Billionaire Pretends To Be A Janitor To Find True Love — But Discovers A Secret Hidden For 20 Years
Chapter 4
Grace noticed Alexander had changed.
He still smiled.
Still joked.
Still helped around the hotel.
But there was a distance in him.
One afternoon, she found him sitting alone behind the employee cafeteria.
“You’re avoiding me.”
Alexander looked up.
“No.”
“Yes.”
She sat beside him.
“You barely talk to me anymore.”
“I’ve been busy.”
“You’re a terrible liar.”
He smiled sadly.
“I’m learning.”
Grace looked at him.
“Did I do something?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
Alexander didn’t answer.
He wanted to tell her.
But he needed proof.
If he told Grace she might be connected to his family and was wrong, he could destroy the trust between them.
So he asked instead,
“Do you know much about your mother’s family?”
Grace frowned.
“Why?”
“Just curious.”
“My mother didn’t talk about them.”
“Any relatives?”
“Not really.”
“Your grandparents?”
“Never met them.”
Alexander nodded slowly.
“Do you have any old photographs?”
Grace laughed.
“That’s random.”
“Sorry.”
She studied him.
“My mother had one.”
“Of what?”
“Her wedding.”
“Can I see it?”
Grace hesitated.
“Maybe.”
That evening, Grace brought the photograph.
Alexander almost dropped it.
Eleanor was in the picture.
Twenty years younger.
Standing beside a man Alexander recognized.
His father.
But there was another woman.
A teenage girl.
Alexander looked at Grace.
“Who is that?”
“My mother.”
The girl in the photograph was Emma.
Beside her stood Eleanor.
And behind them was Alexander’s father.
The photograph proved everything.
Emma had been part of their family.
Grace was Eleanor’s granddaughter.
Alexander’s niece.
He felt sick.
Grace noticed his expression.
“You know her?”
“No.”
“Then why are you staring like that?”
Alexander handed the photograph back.
“I think my family may have known your mother.”
Grace frowned.
“How?”
“I don’t know yet.”
That night, Alexander told Daniel.
“We found the connection.”
Daniel went silent.
“How sure?”
“One hundred percent.”
“Grace knows?”
“No.”
“You have to tell her.”
Alexander shook his head.
“I know.”
“Then why haven’t you?”
“Because there’s more.”
He showed Daniel the photograph.
Daniel stared.
“That’s your father.”
“Yes.”
“And Emma?”
“My sister.”
Daniel swallowed.
“What happened to her?”
Alexander looked at the back of the photograph.
There was writing.
Meet me at the old greenhouse.
Tomorrow.
At eight.
Alexander recognized the handwriting.
His father.
The old greenhouse belonged to the Hayes family estate.
He hadn’t been there since he was a child.
He went alone.
Inside, beneath a loose floorboard, he found a metal box.
It contained letters.
Dozens.
All addressed to Emma.
Most had never been sent.
One was dated three weeks before Eleanor’s death.
Alexander read it.
I couldn’t protect you from him.
But I protected your daughter.
She will grow up without the Hayes name.
That is the only way she will be safe.
Alexander froze.
His father had hidden Grace’s mother.
But from whom?
He opened another letter.
The answer was worse.
Richard knows about the child.
If he finds her, he will use her against us.
Alexander knew the name.
Richard Hayes.
His father’s older brother.
Alexander had spent years believing Richard was simply an uncle who lived overseas.
But his father had feared him.
Alexander read another page.
If anything happens to me, make sure Emma and her daughter remain hidden.
Alexander sat in the dust.
His family secret was no longer a rumor.
It was a deliberate cover-up.
And his aunt had disappeared because someone dangerous wanted control of the Hayes fortune.
But one question remained.
Where had Emma gone?
