Chapter 2 - The Real Watch
For several seconds, Richard Hawthorne could not move.
The private road outside his estate had gone strangely quiet. Behind him, two security guards stood near the open gates, uncertain whether they should approach. In front of him, his three sons clung to the woman he had fired less than an hour earlier.
Emily remained on her knees in the street.
Ethan had one arm around her neck.
Noah held her sleeve.
Liam pressed his face against her shoulder.
Richard looked at the boarding-school document in Emily’s hand.
Then he looked at his sons.
“You saw Victoria put the watch in Emily’s bag?”
Ethan nodded.
“We were upstairs.”
“Where?”
“Behind the curtain in your bedroom.”
Richard’s stomach tightened.
“Why were you hiding?”
“Miss Victoria told us not to come in.”
Noah wiped his face.
“But Liam wanted the red race car.”
Richard remembered the toy. Liam had left it beside Richard’s nightstand the previous afternoon.
“We went to get it,” Ethan continued. “Miss Victoria was holding the shiny watch.”
“She put it inside Miss Emily’s bag,” Liam whispered.
Richard looked at Emily.
Her face did not change.
There was no satisfaction in it.
No triumphant I told you so.
Only exhaustion.
That somehow made his shame worse.
“But security found the watch,” Richard said carefully. “The watch was inside Emily’s bag.”
Ethan shook his head.
“No. The other one is upstairs.”
Richard frowned.
“What other one?”
“The real one.”
Emily slowly stood.
“What does he mean?”
Ethan reached into his pocket again.
This time he produced a small white card.
Richard recognized it instantly.
The Rolex warranty card.
Victoria kept it in the velvet box inside her dressing room.
Printed near the bottom was the serial number.
Emily looked at it.
Then at Richard.
“Did anyone check the serial number on the watch they found in my bag?”
Richard’s silence answered her.
He turned sharply toward the nearest guard.
“Where is the watch?”
“Your study, sir. We secured it after the incident.”
“Get it.”
The guard ran.
Emily hugged Liam closer.
Richard wanted to apologize.
The words formed.
Then died.
Sorry seemed insulting.
He had accused a woman with three years of flawless service of theft because his fiancée had pointed at her.
He had thrown money at Emily’s feet.
He had told her never to come near his sons again.
And now those sons were standing barefoot in the street because they trusted Emily more than they trusted him.
A minute later, the guard returned carrying an evidence pouch.
Richard removed the watch.
He turned it over.
The serial number was engraved on the back.
Emily held out the warranty card.
The numbers did not match.
Richard stared.
The watch in Emily’s bag was a replica.
A very expensive replica.
But not Victoria’s watch.
His heart began pounding.
“Lock the gates.”
The guards moved immediately.
“Nobody leaves the property.”
Emily’s eyes sharpened.
“Richard.”
He looked at her.
“The boys need medical attention first.”
That brought him back to reality.
Noah’s arm had been scraped.
Liam’s shirt was torn.
Ethan’s feet were bleeding slightly from running barefoot over the pavement.
Richard’s face changed.
“What happened to you?”
“Victoria grabbed Liam,” Noah said.
Emily immediately crouched.
“Where?”
Liam pointed to his upper arm.
There were reddened finger marks beneath the torn sleeve.
Richard’s breathing slowed.
Dangerously.
He had built a company by controlling his emotions when everyone around him lost theirs.
Now control felt impossible.
He reached for Liam.
His son moved backward.
Behind Emily.
The rejection hit Richard harder than any boardroom defeat he had ever experienced.
“It’s okay,” Emily whispered to Liam.
She looked at Richard.
“Call their pediatrician.”
Richard did.
Then the police.
He did not call his attorneys first.
He did not call public relations.
He did not call Victoria’s father.
For once, he simply called the people who should have been called from the beginning.
By the time they returned to the mansion, Victoria was waiting in the foyer.
She wore the same silk dress.
Her expression was carefully controlled.
“Richard, what is happening?”
The triplets immediately moved closer to Emily.
Victoria noticed.
Her smile tightened.
“Why is she back?”
Richard shut the front door.
“Where is your Rolex?”
Victoria blinked.
“You found it.”
“No.”
He held up the replica.
“We found this.”
She looked at it.
“That’s my watch.”
“What’s the serial number?”
Her eyes changed.
Only for a second.
Emily saw it.
Richard saw it too.
“I don’t memorize serial numbers.”
“Of course not.”
Richard held out the warranty card.
“But this one doesn’t match.”
Victoria stared at the card.
Then laughed.
“This is ridiculous.”
“Is it?”
“Someone switched them.”
“Who?”
She turned toward Emily.
“Obviously her.”
Emily did not respond.
Richard did.
“She had been outside my property for almost an hour.”
Victoria folded her arms.
“And now you’re believing the maid over your future wife?”
Emily’s jaw tightened at the word maid.
Richard noticed.
Three hours earlier, he would not have.
“The boys saw you put the watch in her bag.”
Victoria’s face went still.
“They’re five.”
“They’re also my sons.”
