A New Gardener Arrives With a Baby on Her Back—The Young Millionaire Is Stunned...

Julian stepped slowly toward the table, picking up the plastic bag containing the cash and the fertilizer. He examined the seals, his face an unreadable mask of stone.

"Richard," Julian said calmly, his voice dangerously smooth. "You said you found this during a 'routine safety inspection' of the gatekeeper's lodge?"

"Yes, sir!" Richard said quickly, wiping sweat from his forehead. "Mrs. Ward and I were checking the chimney flues to make sure the cottage was safe for winter, and we found this hidden under her mattress!"

"I see," Julian murmured. He turned his gaze toward Maya. "Maya, did you authorize Richard or Mrs. Ward to enter your dwelling while you were working in the lower gardens?"

"No!" Maya cried out, her eyes blazing with indignity. "I locked the cottage door when I left this morning! They must have used a master key!"

"Of course we used a master key!" Evelyn interjected smoothly. "It is estate property, Mr. Pierce! We have a legal right to inspect all structures! The evidence is clear. She is a thief. We must call the police before she destroys anything else."

Julian didn't call the police. Instead, he stepped closer to Richard.

"Richard," Julian said, his voice dropping into a register that made the heavy-set man flinch. "Which supplier did these fertilizer packages come from?"

Richard blinked, stammering. "Uh... from... from GreenThumb Wholesale, sir! Our primary vendor!"

"Fascinating," Julian said. He threw the bag back onto the table. "GreenThumb Wholesale went out of business six months ago. I personally signed the cancellation of their vendor contract. Yet, according to the receipts you submitted last week, Richard, you bought five thousand dollars worth of supplies from them."

Richard’s face went from flushed red to ghostly white. "I... I meant... it was old stock, sir! They had a liquidation sale!"

"And the five hundred dollars in cash," Julian continued, taking a step closer, towering over the trembling purchasing agent. "The bills are crisp, sequential, and stamped with the mark of the local bank in town—the same bank where Mrs. Ward withdrew five hundred dollars from the household petty cash fund yesterday morning under the pretext of 'window cleaning expenses.'"

Evelyn gasped, her hand flying to her throat. "Mr. Pierce! Are you accusing us?!"

Julian turned to Evelyn, his hazel eyes flashing with a terrifying, lethal intellect that showed exactly why he was the head of a multi-billion-dollar empire.

"I don't accuse without proof, Evelyn," Julian said coldly. "Three days ago, after Miss Brooks pointed out the poor quality of the soil in the parterre garden, I hired an independent forensic accounting firm to audit all maintenance purchases for the last two years. Do you know what they found?"

Evelyn trembled, unable to speak.

"They found that you and your nephew have embezzled over four hundred thousand dollars from this estate," Julian revealed, his voice ringing through the glass conservatory like a judgment bell. "You bought industrial-grade waste soil, pocketed the difference, and faked the receipts. And when a skilled gardener arrived who could immediately identify your fraud, you panicked and tried to frame her."

Maya gasped, her hands tightening around Emma.

"Mr. Pierce, please!" Richard whimpered, falling to his knees. "It was my aunt’s idea! She said you never checked the garden books!"

"Shut up, you idiot!" Evelyn shrieked, her aristocratic composure completely shattering into ugly rage. She glared at Julian, her face contorted. "You cold, ungrateful fool! I served your family for fifteen years! I ran this house while you hid in your study like a coward, crying over your dead parents!"

The air in the room instantly turned to ice.

Julian didn't flinch, but a muscle in his jaw twitched violently. His face paled, his eyes darkening into deep shadows.

"Get out," Julian whispered, his voice dangerously low. "Before I have security throw you through the glass."

Two heavy security guards, summoned by a silent panic button beneath the conservatory table, marched into the room. Within minutes, Evelyn Ward and Richard were dragged out of the mansion, screaming insults until the heavy iron gates slammed shut behind them, banishing them forever.

The conservatory fell dead quiet.

Maya stood near the velvet bench, holding Emma, watching Julian. He stood alone in the center of the vast room, his shoulders rigid, staring blindly at the floor where Evelyn’s cruel words about his parents still seemed to echo.

Maya hesitated, then took a slow, gentle step toward him.

"Mr. Pierce..." she whispered softly.

Julian didn't look at her. "Go back to your cottage, Maya. The estate manager position is vacant. You will be compensated for this distress. Leave me."

His voice wasn't angry at her—it was hollow, broken, wrapped in a thick armor of pain that had just been violently ripped open.

Maya wanted to reach out, wanted to tell him that he wasn't a coward, that he was the man who had saved her and her child. But she recognized the wall he was building around himself. She knew that wall—she had built it herself when her ex-fiancé had abandoned her.