His charge appeared incredible.
Almost an insult.
Harold?
The man who had worked for the Laurents for decades.
The man who had seen Damien grow up.
The man who had been Aria’s comfort in the loneliest moments of her marriage.
The man who knew the Laurent mansion like the back of his hand.
No.
It wasn’t him.
Damien looked at the phone.
Noah.
Yes sir.
“Double check.
“I already did.” “Check again.”
There was a silence.
Noah understood what Damien meant.
He didn’t want to be ordained.
He needed an answer.
I will send you the proof.
The call had ended.
Aria watched his face intently.
“What happened?
Damien didn’t answer immediately.
Which was more worrisome than the news itself.
“Damien.
He looked at her.
“It’s Harold.”
Her face was changed.
No.’ It was an instant answer.
Not that she knew for certain.
Because she couldn’t stand it.
“That doesn’t make sense.
I know.
Harold wouldn’t do that.”
Damien averted his eyes.
“You believe him.’
The words were strange.
They both knew the reason why.
Harold was there for Aria when Damien wasn’t.
When Damien stayed late at work.
When he missed clutch situations.
Their marriage slowly began to be two people living separate lives under the same roof.
Harold was always pleasant.
“Yes.”
“I did,” Aria said.
“I trust him.”
One stop.
But that doesn’t mean I’m correct.”
Damien stared at her.
He was surprised at the answer.
She wasn’t defending Harold blindly.
She was having a hard time about the thought.
“We need proof.
He nodded.
“You’re right.
They were back at the mansion a little before midnight.
The atmosphere had shifted.
It used to feel like home, now it felt foreign.
Every corridor.
Every room.
All human beings.
Everyone might be hiding something.
Harold was waiting by the entrance.
As per usual.
Calm
Professional.
Mr.
Laurent.”
His eyes swept to Aria.
“”Mrs.
Laurent.
The usual greeting felt weird now.
Damien stared at him.
This man he had counted on for twenty years.
Harold was there during his mother’s funeral.
In his father’s worst moments.
The years had forced Damien to grow up too soon.
Could all of that have been a show?
Harold.
The butler took the tone in a moment.
“Yes, sir?”
“You went where this afternoon?”
A little silence.
“Here.” All afternoon?
Yes.
Damien turned to him.
“Are you sure?”
Harold’s face was a blank.
“Yes, sir.”
Aria saw something.
Not Harold.
From Damien.
He was treating Harold as if he were a suspect.
And she knew why she did.
But she understood something else as well.
Damien was wounded.
Not mad.
Pain.
Betrayal from a stranger was to be expected.
But family betrayal was another thing.
Later that night, Noah came with the evidence.
They met in Damien’s office.
The very same room in which their marriage had almost ended.
The same room where secrets kept popping up.
Noah set a folder on the table.
“The log of access.”
Damien opened it.
The system indicates security credentials belonging to Harold were used.
Aria looked at the papers.
But maybe someone used his credentials.”
Noah nodded.
That is possible.
Damien looked at him.
So why are we suspicious of him?”
Noah hesitated.
“Because there is something else.
He opened another folder.
Harold had done a few trips into the archives this last month.
Damien frowned.
“When?
The first was two days after the divorce papers were filed.
Aria’s face shifted.
And the second?
”The day before the gala.
Silence.
Damien looked at the dates.
Why would he use them?’
Noah shook his head.
“We don’t know.
Aria glanced at the records.
But the messages.
All eyes were on her.
“The person who called me knew things about this family.
She stopped.
They knew things only an insider would know.”
Damien leaned back.
So Harold knew.
Aria looked at him.
“”Just because he knows something, doesn’t mean he caused it.”
No one answered.
She was right.
Because.
At that moment, Harold was standing outside the office door.
He had listened to all.
For the first time in a long time…
The man who had served the Laurent family seemed unsure.
He walked away slowly.
But he didn’t.
But he went to a secret room under the house.
A room no one knew existed.
Not even Damien.
He unlocked the door.
Inside there were boxes.
Old photos.
