Chapter 4 - The Ripple EffectThe next three days were a blur of forbidden interactions. Ethan found himself wandering into the kitchen at odd hours, not to check on the domestic staff, but to see if the little girl with the rubber duck was around.
When he found her, he didn't talk about stocks. He talked about books. He found out she loved stories about adventures, about dragons, about places that didn't exist. He found himself reading her a chapter of a book he had kept in his desk for ten years—a book he had bought for Hannah.
Mara watched from the doorway, her heart swelling with a mix of relief and fear. She knew this couldn't last. A billionaire’s life was not a playground, and she knew the cold reality of their world—that he would eventually grow tired of the intrusion, and they would be dismissed.
But Ethan was changing. The staff whispered about it. The house manager, Walter, watched with bewildered eyes as his boss started eating breakfast in the dining room, sometimes even engaging in light conversation about the weather.
Then, the tragedy of the past resurfaced.
A financial reporter, digging for a story on Ethan’s "newfound softness," tracked down the details of Grace’s accident. On a Tuesday morning, a tabloid hit the newsstands: THE BILLIONAIRE'S GHOST: ETHAN CALDWELL'S HAUNTED PAST.
The article was brutal. It dug up the names, the dates, the details of the crash, and the fact that he hadn't spoken about his family in a decade.
Ethan went into his office and locked the door. He didn't come out for dinner. He didn't come out for breakfast.
Mara sat outside the door, clutching a tray of toast and coffee, tears in her eyes. "Mr. Caldwell?" she called out softly.
May you like
Silence.
She signaled to Sophie, who was waiting in the hall. Sophie didn't hesitate. She knocked on the heavy wood. "Mr. Caldwell? Quackers wants to know if you're okay. He says he's a professional secret-keeper."
