old.
Pale-lavender formal dress.
Cardigan pulled crookedly over one shoulder.
Tears covering her cheeks.
A short lightweight restraint was clipped around her waist and attached near the open side of the kennel.
Not hurting her.
Preventing her from moving farther than a few feet.
Stellan felt something inside him become frighteningly quiet.
“Dulcie.”
She looked up.
“Daddy!”
He crossed the courtyard.
The gate was latched.
He tore it open.
Noah reached for the clasp on the restraint.
Stellan stopped him.
“I’ve got it.”
His hands remained steady.
That surprised him.
He removed the clip.
Dulcie launched herself into his arms.
Stellan lifted her.
“Are you hurt?”
She shook her head against his neck.
“Did anybody hit you?”
“No.”
“Who put you here?”
Her body tightened.
Then she whispered:
“Imogen.”
Stellan closed his eyes for one second.
His fiancée.
The woman he intended to marry in eight weeks.
“Why?”
Dulcie began crying harder.
“She said I kept embarrassing her.”
“How?”
“I asked where Mommy’s necklace went.”
Stellan frowned.
“What necklace?”
“The little gold one.”
His chest tightened.
Dulcie’s mother, Elena, had died five years earlier.
Most of her jewelry remained locked in a private family safe.
Dulcie owned only one piece.
A tiny gold pendant Elena placed around her neck as an infant.
Two intertwined circles.
She rarely wore it because Stellan feared she would lose it.
“What happened to it?”
“Imogen took it.”
Stellan’s eyes hardened.
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
“Why?”
“She said it was childish.”
Noah looked away.
He knew what Stellan looked like when anger became stillness.
Dulcie continued.
“I tried to get it from her room.”
“And?”
“She found me.”
Stellan held his daughter closer.
“What did she say?”
Dulcie wiped her face.
“She said when you marry her, things are changing.”
“What things?”
“My room.”
Stellan stared.
“She said I might go to school somewhere else.”
“What school?”
“I don’t know.”
Then Dulcie whispered:
“She said I ruin your new family.”
Stellan’s jaw tightened.
Noah stepped closer.
“Boss—”
Stellan glanced at him.
Noah corrected himself.
“Stellan.”
Good.
“Take Dulcie inside.”
“No.”
Dulcie gripped his tuxedo.
“I’m staying with you.”
Stellan looked toward the banquet.
Then back.
He carried her himself.
Guests saw them return.
Conversations stopped gradually.
Imogen stood beside the main table.
Burgundy gown.
Diamond necklace.
Perfect posture.
No visible fear.
Stellan placed Dulcie behind Noah.
“Stay with him.”
Dulcie held Stellan’s hand.
He squeezed once.
Then released.
Imogen took a sip of champagne.
“You found her.”
Stellan walked closer.
“You put my daughter in a dog kennel.”
“It was open.”
“The gate was latched.”
“She was being impossible.”
“She was restrained.”
“For ten minutes.”
Stellan stared.
“You think duration improves this?”
Imogen exhaled.
“You indulge her.”
“She is eight.”
“She behaves like the entire estate belongs to her.”
Stellan’s voice lowered.
“It is her home.”
“That is exactly the problem.”
Guests watched.
Imogen realized she had said too much.
Stellan continued.
“She says you took her mother’s necklace.”
Imogen’s expression shifted slightly.
“She went through my room.”
“Did you take it?”
“I put it away.”
“Where?”
“Safe.”
“Which safe?”
Imogen did not answer.
Stellan took another step.
“Which safe?”
“She needs to stop clinging to Elena.”
Dulcie made a small sound behind him.
Stellan heard.
That ended any patience.
He struck Imogen once across the face.
Hard.
She staggered backward and collapsed into a cushioned outdoor chair.
Several guests gasped.
Stellan immediately disliked what he had done.
Not because Imogen deserved protection from consequences.
Because Dulcie had already seen too much anger.
Stellan stepped back.
Imogen slowly rose.
Her cheek reddened.
She touched it.
Then smiled.
That smile stopped him.
“You think you can throw me out.”
Stellan looked at her.
“Yes.”
“Do it.”
“Gladly.”
Imogen’s eyes shifted toward Dulcie.
Then back.
“Throw me out…”
Her voice became quieter.
“…and you’ll never find the other girl.”
Stellan stopped.
Dulcie slowly lifted her head.
Noah’s expression changed.
Stellan stared at Imogen.
“What other girl?”
She smiled.
No answer.
“Imogen.”
Still nothing.
Stellan stepped closer.
She whispered:
“You have no idea what Elena hid from you.”
That hurt because she used his dead wife’s name like a weapon.
“What did Elena hide?”
Imogen looked at Dulcie again.
Then said:
“Ask why her birth records say Infant A.”
Stellan felt the world narrow.
He did not understand.
Not yet.
But Imogen clearly did.
May you like
And she had just made the first mistake of the night.
She had given him something specific enough to verify.
