Chapter 4 - The Billionaire’s Promise to Protect Ruby
The name stayed in the room.
Emily.
My mother’s name.
The woman Nathaniel Graves had just whispered like it belonged to a memory he had spent years trying to forget.
I stared at the frozen image on the computer screen.
The person standing beneath the old bus stop camera wasn't a stranger.
It was my mother.
Or at least someone who looked exactly like her.
Same face.
Same eyes.
Same small scar near her eyebrow.
The scar I had traced with my finger when I was younger and asked her where it came from.
She always smiled and said:
"Just a reminder that life leaves marks on everyone."
But she never told me what happened.
Now I knew there was a story.
A story everyone seemed to know except me.
"Play it again."
Nathaniel's voice was low.
The woman with the tablet nodded and restarted the footage.
The screen showed the same thing.
A woman in a dark coat walking toward the bus stop.
The woman placing the wallet beneath the bench.
The woman looking directly into the camera.
Then leaving.
Like she wanted someone to find it.
Like she wanted me to find it.
I looked at Nathaniel.
"That's not possible."
He didn't respond.
I repeated myself.
"That's not possible."
Because my mother was at home.
My mother was probably sitting at our small kitchen table right now, worrying about rent.
My mother didn't leave wallets under bus benches.
My mother didn't have secret meetings with billionaires.
My mother didn't have files hidden in private offices.
At least...
I thought she didn't.
Nathaniel slowly walked toward the screen.
"When was this recorded?"
The woman checked the information.
"Three hours ago."
His expression changed.
Three hours.
That meant my mother had been near that bus stop before I even found the wallet.
My chest tightened.
"Did she know I was there?"
Nobody answered.
I looked at Nathaniel.
"Did she send me there?"
His eyes moved to mine.
"I don't know."
I hated that answer.
Adults always said that when the truth was too complicated.
"I need to go home."
I stood up.
Nathaniel immediately looked concerned.
"No."
The word came out faster than he probably intended.
I froze.
"No?"
He took a breath.
Then his voice softened.
"Ruby, listen to me."
"I need to see my mom."
"I understand."
"No, you don't."
My voice cracked.
"I don't know what is happening."
I looked around the office.
"Everyone keeps talking like I am some secret."
Nobody spoke.
"I just found a wallet."
I pointed toward the desk.
"I was trying to return a wallet."
Nathaniel looked down.
The guilt on his face surprised me.
Because he knew I was right.
I wasn't supposed to be part of this.
I was just a kid walking home from school.
"I know," he said quietly.
"Then why am I here?"
That question hurt him.
I saw it.
For a second, the billionaire disappeared.
And I saw someone else.
Someone who had lost something.
Someone who had been waiting for something without knowing if it would ever return.
Nathaniel walked to the desk.
He picked up the old photograph.
The one showing him and my mother.
"You deserve the truth."
I looked at him.
"Then tell me."
He looked at the picture.
"Twelve years ago, your mother and I were supposed to get married."
The room went silent.
I felt like I couldn't breathe.
"What?"
The woman with the tablet looked away.
Like she had heard this story before.
Nathaniel continued.
"Emily wasn't just someone I knew."
He swallowed.
"She was the person I loved."
I stared at him.
My brain couldn't understand.
The man on magazine covers.
The billionaire CEO.
And my mother.
It sounded impossible.
But the picture was right there.
"Why didn't she tell me?"
Nathaniel looked away.
"Because she thought I was dead."
The words hit me.
"What?"
He turned back.
"After an accident twelve years ago, everyone believed I was gone."
I looked at the photograph.
"But you're here."
"Yes."
"Then why didn't you find her?"
His silence was painful.
That was when I knew.
There was something worse.
Something he wasn't saying.
"I tried."
His voice became quieter.
"But someone made sure I couldn't."
The room felt colder.
"Who?"
Nathaniel looked toward the closed office door.
"I don't know yet."
The woman with the tablet stepped forward.
"Mr. Graves..."
He looked at her.
"We need to talk about the security alert."
His expression changed.
"What alert?"
She hesitated.
"The system detected someone accessing the old Parker records."
Nathaniel became still.
"When?"
"Ten minutes ago."
"From where?"
She looked down at the tablet.
"Inside this building."
Nobody moved.
I felt a knot form in my stomach.
Someone inside Graves Tower was looking for information about me.
"Can they hurt my mom?"
My voice was smaller than I wanted.
Nathaniel immediately looked at me.
"No."
He answered with certainty.
"Not while I'm here."
I didn't know why.
But I believed him.
Maybe because everyone else looked afraid.
Nathaniel looked angry.
There was a difference.
Fear made people run.
Anger made people protect.
He walked toward the office door.
"Increase security around Ruby."
The guards outside immediately responded.
"Yes, sir."
"And find Emily Parker."
The woman nodded.
"We already started searching."
Nathaniel stopped.
"Not officially."
She looked confused.
"What?"
"Do it quietly."
"Why?"
His eyes moved toward the screen.
Toward the image of my mother.
"Because if someone wanted Ruby to find that wallet..."
He paused.
"Then they wanted me to know Emily is still alive."
I looked at him.
"Still alive?"
The words escaped before I could stop them.
Nathaniel turned.
I realized what I had just heard.
I realized what he had implied.
My mother was alive.
But why would he say it like she wasn't supposed to be?
The office door suddenly opened.
A security guard rushed in.
His face was pale.
"Mr. Graves."
Nathaniel immediately turned.
"What happened?"
The guard looked at me.
Then lowered his voice.
"We found the person who accessed the Parker files."
Nathaniel stepped forward.
"Who?"
The guard hesitated.
"It was someone using an old executive access code."
Nathaniel's expression darkened.
"Whose code?"
The guard looked down.
"Yours."
Nobody spoke.
A cold feeling ran through me.
Because that meant someone had entered using Nathaniel's identity.
Someone who knew him.
Someone close enough to have his access.
Nathaniel took the tablet from the guard.
He looked at the security footage.
A camera inside the archive room showed a person standing in front of the locked files.
The person's face was hidden.
But the clothes were clear.
Dark coat.
Black gloves.
Same as the person from the bus stop.
Nathaniel zoomed in.
Then stopped.
His hand tightened around the tablet.
"What is it?" I asked.
He didn't answer.
Because he wasn't looking at the stranger anymore.
He was looking at something else.
Something on the person's hand.
A ring.
A silver ring with a symbol engraved into it.
The same symbol on the old photograph.
The same symbol my mother had drawn once on a piece of paper and immediately hidden when she saw me looking.
Nathaniel whispered:
"No..."
The guard looked at him.
"Sir?"
Nathaniel's face turned completely pale.
Because he recognized the ring.
He recognized the person behind the mask.
And then the archive room camera showed the stranger slowly removing the gloves.
Revealing the hand beneath.
A hand Nathaniel thought he would never see again.
May you like
And the security footage captured the person turning toward the camera and saying:
"Tell Nathaniel his daughter finally found the truth."