Papers
Letters.
Reminiscences.
He crossed to a small wooden box.
With trembling hands he opened it.
Inside, a photograph.
Young Harrold.
Beside Elena Laurent.
And next to them…
Richard Vale.
All three of them grinning.
On the back of the photograph was written a message.
The day Damien and Aria learn the truth.
Harold shut his eyes.
He had prayed that day would never come.
Because he knew something nobody else did.
Something Elena had made him swear to protect.
Something that could kill them both.
The next morning Aria woke up to a message.
Not from an unknown caller.
This time…
From Harold
At once her heart closed up.
She opened it.
There was only one sentence.
If you want to know the truth about your marriage, Mrs.
Laurent, meet me alone.
She altered her face.
Another message arrived.
“Don’t tell Mr.
Laurent.
Aria looked at the screen.
Every instinct she had told her something was wrong.
But another part of her recalled the man who had always treated her like kin.
The man who was only a suspect.
A man who might have the answers she needed.
She looked to Damien, asleep in the chair on the other side of the room after his night.
of investigation.
She had wanted him to tell her the truth for years.
Now the truth was coming out.
But she had no idea whether she was ready to hear it.
Aria got dressed quietly.
She went for her phone.
And walked out of the room.
Not knowing someone was watching her walk.
Not knowing who was watching her .
.
.
Was the same guy who started this whole game.
The old café was nearly empty.
That was exactly why Harold had selected it.
No cameras.
No staff.
No familiar faces .
Just silence.
Aria sat across from him, her hands wrapped around a cup of coffee she hadn’t touched.
She still wasn’t sure she had made the right decision to come here.
Something inside her felt guilty for keeping this from Damien.
Somewhere inside her she knew she couldn’t live in ignorance any longer.
Not any more.
Harold looked older than he did last night.
The ideal pose.
The look of tranquility.
The professional mask he wore in the Laurent mansion.
It was lost.
Today he looked like a man with a burden that had become too heavy.
Harold.
He looked at her.
“”Yes, Mrs.
Laurent.
“Before anything else…”
She put her phone on the table.
““If it’s some other secret that everyone expects me to quietly bear, I’m out.”
Harold dropped his eyes.
“You have every right to say that.” Good.
She leaned back.
Because I’m sick of people telling me what I can take.
The old man nodded slowly.
I see.
“I get it.”
“No you don’t.”
Her voice lowered, but the pain was still there.
And They all claim to be protecting me.
She looked at him.
But none of them asks me what I want to be protected against.
Harold was quiet.
Because he was unable to argue.
‘You’re right.’
The agreement was simple, she found.
Then he said something that caught her by surprise.
I failed you.
Aria frowned.
What?
I knew it.
Her heart grew tight.
“What did he know?
Harold looked straight at her.
“That your marriage to Mr.
Damien was a marriage of secrets.”
The words stung.
Though she had already suspected as much.
Hearing somebody admit it made it real.
You knew that before I married him?
“Yes.
For how long?”
Harold stopped.
“”Since before you knew him.”
Aria averted her eyes.
For a moment she couldn’t speak.
She had always thought the people around her were honest.
Now she wondered how many conversations had taken place without her.
How many decisions had been taken without her knowledge.
What is a reason …?
Harold sighed.
Elena Laurent thought the only way she could protect you was to see you married.
Aria turned back to him.
“Protect me from what?”
Harold’s face turned serious.
“The people who wanted your inheritance.
Aria was quiet.
She had heard that word too many times.
Inheritance
Heir.
Old School.
But all of it was fake.
Because she wasn’t someone who was raised to know she was going to inherit an empire.
She was simply Aria.
A woman who loved the books.
A woman who wanted to have a normal marriage
A woman who waited years for her husband to see her.
“My inheritance.”
Harold nodded.
“Yes.” “How much is it ?”
The question appeared to startle him.
“I don’t think it’s the amount.” It matters.
Her voice was calm.
And because of it, people have lied, they have betrayed, they have ruined lives.
Harold looked away.
Money isn’t the only way to value something.
