CHAPTER 5 â THE CRUEL ACCUSATION
The photograph burned inside Victor Haleâs mind.
No matter how many times he tried to ignore itâŠ
He couldnât.
Elena.
His late wife.
Standing beside An.
Smiling.
Happy.
And on the back of the picture, one sentence that destroyed the fragile trust he had started building:
"Ask your maid what she did."
Victor hated uncertainty.
In business, uncertainty meant risk.
And risk was something he eliminated.
But this timeâŠ
The uncertainty had a face.
An Parker.
The woman who had saved his son.
The woman who had brought warmth back into his cold home.
The woman who might be hiding the biggest secret of his life.
Victor spent the entire night in his office.
The city lights outside the window reflected against his tired eyes.
On his desk were two things.
The photograph.
And An's employment file.
He compared every detail.
Nothing made sense.
If An had been close to ElenaâŠ
Why did Elena never mention her?
Why did An disappear before Elena died?
Why did she return now?
And why did she enter his home as a maid?
Questions filled his mind.
But one question hurt the most:
Had An been hiding something about Elena's death?
The next morning, the atmosphere inside the penthouse changed.
An noticed immediately.
Before, Victor had been distant.
Cold.
Difficult.
But there had been something different recently.
A small amount of trust.
A small amount of kindness.
Now it was gone.
His eyes were guarded again.
His voice was colder.
"Mr. Hale?"
An looked at him carefully.
"Is everything alright?"
Victor placed the photograph on the table.
An looked down.
The moment she saw itâŠ
Her face changed.
Only slightly.
But enough.
Victor noticed.
"Explain."
The word was sharp.
An picked up the photograph.
Her fingers trembled.
Not from fear.
From sadness.
"Where did you get this?"
Victor's eyes hardened.
"That is my question."
Silence.
An looked at Elena's face.
A thousand memories returned.
Elena laughing.
Elena crying.
Elena holding Ethan before he was born.
And Elena's final request.
"Please protect my son."
An slowly placed the photo down.
"Your wife was a good person."
Victor's expression changed.
"Don't avoid the question."
"I'm not."
"Then answer me."
His voice rose.
"Why were you with my wife?"
An looked at him.
"Because she needed someone."
Victor froze.
"What does that mean?"
But before An could answerâŠ
A scream came from upstairs.
"Ethan!"
Both of them turned.
They rushed into the nursery.
Ethan was crying.
But this timeâŠ
Something was wrong.
His face was pale.
His breathing was fast.
Victor's heart dropped.
"What happened?"
An immediately picked him up.
"I don't know."
The nanny standing nearby looked terrified.
"I only stepped away for one minute."
Victor looked around.
Then he saw something.
The bottle.
On the table.
His expression changed.
"Who prepared this?"
The nanny looked nervous.
"I did."
An checked the bottle.
Her face became serious.
"Something is wrong."
Victor immediately looked at her.
"What?"
She smelled the milk.
Then checked the formula.
"The mixture is incorrect."
The room became silent.
Victor looked at the nanny.
"What did you put in here?"
The woman's face turned white.
"IâI followed the instructions."
An shook her head.
"No."
She looked at Victor.
"Too much powder can make a baby sick."
Victor's blood ran cold.
Someone had almost harmed his son.
Within minutes, Ethan was taken to the hospital.
Victor stayed beside him the entire time.
He didn't leave.
Didn't answer calls.
Didn't care about his company.
Only Ethan mattered.
After several hours, the doctor finally walked out.
"He's stable."
Victor closed his eyes.
Relief almost made him collapse.
But then anger replaced it.
He turned toward the nanny.
"What happened?"
The nanny immediately started crying.
"I don't know, Mr. Hale."
"I would never hurt him."
Victor's eyes moved toward An.
She stood quietly.
And suddenlyâŠ
A terrible thought appeared.
The anonymous photograph.
The secrets.
The timing.
Everything.
Fear made him suspicious.
And suspicion made him cruel.
"Was she involved?"
Everyone froze.
An slowly looked at him.
"What?"
Victor's voice was cold.
"You knew too much about my son."
Her expression changed.
"Victor..."
It was the first time she called him by his name.
Not sir.
Not Mr. Hale.
Just Victor.
And somehow, that made the moment hurt more.
"Are you saying I did this?"
Her voice was quiet.
Victor didn't answer.
But his silence was enough.
An stepped back.
The pain in her eyes was obvious.
"You really think I would hurt him?"
Victor looked away.
"I don't know what to think anymore."
Those words destroyed something.
Because An had accepted his anger.
His coldness.
His suspicion.
But not this.
Not after everything.
She looked at Ethan through the hospital glass.
"I stayed because of him."
Her voice trembled slightly.
"Not because of your money."
Victor said nothing.
"I protected him because I promised someone I would."
Victor looked at her sharply.
"Who?"
An didn't answer.
And that silence made everything worse.
That evening, the hospital room was quiet.
Ethan slept peacefully.
Victor sat beside him.
Alone.
For the first time, he noticed something.
An wasn't there.
Normally, she would be sitting nearby.
Watching Ethan.
Making sure he was comfortable.
But tonightâŠ
She was gone.
And strangelyâŠ
The room felt empty again.
When Victor returned to the penthouse, he found a small envelope on the table.
Inside was An's resignation letter.
His hands froze.
The letter was short.
Respectful.
No anger.
No accusations.
Only one sentence at the end:
"Thank you for allowing me to care for Ethan. I hope one day you will believe that I never wanted anything from your family except to keep my promise."
Victor read it again.
Then again.
Something inside him cracked.
Because for the first timeâŠ
He wondered if he had made the same mistake everyone else made.
Judging An before knowing the truth.
But before he could search for herâŠ
His phone rang.
A message appeared.
Unknown number.
One photo.
Victor opened it.
His entire body froze.
It was An.
Holding baby Ethan.
But the picture was takenâŠ
The day before Elena died.
And beneath it was a message:
"Now you know she was closer to your wife than she admitted."
Victor stared at the screen.
His anger returned.
His confusion deepened.
And somewhere in the cityâŠ
An Parker walked away from the only home where she had finally started feeling needed.
Without knowingâŠ
Victor Hale was about to discover the truth.
May you like
But by thenâŠ
It might already be too late.
