Chapter 4 - Shadows of the Past
Camila immediately stepped between Elias and her uncle, her spine straightening instantly as she pulled her armor back on. "He was just leaving, Arthur. He's... security detail checking the side exits."
Arthur stepped closer, his eyes lingering on Elias with intense scrutiny. "Is that so? He looks remarkably out of place for a private contractor. And he looks remarkably like the man my investigators spotted near The Sterling School this afternoon."
Elias’s jaw tightened. The two men in suits at the school had been Arthur’s men.
"I don't know what games you're playing, Arthur," Camila said, her voice dropping to a icy register. "But if your people go near my daughters again, I will have the board revoke your voting rights before the market opens tomorrow."
Arthur smiled, a cold, empty expression. "Careful, Camila. A CEO with secrets is a liability. The board is already questioning your stability. If rumors start circulating about the true parentage of your little heiresses... and how you hid them away to secure your father's estate... you might find yourself out in the cold."
Arthur gave Elias a dismissive glance before turning on his heel and walking back into the ballroom.
The silence left in his wake was heavy. Elias turned to Camila, his mind spinning. "What was he talking about? Hiding them to secure the estate?"
Camila looked at him, her defenses completely shattered. "Not here," she whispered, wiping a stray tear from her cheek. "Meet me at the boat dock near West 79th Street in two hours. Please, Elias. Just trust me for two more hours."
Elias stared at her, seeing the genuine fear in her eyes—not for her corporate empire, but for her children. "Two hours," he agreed softly.
At 11:30 PM, the rain began to fall over the Hudson River, a cold, steady downpour that mirrored the night they had met in Seattle. Elias stood under the shelter of the wooden pier, his hands thrust deep into his jacket pockets.
A sleek black car pulled up, and Camila stepped out, dressed down in a trench coat, her hair pulled back. She walked up to Elias, standing just inches away under the pier roof.
"Eight years ago," Camila began, her voice raw against the sound of the rain, "my father threatened to disown me and strip my trust fund if I didn't marry the man he had chosen for a corporate merger. I ran away to Seattle for a week just to feel alive. I met you."
She looked up into his eyes. "That night with you was the only real, honest thing I had experienced in years. But when I woke up, my father's men had tracked my phone. They dragged me back to New York before you even woke up. I didn't have your number. I didn't even know your last name."
"And the girls?" Elias asked, his heart hammering against his ribs.
May you like
"I found out I was pregnant two months later," Camila said, her voice trembling. "It wasn't just one baby. It was triplets. If my father had found out I was carrying the children of a man with no status, he would have forced me to give them up or cut me off completely, leaving me powerless to protect them. So I hid the pregnancy abroad. I claimed I was undergoing medical treatment in Switzerland."
She took a step closer, reaching out to touch Elias’s arm, her fingers trembling against his jacket. "Elias... Regina, Lucy, and Valerie are your daughters. You are their father."
