Chapter 1 - The Man Who Came Home Too Late
Chadworth Prescott had spent twenty years building a fortune large enough to buy almost anything he wanted. He owned hotels, commercial towers, private aircraft, and homes in cities he rarely visited. Powerful men returned his phone calls within minutes, and entire boardrooms fell silent when he entered.
But sitting in the darkness of his mansion's security room, he discovered something his billions of dollars could not purchase.
The ability to undo the suffering his daughters had already endured.
On the surveillance monitor, Lorelai reached for her younger sister's hand.
It was such a small movement that Chadworth might have overlooked it under ordinary circumstances. Yet something about its speed disturbed him. Lorelai hadn't even looked toward Gemma before extending her fingers. She simply knew her sister needed her.
It was the instinct of a child who had learned to recognize danger.
Across the room, Sabina stood with her arms folded while Rosamund remained between her and the girls.
"I told you to stay out of family matters," Sabina said coldly.
Rosamund kept her voice respectful.
"Miss Sabina, I understand, but the girls are frightened."
Sabina gave a humorless laugh.
"Frightened? Don't be ridiculous. They're spoiled, and you encourage it."
"They haven't done anything wrong."
"That's enough!"
Sabina took one threatening step forward.
Lorelai immediately pulled Gemma closer.
Chadworth pushed his chair back.
His security chief, Graham Mercer, turned toward him.
"Sir?"
"Keep recording."
"Everything is being saved."
Chadworth stared at the monitor one final time.
"Then I'm going downstairs."
Graham hesitated.
"Mr. Prescott, perhaps we should contact your attorney first."
Chadworth shook his head.
"My daughters need their father. They needed him long before this morning."
He opened the security-room door and entered the corridor.
For the first time in years, he wasn't thinking about contracts, negotiations, or his next business acquisition.
He was thinking about a little girl whose favorite stuffed rabbit had just been thrown across the room.
And he was thinking about how easily he had believed the wrong person.
Downstairs, Sabina continued berating Rosamund.
"You think because the girls like you, you've become important around here?"
Rosamund didn't respond.
"You clean floors. You wash clothes. That's what you're paid to do."
"Please lower your voice," Rosamund said.
Sabina's expression hardened.
"Don't tell me what to do in my own home."
"It's their home, too."
The words seemed to surprise even Rosamund.
For a moment, neither woman moved.
Then Sabina stepped forward, pointing toward the service hallway.
"Get out. You're fired."
Rosamund's face lost its color.
She glanced at the girls, then back at Sabina.
"Mr. Prescott would need to authorize that."
Sabina smiled.
"Oh, believe me, darling. He'll do whatever I tell him."
A quiet voice answered from the doorway.
"Not anymore."
Sabina turned.
Chadworth stood beneath the living room archway, still wearing the charcoal suit in which he had supposedly departed for Canada.
His face was pale.
His eyes were fixed on his fiancée.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then Sabina's mouth opened.
"Chadworth?"
He remained still.
"You're supposed to be on a plane."
"I know."
"What happened? Did something go wrong?"
He looked past her toward his daughters.
Lorelai had gone completely rigid.
Gemma was hiding behind Rosamund.
The sight nearly broke him.
Sabina recovered quickly and hurried toward him.
"Oh, thank goodness you're home. I was just dealing with a terrible situation involving Rosamund."
Chadworth didn't move when she reached for his arm.
"What kind of situation?"
"She's been encouraging the girls to disobey me. I finally had to put my foot down."
Chadworth studied her face.
She looked concerned, almost wounded.
It was the same expression she had worn whenever she accused Rosamund of stealing.
Only now he knew what existed beneath it.
"Is that what happened?"
"Of course. Darling, why are you looking at me like that?"
His voice remained dangerously quiet.
"Where is Gemma's rabbit?"
Sabina blinked.
"What?"
"The stuffed rabbit you took from my daughter."
A flicker of uncertainty crossed her face.
Then she laughed nervously.
"Oh, that old thing? I was just teaching her not to leave toys everywhere."
Chadworth walked toward the sofa.
He picked up the worn cream-colored rabbit.
One ear was bent, and a little blue ribbon was tied around its neck.
His late wife, Elena, had given it to Gemma before her final hospitalization.
Chadworth remembered that day clearly.
Elena had been sitting beside the bedroom window, too weak to stand for long. She had placed the rabbit in Gemma's arms and told her that whenever she missed Mommy, she could hold it close.
That toy was one of the few things Gemma had left of her mother.
Chadworth turned toward Sabina.
"You knew who gave her this."
Sabina's face tightened.
"Chadworth, you're making a scene over a stuffed animal."
"No."
He looked directly at her.
"I'm making a scene over what you said to my daughter."
Silence settled over the room.
Sabina glanced toward Rosamund.
"What has she been telling you?"
"Nothing."
"Then I don't understand."
"I watched you."
The words landed like a physical blow.
Sabina stared at him.
"Watched me?"
"From the security room. Every word. Every threat. Every time my daughters flinched."
Her eyes widened.
For the first time, Chadworth saw genuine fear on her face.
"Chadworth, you can't possibly believe what you think you saw."
"I heard you."
"You don't understand the situation."
"Then explain why my six-year-old daughter is terrified of you."
Sabina looked toward the girls.
Lorelai lowered her eyes immediately.
That instinctive reaction answered more than any explanation could have.
Chadworth walked to Gemma and knelt before her.
He held out the rabbit.
"Sweetheart, this belongs to you."
Gemma looked at Sabina before reaching for it.
That hesitation pierced him.
He gently placed the toy beside her.
"You don't need anyone's permission to hold something Mommy gave you."
Gemma picked it up.
Then she whispered a question he would never forget.
"Am I in trouble, Daddy?"
His throat tightened.
"No, sweetheart."
"Are you angry?"
"Not with you."
She studied his face as if searching for a hidden warning.
Chadworth reached toward her, then stopped, allowing her to decide whether she wanted to come closer.
After several seconds, Gemma leaned into his arms.
He held her gently.
Behind him, Sabina spoke.
"This is ridiculous. You're letting a child manipulate you."
Chadworth rose slowly.
"Leave."
Sabina stared at him.
"Excuse me?"
"Leave my house."
"Chadworth, we're getting married in six weeks!"
"Not anymore."
Her lips parted.
"You can't be serious."
"I've never been more serious."
He looked toward Graham, who had appeared at the doorway.
"Please escort Miss Sabina out. She can arrange to collect her belongings through my attorney. Her access to this property ends today."
Sabina's expression changed.
The pleading disappeared.
Her jaw tightened, and the coldness Chadworth had witnessed on the cameras returned.
"You think you can humiliate me like this?"
"I'm protecting my family."
Sabina stepped closer and lowered her voice.
"Then you should be very careful about what happens next."
Graham moved forward.
"Miss Sabina, this way, please."
She looked once more at Rosamund.
"This isn't over."
Rosamund said nothing.
Sabina walked toward the hallway, her heels striking the marble floor with deliberate force.
Only when the front door closed did Chadworth release the breath he had been holding.
He turned toward his daughters.
"We're safe now," he said softly.
Lorelai didn't smile.
Instead, she looked toward the door, then at her father.
"There's something you don't know, Daddy."
Chadworth knelt beside her.
"You can tell me."
Her fingers trembled around Gemma's hand.
"Miss Sabina said that if we ever told you the truth, she'd show everyone some papers."
"What papers, sweetheart?"
May you like
Lorelai's eyes filled with tears.
"The papers she said you signed... giving her permission to take us away from you."