“They misunderstand things.”
Ethan spoke from behind Emily.
“We didn’t misunderstand.”
Victoria looked at him.
The warmth vanished from her expression so quickly that Richard finally saw what Emily had been seeing for months.
Annoyance.
Not affection.
“Ethan,” Victoria said, “grown-ups are talking.”
Emily placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder.
Victoria looked at her.
“And you need to stop encouraging them.”
Richard stepped between them.
“Enough.”
Victoria stared at him.
“You’re taking her side?”
“No.”
His voice became cold.
“I’m taking my children’s side.”
For the first time, she looked uncertain.
A security officer returned from upstairs.
“Mr. Hawthorne?”
“What?”
“We found another watch.”
Nobody spoke.
The officer carried down a velvet box.
Inside was Victoria’s genuine Rolex.
The serial number matched the warranty card.
Richard looked at his fiancée.
Victoria’s face had lost all color.
“That was not there earlier.”
“Where did you find it?”
“Her dressing-room closet.”
Victoria stepped forward.
“Someone planted it.”
Richard almost laughed.
The hypocrisy was too perfect.
“That’s your defense?”
She looked at Emily.
“She did this.”
Emily finally spoke.
“I was outside.”
“You had access to this house for years.”
“The boys found the box before I came back.”
Victoria’s mouth tightened.
Then the first police vehicle pulled into the driveway.
Her expression changed again.
“You called the police?”
“Yes.”
“Richard, think carefully.”
“I should have done that the first time.”
She lowered her voice.
“You have no idea what you’re doing.”
“No. For the first time today, I think I do.”
The officers separated everyone.
A pediatric physician arrived soon afterward with a nurse from the concierge medical service Richard used for the boys.
The children were examined in the family room.
Noah’s scrape was cleaned.
Ethan’s feet were bandaged.
Liam had bruising but no serious injury.
Emily stayed beside them because they refused to let her leave.
Richard stood near the doorway.
Outside the room, an officer asked Victoria about the boarding-school documents.
Victoria claimed she knew nothing about them.
Then Richard was shown the signatures.
His name appeared on all three enrollment forms.
He stared at them.
“I never signed these.”
The officer looked up.
“You’re certain?”
“Absolutely.”
“Someone had authorization to enroll your children overseas.”
“They didn’t have mine.”
Richard suddenly remembered the passports.
He turned toward his security chief.
“Check the boys’ passports.”
Twenty minutes later, the answer came back.
The safe was empty.
Richard’s sons’ passports were gone.
So were certified copies of their birth certificates.
The atmosphere inside the mansion changed instantly.
This was no longer simply about a false theft accusation.
Someone had prepared documents.
Someone had removed identification.
Someone had arranged international enrollment.
And Richard had missed all of it.
Emily found him standing alone near the staircase.
The police were still questioning Victoria in the library.
“Richard.”
He turned.
“I was wrong.”
Emily said nothing.
“I should have believed you.”
“Yes.”
The simplicity of the answer hurt.
“I’m sorry.”
She looked toward the family room where the boys were sitting together.
“You’re not the person you need to apologize to first.”
He followed her gaze.
“I know.”
Emily picked up her old suitcase, which a guard had brought inside.
Richard looked at it.
“Where are you going?”
“To a hotel.”
The words stunned him.
“The boys are asking for you.”
“I know.”
“Then stay.”
Her eyes met his.
“No.”
“Emily—”
“I will stay until they fall asleep. After that, I’m leaving.”
“You don’t have to.”
“You threw me out of this house.”
“I made a terrible mistake.”
“You did.”
He struggled for words.
“You were protecting them.”
“For three years.”
“I know.”
“No, Richard. You know now.”
That stopped him.
Emily’s voice remained quiet.
“You trusted Victoria’s accusation more than three years of knowing me. You threw money on the floor like I was disposable. And you told me to stay away from children who were crying because they thought I was leaving them.”
Richard looked down.
Emily had never seen him do that before.
“I’m sorry,” he said again.
“I believe you are.”
Hope rose.
Then she finished.
“That doesn’t mean I trust you.”
She walked away.
At 11:40 that night, after Ethan, Noah, and Liam finally fell asleep together in the same bed, Emily stepped outside with her suitcase.
Richard followed her to the front steps.
Rain had begun.
He offered her his car.
She refused.
He offered to call a driver.
She refused again.
“I already ordered one.”
“Emily.”
She turned.
Richard stood beneath the porch light, looking less like a billionaire than he had that morning.
“What?”
“I’m going to find out everything.”
“Do it for your sons.”
“I will.”
She nodded.
Then her phone buzzed.
She looked at the screen.
A message from an unknown number.
Only one sentence.
If you care about those boys, stop talking about Switzerland.
Emily’s face changed.
Richard saw it immediately.
“What is it?”
She showed him.
His expression hardened.
Then another message appeared.
This time, there was a photograph attached.
Three small passports.
Ethan’s.
Noah’s.
May you like
Liam’s.
Placed side by side on the polished leather seat of a private jet.
