Chapter 2 - What Rosa HeardRosa arrived in the family room after Monica and Helena had gone upstairs.
She was fifty-four and had worked for Adrian for seven years—long before Monica entered his life.
Rosa looked ashamed.
“I should have said something.”
“Sit.”
She sat.
Eli was asleep against Adrian’s chest.
Even in sleep, one fist remained tangled in his father’s shirt.
Adrian kept his voice low.
“What did you hear?”
Rosa hesitated.
“Mrs. Helena talks about Eli differently when you aren’t home.”
“How?”
“She calls him ‘the first wife’s child.’”
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
Eli’s biological mother, Natalie, had died from an aggressive illness when Eli was nine months old.
Adrian had spent almost a year grieving before he met Monica.
He had never expected Monica to replace Natalie.
But Monica had insisted she loved Eli.
She had told Adrian repeatedly that marrying him meant accepting his son.
Rosa continued.
“Sometimes Mrs. Monica told her mother to stop.”
“Sometimes?”
“Yes.”
“And other times?”
Rosa looked down.
“She agreed.”
Adrian felt something heavy settle in his chest.
“With what?”
“That Eli should spend more time with Natalie’s parents.”
Adrian knew Natalie’s parents loved Eli.
They saw him regularly.
But they had never suggested taking him from Adrian.
“Why?”
“Mrs. Helena said Monica deserved a marriage that wasn’t always built around another woman’s child.”
Adrian closed his eyes briefly.
“And Monica?”
“At first she said Eli was only a baby.”
“At first.”
Rosa nodded.
“Later she stopped defending him.”
Adrian looked at his sleeping son.
“How long?”
“Several months.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Rosa’s eyes filled.
“Because every time I heard something, it sounded like complaining. Ugly complaining, but still words.”
“And today?”
“I saw Mrs. Monica walk downstairs before you came home. Eli was with her.”
Rosa swallowed.
“I heard him crying later.”
“You didn’t see what happened?”
“No.”
Rosa looked devastated.
“I was in the laundry room. By the time I came out, you were already holding him.”
Adrian nodded.
He did not blame her.
The person responsible was upstairs.
His wife.
Then Rosa said, “There’s more.”
Adrian looked up.
“Mrs. Helena has been coming here every Tuesday.”
“I know.”
“You think it is for lunch.”
Adrian frowned.
“What is it for?”
“I don’t know exactly. But sometimes a man comes too.”
“What man?”
“Gray hair. Expensive suits. He never uses the front entrance.”
Adrian’s expression changed.
“How does he enter?”
“Garage.”
“Name?”
“I heard Mrs. Helena call him Martin.”
Adrian knew only one Martin connected to Monica’s family.
Martin Vale.
Helena’s longtime attorney.
“What are they meeting about?”
Rosa shook her head.
“But three weeks ago, I carried coffee into the library.”
“What did you hear?”
Rosa repeated the sentence carefully.
“Mrs. Helena said, ‘Adrian will never change the agreement while the boy is still his only heir.’”
Adrian stopped breathing for a second.
“What agreement?”
“I don’t know.”
Eli moved against him.
Adrian automatically rubbed his back.
His mind raced.
He and Monica had a prenuptial agreement.
A straightforward one.
Assets acquired before marriage remained separate.
The mansion was Adrian’s.
His controlling shares in Mercer Development remained his.
Monica would receive generous support if they divorced, but she would not automatically acquire company control.
Eli was currently Adrian’s principal estate beneficiary.
None of that was secret.
But why would Helena be meeting with an attorney inside Adrian’s house?
Why would Eli being his only heir matter?
Adrian texted his attorney.
Call me tonight. Urgent.
Then he looked at Rosa.
“Did Monica know you heard that?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Don’t discuss this with anyone.”
Rosa nodded.
Adrian hated himself immediately for sounding secretive.
Secrets were already the problem.
He corrected himself.
“I mean don’t confront them. I’m going to handle it through counsel.”
Rosa understood.
Upstairs, a door opened.
Monica descended alone.
She looked irritated rather than remorseful.
“How long are you going to hold him like that?”
Adrian stared at her.
“As long as he wants.”
“He needs to learn not to manipulate you with crying.”
“He’s two.”
“He knows exactly what he’s doing.”
Adrian could barely believe the woman speaking was the same woman who had once sat beside Eli’s crib for an hour when he had a fever.
“What happened to you?”
Monica’s expression hardened.
“Nothing happened to me.”
“No?”
“No. I stopped pretending.”
Adrian’s chest tightened.
“Pretending what?”
Monica looked at Eli.
“That this was ever the family I wanted.”
Adrian said nothing.
Monica turned away.
Then her phone lit up on the console table.
A message preview appeared.
HELENA: Don’t say anything about the postnup. Martin says Adrian cannot know yet.
Adrian saw it.
May you like
Monica saw him see it.
For the first time that evening, real fear appeared on her face.
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