Chapter 2: What the Darkness Was Hiding
Part 2 ⬇️
Elena was sitting on the bare concrete floor of that shed, her back against the wall, her clothes thin and worn.
Julian — my five-year-old son — was curled against her chest, clutching a piece of stale bread she had rinsed under the outdoor pump.
My boy.
Hungry.
In the dark.
Twenty feet from a party happening inside my own home.
I couldn't breathe.
I couldn't move.
I just stood there at that cracked window with five years of sacrifice turning to ash in my hands.
Then I heard the back door of the main house bang open.
Victoria's voice cut through the night like a blade.
"Elena.
The guests need more ice.
Stop sitting around and bring it in.
Now."
Elena flinched.
She carefully moved Julian off her lap, stood up slowly, and whispered, "Stay here, baby.
Don't make a sound."
She walked out of that shed like someone who had learned a long time ago not to fight back.
I stepped out of the shadows.
Elena froze when she saw me.
Her face went completely white.
"Julian…" she breathed.
"You're — how long have you been—"
"Long enough," I said.
Her eyes filled with tears.
And then she said something that made my bl00d run cold.
"Julian, please.
Before you go in there — there's something you don't know.
About the money.
About all of it.
Your mother has been—"
The back door swung open again.
May you like
Evelyn stepped out.
And the moment she saw my face, she stopped dead.
