CHAPTER 4: THE NAME THAT STILL BURNS
CHAPTER 4: THE NAME THAT STILL BURNS
The ballroom doors suddenly opened.
A staff member rushed in.
Whispering.
Urgent.
Victoria didn’t turn.
She already knew.
Rosalie looked confused.
“What’s happening?”
Victoria’s expression hardened slightly—not toward Rosalie, but toward what was coming.
“They’re here,” she said quietly.
“Who?”
But before Victoria could answer—
A voice cut through the ballroom.
Smooth.
Confident.
Familiar.
“Victoria.”
Every head turned.
A man stepped inside.
Expensive suit.
Controlled smile.
The kind of presence that made rooms obey before instructions were given.
Rosalie instinctively stepped closer to Victoria.
“…Who is that?” she whispered.
Victoria didn’t look away from him.
Her voice dropped.
“Someone I trusted.”
The man stopped a few meters away.
His eyes moved.
From Victoria…
to Rosalie…
to the necklace.
And something flickered across his expression.
Just for a second.
Recognition.
Then control returned.
“Still chasing ghosts,” he said calmly.
Victoria’s voice was ice.
“Richard Harrington.”
Rosalie looked between them.
Confused.
“I don’t understand…”
Richard smiled slightly.
“You don’t need to.”
Victoria stepped forward.
“You told me she died.”
Richard sighed like this was an old conversation.
“Twenty-five years ago,” he said, “you needed closure.”
Victoria’s voice rose slightly.
“You gave me a lie.”
Richard corrected gently:
“I gave you stability.”
Rosalie stepped back.
“What is he talking about?” she whispered.
Victoria didn’t answer her.
She was looking at Richard now like she was seeing the fire again.
“You took my daughter,” she said.
Richard didn’t deny it.
That was the worst part.
He simply replied:
“I protected what was left of your empire.”
Silence.
Rosalie’s breath hitched.
“…You knew me?” she asked him.
Richard finally looked at her directly.
Not warmly.
Not cruelly.
Professionally.
“I knew what needed to disappear,” he said.
Victoria’s voice broke slightly.
“Why?”
Richard glanced around the ballroom.
Because power was watching now.
“Because truth is expensive,” he said. “And you were too emotional to manage it.”
Rosalie’s grip tightened on the necklace.
“I don’t belong to you,” she said suddenly.
That statement landed harder than anything else.
Victoria turned to her immediately.
“No,” she said softly. “You don’t.”
May you like
Then she looked at Richard again.
“And neither do I anymore.”
