Chương 16 - The Shadow of the PastThe morning sun cast long, golden beams across the parquet floors of the Raven Hill grand foyer, but the crisp autumn air carrying through the open double doors reminded everyone that winter was fast approaching in Ashport.
I stood by the antique coat rack, adjusting the collar of Poppy’s new wool winter coat—a deep hunter green garment that Evelyn had insisted on ordering from a private tailor in Milan. Poppy pouted slightly, her little nose wrinkled as she tried to balance her favorite battered stuffed rabbit under one arm while pulling on her matching mittens.
“Do I have to go to the new school today, Mommy?” Poppy asked, her dark eyes looking up at me with theatrical woe. “Can’t I just stay here and paint with Grandma Evelyn?”
“You know you have to go to school, sweetie,” I gently scolded her, smoothing down her dark pigtails. “Besides, the kids at St. Jude’s have a wonderful art studio, and you’ll make lots of new friends.”
“She’ll make friends,” a deep, resonant voice chimed in from the doorway, “or the headmaster will find his endowment mysteriously revoked by sundown.”
Ronan strode into the foyer, impeccably dressed in a charcoal overcoat thrown casually over his shoulders. He walked over, knelt down on one knee in front of Poppy, and adjusted her pink scarf with hands that were equally capable of wielding a tactical weapon or signing multi-million-dollar shipping manifests.
“Have a good day at school, little bird,” Ronan said softly, using the exact nickname I had secretly given her years ago—a detail he must have picked up during one of our late-night library conversations. “And if anyone gives you trouble on the playground, you tell your uncle Ronan. I’ll send a diplomatic delegation.”
Poppy giggled, throwing her arms around Ronan’s neck and giving him a loud, sloppy kiss on the cheek. “You’re funny, Ronan. You talk like a pirate king.”
“A pirate king with a very good tax lawyer,” Ronan smirked, standing up and catching my amused gaze across the foyer.
As the private black sedan pulled away down the gravel driveway, carrying Poppy off to her first day at an elite private academy under the watchful eye of a two-man security detail, the heavy front doors clicked shut.
The silence in the foyer was broken instantly by the sharp, rhythmic tap of Evelyn’s cane echoing down the marble hallway from the East Wing.
“They’re gone?” Evelyn asked, wheeling herself into the open space, her sharp eyes scanning our faces. “Good. Because we have a visitor waiting in the private parlor. And you’re going to want to hear what he has to say, Thea.”
Ronan’s brow furrowed, his protective instincts flaring up instantly. “Who bypassed the outer gate security without my authorization, Mother?”
“Not a threat, son,” Evelyn smiled, a mysterious glint in her eye. “An old ghost from Thea’s past. A man who claims he’s been looking for her across three states since the night of the crash.”
My breath caught in my throat. My blood turned to ice water.
A ghost from my past?
I hadn't told anyone at Raven Hill about my life before the clinic—not my real surname, not my hometown, and certainly not the abusive stepfather who had driven me into the underground economy in the first place.
May you like
“Who is it?” I whispered, my fingers clenching into tight fists at my sides.
“Step into the parlor, child,” Evelyn said softly. “And let’s find out how many lies you were forced to tell to stay alive.”
Related Stories
