Chapter 3 - Emily Was Never Random Staff
Daniel took Emily into a private conference room away from the crowd.
The hotel manager joined them.
So did hotel security.
Emily’s cheek was still red.
Daniel looked furious with himself.
“I should have told them who you were.”
Emily shook her head.
“That wouldn’t have fixed who they are.”
She had chosen to work under her mother’s maiden name, Emily Carter.
Daniel used their father’s surname.
Hale.
They shared the same father, Richard Hale, but different mothers.
Richard had spent years hiding Emily from the public side of his life.
Not because he did not love her.
Because he had been afraid of scandal.
Daniel learned about Emily only after their father became ill.
Their first years as siblings had been awkward.
Then slowly better.
Emily had refused Daniel’s offer to leave hotel work.
She liked hospitality.
She was studying operations management at night.
She wanted a career she earned herself.
Vanessa knew some of that.
At least, she was supposed to know.
Daniel had told her Emily existed.
But he had never shown her a photograph.
Emily looked toward the ballroom.
“She knew exactly who I was anyway.”
Daniel frowned.
“How?”
The answer came from the planted bracelet.
May you like
It belonged to Richard Hale’s first wife.
Daniel’s mother.
