Chapter 10 - Tessa Comes Home

Tessa Hale arrived at Ashford House through the kitchen entrance because she refused to walk past reporters.

She was twenty-five, thin, pale, and so frightened of open windows that Mrs. Whitfield closed every curtain before she entered the room.

Naomi waited in the library.

Zuri was upstairs.

Damon stayed near the door.

Tessa looked at Naomi for a long time.

"You're her mother."

Naomi's eyes filled.

"Yes."

Tessa nodded as if confirming something to herself.

"Good."

The word broke the tension.

Naomi whispered, "You don't want to take her?"

Tessa sat down.

"I want to know her."

Naomi did not answer.

Tessa clasped her hands.

"I need you to understand. I didn't abandon her."

"I know."

"No. You know what the records say. You don't know what happened."

"Then tell me."

Tessa looked at Damon.

"Can he stay?"

Naomi said, "If you want."

Tessa began.

Adrian had noticed her during her internship.

At first he was charming.

Then controlling.

After a company retreat, he assaulted her in a hotel room.

She reported it to Victor.

Victor confronted Adrian.

Adrian showed him evidence of Victor's own illegal surveillance work and threatened prison.

Then he offered money.

Victor took it.

Tessa hated him for that.

When she became pregnant, Adrian paid for an apartment and demanded silence.

"I thought I could disappear," Tessa said. "Then Elena found me."

Damon's throat tightened.

"How?"

"She saw a payment from Halcyon to my landlord."

Elena met Tessa secretly.

She promised protection.

She told her, "You are not evidence. You are a person."

Damon looked down.

That sounded exactly like Elena.

Tessa continued.

"She said she was going to the board. She had documents about the foundation and about me."

Naomi asked, "Did Adrian know?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"My father."

Tessa's voice cracked.

"Victor panicked. He told Adrian everything."

Damon felt cold anger.

"Then Victor helped sabotage Elena's car."

Tessa nodded.

"He swore he only meant to stop her."

"Do you believe him?"

"No."

Silence settled.

Tessa rubbed her wrists.

"After the crash, I went into labor early. I was thirty-five weeks."

Naomi leaned forward.

"You gave birth alone?"

"A nurse stayed. Maria."

Damon nodded.

"She remembers."

Tessa smiled faintly.

"Good."

Then the smile vanished.

"Adrian's men came. My father told me they were there to protect me. I heard one of them say the baby couldn't become a problem."

Naomi went white.

"So I ran."

"Without Zuri?"

"I couldn't reach the nursery."

Tessa began crying.

"I tried. They blocked the hall. I thought I'd come back with police."

"What happened?"

"Victor found me first. He said the baby was safe with Isaiah."

Naomi whispered, "She was."

"I know now."

Tessa looked at her.

"Victor hid me. Moved me from place to place. Every time I tried to leave, he said Adrian would kill me and take the baby."

Damon asked, "Why didn't Victor expose Adrian?"

"Because then he'd expose himself."

There it was.

Cowardice layered on cowardice.

Naomi said, "Isaiah adopted Zuri."

Tessa nodded.

"My father learned months later. He said it was safer."

"Did Isaiah know you were alive?"

"No."

Naomi closed her eyes.

That spared one betrayal.

Tessa's voice softened.

"I wrote letters. Victor never sent them."

She pulled a small bundle from her bag.

"These are copies."

Each was addressed to My Little Girl.

Naomi held them but did not open them.

"Will you testify?"

"Yes."

"Even against your father?"

Tessa cried harder.

"Especially now."

Damon stepped away to give them privacy.

From the staircase came a tiny gasp.

Zuri stood halfway down.

Mrs. Whitfield was behind her, apologetic.

"She slipped past me."

Tessa froze.

Naomi rose slowly.

Zuri looked at the stranger.

Then at Naomi.

Then back.

Tessa did not move toward her.

"Hi," she whispered.

Zuri hugged the lion.

Tessa's breath broke.

"You like lions?"

Zuri nodded.

"My friend."

Tessa smiled through tears.

"Your grandmother—my mother—used to collect lions."

Damon's head lifted.

"What?"

Tessa looked at him.

"She loved them. Victor hated them."

Zuri walked down one step.

Then another.

Naomi knelt beside her.

"This is Tessa."

Zuri studied her.

Tessa said, "You don't have to call me anything."

The child tilted her head.

Then she asked, "Are you sad too?"

Tessa laughed and cried at once.

"Sometimes."

Zuri came closer.

She did not hug her.

She handed her the gold lion.

Tessa touched it with trembling fingers.

"I've seen this."

Damon stepped forward.

"Where?"

"Elena had it at the hotel when she met me."

Everyone went still.

Tessa turned the figurine over.

On its base was a barely visible seam.

"She said it held a backup."

Damon stared.

"A backup of what?"

Tessa pressed one paw and twisted the tail.

A tiny compartment opened.

Inside was a microSD card.

For three years Damon had kept the lion on his desk.

For three years the final evidence had been inches from his hand.

Zuri clapped.

"Found it."

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Damon looked at Elena's hidden message resting in Tessa's palm.

The lion had shown the way after all.