CHAPTER 1: The Dinner That Became a Trial
Alexander stepped in front of Elena. He looked down at her, no longer with cold indifference, but with the eyes of a father who had just realized he might have missed the most important thing in his life.
“Elena.”
It was the first time he had called her name that night.
“Look at me.”
Elena pressed her lips together and slowly raised her head.
Her eyes shone with tears, but there was no deception in them. There was only fear, heartbreak, and a tenderness that could not be faked.
Alexander asked, word by word:
“Why is my son calling you Mommy?”
Before Elena could answer, Victoria, the woman in the red dress, slammed her napkin onto the table.
“Mr. Reed, this is obvious. A young housemaid wants to climb above her place. She used the child to force her way into your family.”
Elena turned to look at her.
Not angrily.
Only silently.
But that silence made Victoria even more irritated.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” Victoria sneered. “Do you think that just because you taught a child to call you mother, you can become the lady of the Reed family?”
Oliver flinched when Victoria’s voice grew louder. He pressed himself closer to Elena.
Elena immediately bent down and gently covered his ears.
That small action made Alexander freeze.
It was too natural.
Too familiar.
As if she had done it many times before.
On rainy nights.
When Oliver woke up frightened.
During moments when Alexander himself had not been there.
Alexander looked at the butler.
“Bring Mrs. Harper here.”
Mrs. Harper was the internal manager of the Reed mansion. She was responsible for all household staff, Oliver’s daily schedule, and everything that happened in the house while Alexander was at the company.
A few minutes later, Mrs. Harper walked in. Her face turned pale when she saw the tense atmosphere in the dining hall.
Alexander did not waste a word.
“My son called Elena mother. Did you know about this?”
Mrs. Harper quickly glanced at Elena, then shook her head.
“Sir, I… I did not know. The young master rarely speaks. Perhaps it was only a child’s confusion.”
“Confusion?”
Alexander’s voice lowered.
“Oliver has not called anyone mother since Sophia’s funeral.”
The name Sophia made the entire room fall even quieter.
Sophia Reed.
Alexander’s late wife.
The woman who had once turned the Reed mansion from a cold luxurious place into a real home.
She had passed away from a serious illness when Oliver was not yet two years old.
Since that day, Alexander had buried himself in work. He told himself he was building a future for his son. He hired the best doctors, the best nannies, the best chefs, the best tutors.
But he had forgotten one thing.
A child did not need a perfect team.
A child needed a sincere embrace.
Alexander turned back to Elena.
“Speak.”
Elena held Oliver in her arms. The little boy looked up at her as if waiting for an answer he did not even understand.
Finally, Elena whispered:
“I never taught the young master to call me that.”
Victoria laughed mockingly.
“So he invented it on his own?”
Elena looked down at Oliver.
Her voice trembled, but it was clear.
“I only took care of him when no one was watching.”
The room fell silent.
Alexander frowned.
“What do you mean?”
Elena took a deep breath.
“After Madam Sophia passed away, young master Oliver often woke up at two in the morning. He cried without making a sound. He only sat in the corner of the room, holding Madam Sophia’s old teddy bear, staring at the window.”
Alexander froze.
No one had ever told him that.
Elena continued:
“The night nanny was afraid of being blamed, so many times she only turned on lullaby music and left. I was the one cleaning the second-floor hallway. I heard him crying. At first, I did not dare to enter, because I was only a housemaid. But one night, he cried until he threw up his milk. I was so scared that I went in.”
Alexander’s eyes darkened.
He turned his head and looked at Mrs. Harper.
She immediately lowered her face.
Elena was not accusing anyone. She was simply telling the story. But every word felt like a needle piercing Alexander’s pride.
“I wiped his face. I changed the sheets. I held him until he fell asleep. After that, he woke up every night. And I… I stayed with him.”
Alexander slowly asked:
“How long?”
Elena stayed silent for a few seconds.
“Seven months.”
Seven months.
His son had cried every night for seven months.
And the person beside him had not been Alexander.
Not the highly paid specialists.
Not the women sitting at the dinner table, hoping to become his stepmother.
It had been a housemaid whom everyone treated as invisible.
Alexander felt his chest tighten.
He remembered so many nights when he came home late. Oliver’s bedroom door was always slightly open. Mrs. Harper said he was asleep. The nanny said he was fine. The doctor said his condition was improving.
Alexander believed them all.
Because believing was easier than facing the pain.
Victoria still refused to give up.
“Mr. Reed, even if she took care of the boy a few times, that does not mean—”
Alexander raised his hand.
Victoria went silent.
He looked at Mrs. Harper.
“I want to see the second-floor hallway camera footage. The past three months. All of it.”
Mrs. Harper’s face went pale.
“Sir, the cameras near the children’s bedrooms sometimes—”
“Now.”
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The butler immediately ordered someone to bring a tablet.
No one spoke as the footage was opened.
