Chapter 5 - The Secret Keeper
The revelation hung in the library like a suffocating shroud.
Hannah pushed herself away from the table, shaking her head violently. "No. That’s a lie. My father raised me. He loved my mother! We have photo albums, memories, holidays—"
"Memories can be scripted, Hannah," Marcus said coldly, adjusting his glasses. "When a powerful family wants to hide children from their enemies, they don't just put them in a nursery. They bury their origins beneath layers of fabricated paper trails."
"I want to leave," Hannah whispered, backing away toward the heavy oak doors. "Let me go."
Dominic didn't move to stop her. He watched her with a heavy, sorrowful expression that felt far more dangerous than his anger.
"You can leave whenever you want, Hannah," he repeated his earlier promise. "The gates are open. But if you walk out those doors today, you will never know why my daughters looked at a stranger and called her Mama. You will never know the truth about who raised you."
Hannah froze with her hand on the brass doorknob. Her chest heaved as she fought back a tidal wave of panic and confusion. Everything she thought she knew—her childhood, her father, her identity—was crumbling into dust.
"Who are you people?" she choked out, a tear finally breaking free and tracking down her cheek.
"We are the people who have been hunting for the truth your entire life," Dominic said softly, walking slowly toward her. He stopped a foot away, not touching her, giving her all the space in the world. "Stay, Hannah. Help us untangle this web. Let us protect you."
Before Hannah could answer, the heavy double doors of the library burst open.
Martha rushed inside, breathless and pale, her apron stained with flour.
"Mr. Vale! You need to come upstairs immediately!"
Dominic spun around. "What happened? Are the girls hurt?"
"No," Martha gasped, clutching her chest. "They aren't crying. But... they’ve left the nursery. And they’re sitting outside the master bedroom door, banging on it and calling for Mama again."
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Dominic and Hannah exchanged a single, electrified look.
Without another word, Dominic sprinted out of the library, taking the grand staircase two steps at a time, with Hannah hot on his heels.
