Chapter 2 - The Mother's Secret
I clutched Noah to my chest and backed into the corner of the living room.
Alexander did not look at the groceries he had just brought us.
He walked straight past me and picked up the framed photograph with shaking hands.
He whispered the name Victoria again, his voice cracking with heavy emotion.
I yelled at him to put the picture down and leave my house immediately.
I told him he was making a huge mistake because my mother was a simple housekeeper named Mary.
Alexander pulled a sleek silver smartphone from his expensive coat pocket.
He quickly tapped the screen and held it up for me to see.
It was a digital news article from twelve years ago.
The bold headline read that billionaire heiress Victoria Sterling had perished in a tragic yacht explosion.
Beneath the headline was a crystal-clear photograph of my mother wearing a massive diamond necklace.
My entire world began to violently spin around me.
The woman who scrubbed floors until her knuckles bled was secretly a dead billionaire.
Before I could even process the impossible truth, the front door swung wide open.
My mother stood in the doorway, completely exhausted and covered in dust from her cleaning job.
She dropped her heavy canvas work bag the exact moment she saw Alexander standing in our home.
All the color instantly drained from her tired face.
Alexander took a slow, desperate step toward her.
He called her Victoria and told her he had spent over a decade looking for her.
My mother did not cry or run into his open arms.
She immediately grabbed a heavy iron fire poker from the hearth.
She stepped aggressively in front of me and pointed the sharp metal weapon directly at his chest.
She screamed at me to run out the back door and hide in the woods.
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She told me that Alexander did not come here to save us from starving.
She said he was the monster who originally blew up her yacht twelve years ago.
