Chapter 20 - The Unseen Guest
|
The next morning dawned bright and clear, the winter sun sparkling off the surface of Newport Harbor.
Abigail woke up in Pedro's bed, wrapped in his arms. It was a picture of perfect, fragile domestic bliss. They spent the morning in the kitchen with the boys, making pancakes and laughing as flour dusted the countertops once again. It felt like they had finally crossed the threshold from survivors into a real, unbroken family.
Around ten o'clock, the heavy brass knocker on the front doors echoed through the foyer.
Pedro frowned, wiping his hands on a towel. "I'm not expecting anyone."
He walked to the entrance, pulling the massive doors open.
A woman stood on the front steps, flanked by two men in sharp, severe business suits. She was tall, impeccably dressed in a tailored gray coat, and carried a thick leather briefcase.
But it was her face that made the blood freeze in Pedro's veins.
She looked exactly like his late wife. The same sandy blonde hair, the same piercing blue eyes, the same aristocratic bone structure.
"Hello, Pedro," the woman said, her voice a chilling echo of the past.
"Eleanor," Pedro breathed, stepping backward in shock. It was his late wife's estranged sister, a woman who had been living in Europe for the past decade, completely absent from their lives.
"I see you're surprised," Eleanor said coldly, stepping past him into the grand foyer without an invitation. She looked around the house, her eyes narrowing as she spotted Abigail and the boys standing in the kitchen archway.
"What do you want, Eleanor?" Pedro demanded, quickly recovering his composure, moving to block her path to his sons.
Eleanor opened her leather briefcase, pulling out a thick, legal document stamped with a federal seal.
May you like
"I want my nephews," Eleanor stated, her voice devoid of any emotion. "I have just filed an emergency petition for full legal custody. And according to my sister's sealed will, which you illegally hid from the courts, I have every right to take them."
Pedro stared at the document, his entire world suddenly threatening to collapse all over again.
