CHAPTER 5 - Secret reveal

Nothing obviously had changed since Leah had been away. The furniture was still arranged exactly the same way. The marble floors are polished. But something was missing.

For three years, he had never really paid attention to the small things. The coffee that was always waiting on the table every morning, documents sorted neatly before meetings, and the soft sound of someone moving around the kitchen before sunrise.

Ana sat comfortably on the sofa, scrolling through her phone. When she saw him enter, she smiled brightly.

“You’re late today.” She said

He loosened his tie. "Work," he said, looking distracted.

Ana stood from where she was sitting and walked toward him, slipping her arm through his.

“You work too much, Cole. Soon everyone will know we’re together, so you should slow down and enjoy life a little." She said while unbuttoning his shirt.

Cole gave a small nod, but his attention shifted to the table beside the door; there was a thin envelope on it. With the word "Hospital" on the letterhead.

He frowned slightly and picked it up. For a moment he considered tossing it aside with the rest of the junk mail, but the sender caught his eye. He opened it. Inside it was a printed bill and a medical report summary.

His eyes stopped on one word. Prenatal: But before he could continue reading the content, Ana stepped forward and casually took it from him.

“Oh, this?” she said lightly. “Probably some hospital advertisement or mistake.” She said while tossing it inside the trash can.

“It is not important.”

Cole watched as she put the paper into the bin; he felt uneasy about Ana’s reaction, but he didn't say anything at that moment.

The following morning he instructed his assistant to investigate the hospital and look into the records

Meanwhile, across the city, Leah stood at the front of the conference room at her new job, with several executives sitting around the long table. She finished explaining the final part of her revised proposal.

“If we restructure the supply chain before expansion,” she concluded calmly, “the company will avoid the projected losses within the first year.”

The room was silent; an executive leaned back slowly. “Impressive.”

Another whispered to his colleague, “Where did the president find her?”

At the end of the table, Mark sat quietly; he said nothing during the entire meeting. Everyone in the room was trying to impress him except Elena, who was only being herself and doing her thing and didn't care about impressing him.

She spoke clearly, answered questions directly, and didn’t waste time with flattery.

Later that evening, Cole’s assistant had returned with the hospital report; he sat behind his desk reading it, as his grip kept getting tighter as he read the content on the paper: the pregnancy confirmation, emergency admission, severe bleeding, and miscarriage.

He remembered the last conversation he had with Elena about the baby; he had asked her to remove it, and he had been cold. At the time, he had believed he was being rational. Now the memory was haunting him.

The door opened quietly, and his assistant stepped inside. “Sir, I have retrieved the remaining hospital records you requested.”

Cole nodded. “Leave them," he replied.

His assistant placed the file on the desk and hesitated before speaking again. “There is… one more detail you should see.” Cole flipped through the pages, but he stopped when he saw the emergency contact authorization; it was signed by someone else. It was Ana’s.

“That day,” he said slowly, “she told me she was going home to rest.” The assistant lowered his gaze. “There’s also security footage, sir.” He played the video on his tab

Leah was rushed to the hospital bleeding. A nurse supported her as they hurried inside.

Several minutes passed before another figure appeared. It was Ana; she walked directly to the reception desk. Then the video showed her speaking privately with the doctor.

Cole’s expression hardened. “Play the next clip.” His assistant hesitated, but he obeyed.

The next video showed the doctor reaching for his phone, but Ana stopped him before he could dial

She said something to the doctor, and he paused, then slowly lowered his phone.

Cole’s hand clenched around the tablet. “She told them not to contact me,” he said quietly. The assistant nodded. “Yes, sir.”

For a long moment, the office was silent. Cole’s gaze drifted toward the window.

He remembered Leah standing in front of him weeks ago. Her eyes were red. "This is your child.”

And he had told her to remove it. He had thought she was trying to force him, trying to trap him.

But the hospital report told a different story; she had tried to keep the baby and when everything went wrong… She had been alone.

That night, when Cole got home, "Explain," he said while tossing the tab at her. The smile on Ana’s face faded as she struggled to find her words.

For the first time Cole went to Leah’s quarter, the closet door was open, but there was nothing inside; every trace of Leah was gone

For the first time, he imagined a child in the house, running, playing.

He clenched his fist; this was gone because of him. He picked up his phone and called his assistant. “Find out who hired her." His assistant hesitated for a moment before answering. “She’s working at Mark’s Corporation.’’

Mark’s Corporation, his family’s biggest rival. A frown crossed his face.