“Who is it?” he called.
A maid’s voice answered. “Mr. Carter? Forgive me, sir. Your mother requests you downstairs. She says it is urgent.”
Nathan’s eyes darkened.
“Tell her I’m with my wife.”
The maid hesitated.
“Sir… there is a man at the gate.”
Emily stopped breathing.
Nathan turned his head slightly.
The maid continued, voice trembling. “He says he is family.”
The words landed like a stone dropped into deep water.
Emily whispered, “No.”
Nathan opened the door.
The young maid stood outside, pale and frightened.
“What man?” Nathan asked.
“He gave his name as Raymond Cole.”
Emily’s knees nearly gave way.
Nathan caught her before she fell.
The name moved through the room like poison.
Ray.
Her stepfather.
Nathan looked down the hallway. The mansion, once quiet, now seemed full of invisible ears. Somewhere below, Margaret Carter’s voice rose in anger.
“This is exactly what I warned you about!”
Nathan’s face became unreadable.
He turned to Emily. “Stay here.”
“No,” she said instantly. “Don’t go down there alone.”
“I won’t let him near you.”
“You don’t know him.”
Nathan looked at the fear in her eyes and understood something important: Ray’s power had never been his strength. It was his ability to make people afraid before he even entered the room.
Nathan took Emily’s hand.
“Then we go together.”
Wrapped in her robe, with Nathan’s suit jacket around her shoulders, Emily walked beside her husband down the grand staircase.
Every step felt like returning to a nightmare.
At the bottom of the stairs, Margaret Carter stood in a silk dressing gown, her face tight with fury. Beside her stood two security guards and several wide-eyed staff members.
And near the open front doors stood a man in a faded brown coat.
Raymond Cole was thinner than Emily remembered, with a gray beard and yellowed eyes, but the same crooked smile lived on his face.
He removed his hat when he saw her.
“Well, look at that,” he said. “My little Emily, dressed like a queen.”
Nathan stepped forward. “You are trespassing.”
Ray ignored him and looked only at Emily.
“Didn’t you miss your daddy?”
“You are not my father,” Emily said.
Her voice shook, but she said it.
Ray smiled wider. “That’s not what the papers say.”
Margaret’s eyes flashed toward Emily. “Papers?”
Nathan did not look away from Ray. “Leave.”
Ray chuckled. “Now, hold on. I traveled a long way to congratulate the bride. And to discuss a family matter.”
“There is no family matter.”
“Oh, but there is.” Ray reached into his coat and pulled out a folder. “See, Emily here ran off years ago. Left three poor little children behind. Her children, according to half of Clay County.”
Emily went pale.
Nathan’s voice was low. “Choose your next words carefully.”
Ray raised his hands in mock surrender. “I’m only saying what folks already know.”
Margaret stepped forward, trembling with vindication. “Nathan, do you see? Do you see what you have brought into this house?”
Nathan finally turned to her.
“Mother, be silent.”
The room froze.
Margaret looked as though he had slapped her.
