Chapter 4 - The Engagement Ring on the Table
Victoria was waiting at the Caldwell estate when Ethan returned.
She had changed clothes.
The cream dress from earlier was gone.
Now she wore a navy suit and the expression she normally reserved for charity boards and hostile reporters.
Her engagement ring still glittered on her hand.
Ethan walked into the library.
Victoria shut the doors.
“Finally.”
“Where’s Rosa?”
“At the hospital with Lily.”
Victoria flinched at the name.
“You’re already calling her Lily like she belongs here.”
“She may be my daughter.”
“May be.”
Victoria emphasized the words.
Ethan stared at her.
Victoria stepped closer.
“Ethan, you are emotional.”
“A child was injured.”
“She fell.”
“You pushed her.”
“I moved her away from the piano.”
“You called her dirty.”
Victoria hesitated.
“That was taken out of context.”
“There is no context in which I want my wife speaking to a child like that.”
Victoria’s expression changed.
“Your wife?”
Ethan realized the wording.
Victoria smiled faintly.
“So I’m still your wife now?”
“Future wife.”
“That isn’t what I meant.”
“But it is what you said.”
Ethan had no patience left.
“Why did your father contact my board?”
Victoria crossed her arms.
“To protect you.”
“From what?”
“A paternity scandal.”
Ethan laughed once.
It contained no humor.
“My daughter is not a scandal.”
“You don’t know she’s yours.”
“And you don’t know she isn’t.”
Victoria walked toward the fireplace.
“You spent three months sleeping with a graduate student.”
“She appears years later working inside your home.”
“She brings a child with your coloring.”
“And suddenly everyone is supposed to believe this is destiny?”
Ethan watched her.
“You sound afraid.”
“I sound intelligent.”
“No.”
He stepped closer.
“You sound terrified.”
Victoria turned sharply.
“Of what?”
“That I might actually be her father.”
Victoria’s composure finally cracked.
“Of course I’m terrified.”
Her voice rose.
“We are getting married in six weeks.”
“Four hundred people are invited.”
“My family has spent months planning this.”
“Do you understand what this will do?”
Ethan stared at her.
“A child was hurt, and you are worried about flowers and invitations.”
“That is not what I said.”
“It’s exactly what you said.”
Victoria looked away.
Ethan slowly removed something from his pocket.
Her spare estate access card.
He placed it on the table.
Victoria looked at it.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“You’re staying somewhere else.”
Her face went pale.
“You’re throwing me out?”
“I’m asking you to leave.”
“Because of her?”
“Because of you.”
Victoria stepped toward him.
“Ethan, don’t do this.”
“You humiliated Rosa.”
“You hurt Lily.”
“And afterward, your first instinct was to protect yourself.”
Victoria looked at her engagement ring.
Then at Ethan.
“So that’s it?”
“I don’t know what this is yet.”
She slowly removed the ring.
For one second, Ethan thought she intended to hand it back.
Instead, she placed it on the table.
“I’m not ending our engagement.”
Ethan frowned.
Victoria met his eyes.
“You’re confused.”
“You’re angry.”
“And when that DNA test proves the girl isn’t yours, you’ll understand what Rosa is doing.”
She walked to the door.
Before leaving, she stopped.
“And Ethan?”
He said nothing.
Victoria looked over her shoulder.
“Ask Rosa why she really left Columbia.”
The door closed.
Ethan remained motionless.
May you like
For the first time that day, Victoria had said something that sounded less like an insult.
And more like a warning.
