Chapter 15 - Before the Uniform
Emilia’s file was thin.
That made it worse.
There were photographs of her leaving university.
A copy of an old rental agreement.
Details about her mother.
Employment history.
A photograph of Emilia and Carter eating at a small restaurant during the first year of their relationship.
The picture had been taken through a window.
Emilia stared at it.
“This was before we were married.”
Carter took the photograph.
His face changed.
“Before we announced we were together.”
Rachel whispered, “Why would Vale have this?”
Seraphina was brought in the next morning.
When she saw the file, all color left her face.
“I never saw this.”
Carter’s voice was cold.
“Think carefully.”
“I am.”
She touched the edge of the folder without opening it.
“These files were not created by Vale.”
“Then who?”
“Victor had a private intelligence team.”
Emilia laughed bitterly.
“For competitors?”
“For everyone.”
Seraphina looked at Carter.
“He believed wealthy people were easiest to control when you knew what they were ashamed of.”
“I wasn’t wealthy.”
“No.”
Seraphina turned toward Emilia.
“But Carter was interested in you.”
The sentence chilled the room.
They dug deeper.
Emilia’s mother had worked for twenty-two years as a private caregiver.
That had never been secret.
What Emilia had not known was that one of her mother’s former employers had been connected to Hale Aviation.
Only briefly.
Six months.
When Emilia was nine.
“Why would that matter?” Emilia asked.
Seraphina did not know.
Carter searched the old company records.
Her mother’s name appeared once.
Ana Carter?
No.
Ana Marquez.
Emilia’s maiden family records were there.
A temporary caregiver assignment.
Hale residence.
Emilia stopped breathing.
“My mother worked for your family?”
Carter stared at the screen.
“I didn’t know.”
“How old were you?”
“Fourteen.”
Emilia remembered her mother coming home late during that year.
Exhausted.
Sometimes angry.
Never willing to discuss the family she worked for.
One memory surfaced.
Her mother standing in their kitchen, saying:
Rich people are not worse than anyone else, Emilia.
But money makes it easier to hide what you are.
Emilia had forgotten those words.
Now they returned with terrifying clarity.
June entered the room.
Emilia showed her the record.
June sat down slowly.
“I remember Ana.”
Carter turned.
“You knew Emilia’s mother?”
June looked at both of them.
“Yes.”
May you like
Then her eyes filled with something that looked almost like guilt.
“And I think I know why Langford kept a file on Emilia.”
