Chapter 2: The Photograph
Chapter 2: The Photograph
Richard looked at Sophie with trembling eyes.
"Do you have anything else that belonged to your mother?"
Slowly, Sophie reached into the pocket of her apron.
She removed an old envelope.
Inside was a faded photograph.
She had carried it since childhood.
"I never knew why she kept it hidden."
She handed it to Richard.
His hands trembled as he turned it over.
The picture showed two young people standing beneath the oak tree that still grew in the mansion garden.
Richard.
And Anna.
Both smiling.
On the back, written in faded ink, were six words.
"For our daughter, someday she'll know."
Victoria gasped.
"That's impossible."
Richard closed his eyes.
"It isn't."
Twenty-six years earlier, Anna had worked as a housekeeper in the mansion.
They had fallen in love in secret.
Before Richard could introduce her to his family, he was sent overseas to handle the family business.
When he returned months later...
Anna had disappeared.
Victoria's father had told him she had stolen jewelry and fled the city.
Richard believed him.
He searched for years.
But Anna had never stolen anything.
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She had simply been paid to disappear.
And she had been pregnant.