What is it then?”
A pause.
“Control .
The answer made her feel uneasy.
Control of what?” Laurent Holdings original cornerstone.
Harold leaned forward.
You weren’t just rich.
Your family was rich.
He lowered his voice.
“Your family had control over industries which established entire markets.”
Aria frowned.
“So why didn’t anyone know?
”Because someone erased your family name from history.”
Her words sent a shiver through her.
“Who?”
Harold looked away.
We don’t know.
“That’s not true.”
She looked at him.
‘You know something.
The silence of the old man told it.
Harold.”
Finally he glanced at her.
““There are things I can’t tell you.
”Because of loyalty?
Because of a promise.
“To who?”
Long silence.
Then:
“Your mom.
Aria was frozen.
Mother?
Harold nodded.
““Your mother knew what was going to happen.
Damien woke up alone.
Quiet was the first thing he noticed.
The second thing he noticed was the absence of Aria.
His face changed at once.
He glanced at his phone.
No posts.
No phone calls.
Then he saw the space she had cleared for her things.
Some strange fear woke in him.
Not the fear of losing a business
Not the fear of losing the power.
Something a bit more personal.
He rang her.
No response.
Again.
No response.
His jaw clenched.
He saw something.
A paper lay on the table.
Nothing a note.
Receipt.
Taken in a cafe.
He narrowed his eyes.
He knew the place.
And he knew to whom it belonged.
Harold.
Twenty minutes later Damien came.
He didn’t just walk right in
He looked at it from outside.
He saw them through the glass window.
aria
And Harold .
Dialog.
His first sensation was rage.
Not because she had met Harold.
Because she didn’t trust him enough to tell him.
But then he looked at Aria’s face.
It was the same look she had worn for years.
The look of someone searching for answers.
His anger was gone.
For he knew it.
She wasn’t trying to give him up.
She was trying to know herself.
He went in.
Harold’s face changed the moment he saw him.
Mr.
Laurent.
Aria spun around.
Her eyes snapped open.
Damien.”
He looked from one to the next.
I think we ought to talk.
The atmosphere in the café changed at once.
Harold looked as if he anticipated this.
Aria looked ill at ease.
Damien sat next to her.
Not opposite her.
A tiny gesture.
But she saw.
What did you say to her?
‘Damien asked.
Quietly, Harold said.
The facts.
Damien’s lips curled into a bitter smile.
Interesting.”
The old man looked at him.
Because apparently all the other people in this family have spent twenty years running from that.
Harold accepted the criticism.
You’re right.”
Damien seemed surprised.
Again, Harold admitted it.
“I should have said something.” Sure.
But Elena had made me promise.
Damien’s face hardened.
“Everybody keeps blaming promises.
His voice dropped.
But nobody talks about the people those promises hurt.
Quiet.
Harold looked at him.
“I know.”
The answer took Damien’s sails out of him.
Then Harold reached into his jacket.
He placed a small envelope on the table.
“This belonged to your mother.
Damien knew the handwriting straight away.
Elena.
““Why do you have this?
Harold looked at him.
“Because she told me to give it to you when you finally found out the truth.”
Damien looked at the envelope.
And why now?”
Harold looked back and forth between Damien and Aria.
Because the truth about your marriage is in there.
Aria’s heart was pounding.
Damien opened the letter.
There was a letter inside.
One page only.
He started to read.
The first line stopped him cold.
Damien, if you are reading this, Aria knows who she really is.
His eyes flickered faster.
Then his face changed completely.
Aria noticed.
““What does it say?
Damien said nothing.
He couldn’t do it.
because the next sentence had ended the last hope he had had in their marriage.
The letter went on:
You married Aria, your father told you, to protect the Laurent family.
He was incorrect.
Looking up, Damien
The color had drained from his face.
Because the last line said:
“Damien, guarding Aria wasn’t your choice.
You are the one who can destroy her.
You were selected.
The letter fell from his hand.
Aria looked up at him.
“What does that mean?
Damien looked at her.
And for the first time…
He feared himself.