Chapter 8 - The Engagement Trap
Vanessa came to the station with an attorney and a face carefully arranged into injury. She said she had hired a private investigator because Naomi had seemed suspicious at the party. She claimed the note was routine security work.
Maya set Naomi’s employment records beside the investigator’s report. “You opened her locker before she allegedly assaulted you.”
“I was searching for my missing pin.”
“Your pin was reported missing after the locker was opened.”
Vanessa’s attorney interrupted. She said no more.
That night Alexander called off the engagement. He did it in writing and instructed building security to deactivate Vanessa’s access. The news reached the city’s gossip sites by morning. Headlines focused on the scandal, not the children whose names sat in police evidence bags.
Naomi refused an interview. She went to work at a temporary catering agency because bills did not disappear when families became complicated. On her first shift, a customer recognized her and filmed her carrying plates. He asked whether she planned to marry into the money.
“She might be my sister,” Alexander said from behind him. “And you are filming an employee without permission.”
Naomi pulled Alexander aside. “I don’t need a bodyguard.”
“I know.”
“Then stop trying to fix everything with your presence.”
He looked away. “I lost you once. I’m not good at doing nothing.”
For the first time, Naomi heard the frightened boy behind the powerful man. She softened.
“Learn to ask what I need.”
He nodded. “What do you need?”
“Daniel’s brother safe. Evelyn found. Rosa protected. And the truth, even if it ruins the Whitmore name.”
“Then that’s what we do.”
His phone rang. The independent laboratory had finished its testing. Alexander put the call on speaker, and the technician said the probability of a full sibling relationship was greater than 99.9 percent.
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The temporary agency offered Naomi a back-office assignment to keep her away from guests. She declined, politely but firmly. She had not spent years earning respect in service work to be tucked out of sight because a rich woman had tried to humiliate her.
Naomi was still trying to breathe when Maya called with a second discovery: Daniel had been recorded entering Malcolm Sterling’s private estate.
