Chapter 13 - THE LETTER HE NEVER RECEIVED
Daniel opened Hannah’s letter with her permission.
His hands shook.
Daniel,
I do not know whether you will believe me after everything that happened.
I am pregnant.
The child is yours.
I do not want money, a title, or a room in your house. I want our baby to know that before fear and family duty separated us, there was love.
If you have truly chosen Claire, I will not use this child to force you back.
But I cannot let you learn years from now that I kept your son or daughter from you.
Please meet me at the greenhouse on Friday.
Hannah
Daniel lowered the page.
Friday had been the day Claire announced Hannah left the state.
He had spent that evening alone in the greenhouse.
“She had this,” he whispered.
Martin nodded.
“It was found inside the clinic director’s locked file with Beaumont payment records.”
Daniel looked toward Hannah.
“You waited for me.”
“Yes.”
“I waited for you.”
The simple truth broke something inside both of them.
They had not abandoned each other.
They had been placed on opposite sides of a manufactured silence.
Daniel moved closer but did not touch her.
“I still love you.”
Hannah closed her eyes.
Love remained.
So did injury.
“I believe you,” she said.
“That doesn’t mean I know how to trust you.”
“I understand.”
“No, Daniel. Trust is not the same as believing Claire lied. You stopped asking questions because the alliance solved a problem.”
He accepted the words.
“I chose duty over the person I claimed to love.”
“You chose the version of duty men around you taught you.”
“And you paid for it.”
Hannah looked down at her stomach.
“So did our child.”
Daniel promised nothing dramatic.
He did not ask her to marry him.
He asked whether he could attend medical appointments.
Hannah agreed.
He asked whether he could help choose the baby’s room.
She said they would discuss it.
He asked whether he could cut the remaining uneven sections of her hair so a stylist could repair them.
Hannah almost smiled.
“You are not touching scissors near my head.”
For the first time since the gala, they laughed.
The moment was small.
It mattered.
Meanwhile, investigators opened Claire’s private cloud account.
They found photographs of Hannah sleeping, copies of medical files, and messages to Victor.
One folder was titled:
AFTER THE WEDDING.
Inside was a plan to accuse Hannah of stealing jewelry and remove her from the estate permanently.
The final document listed a foreign address where Hannah and her baby would supposedly be sent.
May you like
The property belonged to a clinic known for arranging illegal adoptions.
👉 Claire had not planned merely to hide the baby—she intended to take the child and place a false Carver heir under her own control.
