The Billionaire's Maid Has His Secret Daughter

ap

ks were a strang

ll Street, the man who hadn't smiled i

expression of bewildered fascination. Then a visit to the American Museum of Natural History, where Lily dragged him from dinosaur to dinosaur, peppering him with questions

egina said quietly as th

ression unreadable. "She's my dau

sting the weight of it on his tongue. Each time, Regina felt a pang of something she cou

had to pry it off her to wash it. A set of children's books with beautiful illustrations. A table

im one afternoon, watching Lily play with a remote-control

d simply. "She should

ntine's eyes softened when he looked at Lily, the way he laughed at her jokes, the way he seemed to c

ther's, a nice man who took her to parks and bought her presents. She didn't know he was her father. She didn't know about t

t the man who abandoned her before she was born was actually the man who had been showering her with gifts for weeks? How do you

ldn't.

-

oint came on a

ry was scheduled for the following Monday, and Regina was a wreck of anxiety and hope. The doctors were optimistic. The proced

y's voice was

sweeth

sk you s

rl back from Lily's

fixed on the ceiling. Then, in a voice so small

rld st

hed, then began to pound so loudly she was sure Li

s at me funny. Like he's sad and happy at the same time. And he bought

them back, forcing herself to breathe. "Would

face scrunched up in thought, and Regina's he

y shook

softly. "I don'

caught. "Why n

r. When the bills came. When we didn't have food. You cried and cried and you said he left us. He left us and you had to do

streaming down her cheeks. She gathered Lily into her arms, holding her

e whispered. "Oh

silent sobs. "I don't want you to be sad, Mama.

grief and love so fierce it consumed her. She had been so focused on Lily's surgery, on the mon

nce of a father like a missing limb. And she had made a decision, somewhere in

doned them wasn't Valentine-that Valentine had never known, had never been given the cha

Not tonight. M

d on her cheeks and her small body had relaxed into sleep. Then she crept out of the roo

situation that could only end in pain. Valentine deserved to know his daughter. Lily deserved to know her

. So she did the only thi

-

Regina went to

ceiling windows, casting long shadows across the marble floor. Valentine was gone-he had an

re. She dusted, vacuumed, scrubbed. She changed the linens on Valentine's bed, car

when she noticed

. A sliver of light from the hallway peeked through the crack. Regina f

at faster. Something felt wrong. The air was too stil

r the door han

ys left her keys, was a plain white envelope. It had

it up. Her name was written on t

gi

s a small USB drive and

iting was different from the envel

ant her to live. Do not tell anyone. Not t

blood tur

sing to process them. Lily. Someone ha

d to the laptop on Valentine's desk-the one he never used, the one she was fo

licke

ned across a small, windowless room. Concrete walls. A single bare bulb swinging

th tears, her small body trembling. She was still

small, terrified. "Mama,

in black, face obscured by a hood. The voice wa

. Come alone. Tell no one.

eo cut

The world around her had ceased to exist. There was only

at there. Seconds. Minutes. Ho

phone. Her fingers were shakin

Follow the instructions. G

l Vale

that had stopped playing, at the frozen

made her