Chapter 7 - The Unseen Connection|
Adrien stood up abruptly, turning to face the forty wealthy guests who were still standing around the ballroom, whispering frantically behind their champagne flutes.
"The party is over," Adrien announced, his voice booming off the high ceilings like thunder. "Everyone out. Now."
No one argued. Within five minutes, the high-society crowd scrambled out the front doors, eager to spread the most explosive scandal New York had seen in a decade.
Once the front doors clicked shut and the estate fell dead silent, Adrien turned back to Rosa. He walked over to the grand velvet sofa in the living room and gestured toward it.
"Please," Adrien said, his tone entirely changed—filled with a desperate, gentle reverence. "Sit down, Rosa."
Rosa sat nervously on the edge of the plush cushion, holding Mia tightly in her lap.
Adrien sat on the coffee table opposite them, holding the faded Polaroid in both hands.
"Tell me everything," Adrien pleaded softly. "Why didn't she ever come back? Why didn't she call me? I searched for her for years, Rosa. I nearly lost my mind."
Rosa wiped a tear from her cheek. "My mother loved you, Mr. Hastings. She talked about her brother 'Addy' every single night before I went to sleep."
Adrien let out a watery laugh at the childhood nickname. "Addy... she was the only one who called me that."
"She ran away because of your father," Rosa explained quietly. "She told me... the night before her eighteenth birthday, your father tried to force her into an arranged marriage with Richard Cole—Vanessa Cole's father."
Adrien’s jaw set so tight the bone quivered. "Richard Cole..."
"She was terrified," Rosa continued. "So she staged the car crash at the river, took a bus to New Mexico, and started over. She told me never to come to New York. But when she passed away, I was alone. I found a letter in her belongings with this address... I took the job as a housekeeper two years ago just to be near her family. To see if you were a good man."
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Adrien looked into Rosa's eyes, seeing his sister's soul staring right back at him.
"You've been cleaning my house for two years..." Adrien whispered, horror creeping into his voice. "My own family... sweeping my floors."
