Chapter 2 - “YOU HAVE TO LEAVE”
Chloe rose slowly from the sand.
She could feel Sophia's little arms still wrapped around her waist.
The child's tears had soaked through Chloe's blouse, but Chloe barely noticed.
Her eyes remained fixed on Edward.
Something about him was different.
This wasn't ordinary anger.
There was fear behind it.
Chloe had learned that during her two years inside the Montgomery household, Edward Montgomery rarely allowed anyone to see fear.
He could walk into a room filled with billion-dollar investors and make grown men lower their voices.
He could negotiate million-dollar property deals without blinking.
But now his hands were trembling.
Just slightly.
Almost imperceptibly.
Chloe noticed.
So did Isabella.
The eight-year-old looked from her father to Chloe.
Then she whispered something that made Chloe's stomach tighten.
“Daddy found out.”
Edward's head snapped toward her.
“Isabella.”
The little girl immediately fell silent.
Chloe stared at Edward.
“Found out what?”
“Nothing.”
His answer came too quickly.
Sophia squeezed Chloe tighter.
Edward walked toward them.
“Chloe, come inside.”
His voice had changed.
It wasn't loud anymore.
That somehow made it worse.
Chloe looked down at the girls.
“Go to the playroom.”
“No!”
Sophia clung harder.
“Daddy, don't fire her!”
Edward froze.
Chloe's heart skipped.
“I didn't say anything about firing her.”
Sophia looked up through her tears.
“But you said she has to go.”
Edward's jaw tightened.
“Who told you that?”
The child pointed toward the house.
“Mrs. Whitmore.”
Edward's face went pale.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Mrs. Whitmore was Edward's longtime housekeeper.
She had worked at the estate since before Chloe was hired.
Edward finally said, “Go upstairs.”
Isabella shook her head.
“No.”
“Isabella.”
“You're going to make Chloe leave.”
Edward stared at his daughter.
“Yes.”
Sophia began crying again.
“Why?”
Edward looked at Chloe.
“Because I said so.”
Chloe swallowed.
She had expected this moment.
At some point, every nanny knew she could be dismissed without explanation.
But after two years of raising these girls, she had become more than an employee.
She knew Sophia's favorite bedtime story.
She knew Isabella pretended not to be afraid of thunderstorms.
She knew which foods they refused to eat and which songs their mother used to sing.
And she knew something else.
The girls were afraid of their father.
Not because Edward had ever struck them.
He hadn't.
But because of the way his grief had changed him after their mother's death.
He had become distant.
Rigid.
Impossible to read.
Chloe slowly knelt beside Sophia.
“Sweetheart, look at me.”
Sophia shook her head violently.
“I don't want you to go.”
“I know.”
“Promise me.”
Chloe's throat tightened.
“I promise I'll always care about you.”
“That isn't what I asked.”
Sophia's words shattered Chloe.
Edward looked away.
Chloe stood.
“Mr. Montgomery, if I've made a mistake, I'd appreciate knowing what it was.”
“You didn't.”
“Then why?”
“I don't owe you an explanation.”
The words landed like a slap.
Chloe nodded.
“Understood.”
She walked toward the house.
Sophia screamed.
“NO!”
She ran after Chloe.
Isabella followed.
Edward caught Sophia before she could reach the patio.
“Daddy, let me go!”
“Enough.”
“She didn't do anything!”
“Isabella.”
“She knows about Mommy!”
Edward went completely still.
Chloe stopped.
Sophia stopped crying.
The entire garden became silent.
Edward slowly looked at his daughter.
“What did you just say?”
Isabella's eyes widened.
She realized she had revealed something she wasn't supposed to.
Chloe turned around.
“Isabella?”
The girl began crying.
“She told us not to tell.”
Edward's voice dropped to a whisper.
“Who told you?”
Isabella shook her head.
“Daddy, please don't be mad.”
“Who?”
“Mrs. Whitmore.”
Edward released Sophia.
He walked toward the house.
“Both of you stay here.”
But Isabella called after him.
“Daddy!”
He stopped.
“She said Mommy didn't die the way you told us.”
Edward turned around.
His face had lost every trace of color.
Chloe felt cold despite the California sunshine.
“What did Mrs. Whitmore tell you?” she asked gently.
Isabella looked at Chloe.
“She said Mommy was scared.”
Edward's eyes closed.
For one brief second, Chloe saw something she had never seen in him before.
Pain.
Raw, devastating pain.
Then he opened his eyes.
“Chloe.”
“Yes?”
“You're leaving this house today.”
“Why?”
“Because you're in danger.”
Chloe stared at him.
Before she could answer, a black SUV rolled slowly through the estate gates.
Edward saw it.
His expression changed instantly.
He grabbed Chloe's arm.
“Get the girls inside.”
“Why?”
“NOW.”
The SUV stopped.
A man stepped out.
Edward whispered one sentence.
“That's the man I've been trying to keep away from my daughters.”
And Chloe recognized him.
Because she had seen his photograph before.
In the late Mrs. Montgomery's bedroom.
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Beside a handwritten note that said:
IF ANYTHING HAPPENS TO ME, DO NOT TRUST EDWARD.
