Novel & Cerita Where My Heart Was Hidden

"Do you know the price I paid for this?" Marcus clutched his face, stunned speechless. "The Vanguard family, can you hear me?" "In front of them, what are the Castillos? What are the Salentos?" He pointed a trembling finger at Marcus. "And you, you idiot, you've thrown away a golden opportunity!" His voice cracked with despair, tears finally spilling. "Father." Marcus's voice was barely a whisper. "I truly didn't know her identity…" "You didn't know?" Julian scoffed. "There's a lot you don't know!"

I forced myself to act like I didn't know anything and pushed open the door. The entire house was filled with a sticky, suffocating atmosphere. I made my way inside, hearing Nydia singing from the bathroom. Taking advantage of the moment, I dug out the hidden camera I had seen last time. I had no clue how to use these things. So, I hastily took a photo and searched online. But no matter how much I searched, I couldn't find an exact match. That was when it hit me—it wasn't just Nydia. There might be someone even bigger behind this.

Angel didn’t mind backing down when she knew it was in her best interest to know what these people knew. Hunter was flabbergasted he asked more calmly “Can someone tell me what is going on?” Michael simply handed him the piece of paper, they watched as all the color drained from Hunter’s face and he stared in stunned disbelief at Angel. When the letter had been passed around to everyone in the room who had just arrived. Michael spoke saying “It appears that Stacia wasn’t off with her friend that summer, she’d gone into hiding to give birth to her daughter. Whom she then gave to someone.”

My heartbeat thundered in my temples. My fingers curled beneath white sand. Adrenaline mixed with an electric current coursed through my veins. Pain rippled through my back. The coarseness of the cave bored even through the back of my shirt. The grains of sand beneath me danced to the movement of the beast. My breathing became labored as I dared it to go the wrong way. But, it didn’t. It never did. He always knew where I hid. The rainfall of pebbles in my lap told me my hiding spot was discovered. I swallowed as my eyes went up.

But I existed in two worlds now, one public, one secret. I finished the calculations for the Spencer project, triple-checking totals, formatting, and projections. Everything aligned. Accuracy mattered more than ever. Evening arrived. LA streets glimmered with sunset reflections on glass towers. I packed my things carefully, laptop bag over one shoulder, coat draped across my arm. Every step was measured. Every breath is calculated. The world outside didn’t know, couldn’t know, about the secret in me. A life conceived without intimacy, without romance, yet undeniably mine to protect and guide. Virgin, professional, pregnant. A paradox I carried with solemn pride and quiet fear.

My heart is too loud, a frantic pulse against the quiet. I back away, slipping through the dark with the careful stealth of someone used to remaining hidden, of someone who must remain hidden. A lifetime passes before I find shelter in a nearby office, a dark and windowless retreat. I am just in time. Just in time to see him.

No more words. As we pulled away from the orphanage, the shadows behind us long and heavy, I felt something shift. I had been hidden once. Buried in secrets not of my making. But not anymore. I would never hide again.

My lips curve slightly. “You really didn’t trust anyone, did you?” No answer. Of course not. But I don’t need one. I already found what she hid. And now I’m going to use it. The location isn’t marked. Not on any map. Not in any system. It exists between things. A place carved out of shadows and secrets. Exactly where something like this would be kept. I step inside. The air shifts instantly. That means it’s still here. The chamber is dark and in the center breathes slowly.

Glory I was waiting for him at our usual place, the hideaway hidden in the bushes behind the mansion. It was our sanctuary, a place where the world seemed to stop and only the two of us existed. The leaves swayed gently in the wind, whispering secrets that only lovers understood. I had spent the entire morning wrapped in anxiety, a whirlwind of emotions swirling inside me. I hadn't been able to talk to him, but the hope that Harald still felt something for me guided me here, as if that feeling were a magnetic force that I couldn't resist.

"Please proceed to the Heart Chamber." Claire heard the announcement through the outside speakers. She looked at David with surprise. "The Heart Chamber?" David frowned. "I've never heard that name before." Evelyn slowly smiled. "Samuel kept one last secret." Victor looked at her. "You knew?" She shook her head. "I guessed." "He always believed that love was stronger than fear." Richard's face darkened. "No." "There isn't another chamber." "There can't be." Claire quickly checked the monitor. A new map had appeared. A hidden section of Genesis was glowing beneath the main structure. "It was hidden from every system."