Chapter 2 - The House on Aldridge Street
The long, black stretch limousine glided smoothly down the cracked, pothole-ridden pavement of Aldridge Street. The neighborhood was gray and neglected, filled with rusted iron fire escapes, broken streetlights, and peeling paint.
Sitting on the soft leather interior of the car, I felt like an intruder in a fantasy world. Nathaniel sat across from me, his eyes never leaving my face. Every few seconds, he would look at my eyes, then my hair, then the small dimple on my left cheek, as if he were trying to piece together a long-lost puzzle.
"How long has your mother been crying behind locked doors, Ruby?" he asked quietly, referring to what I had mentioned in his office.
I lowered my head, staring at my scuffed shoes. "Since last month. Ever since the landlord put the pink paper on our door. She works two jobs—cleaning offices at night and sewing clothes in the morning—but she gets so tired, Mr. Graves. Sometimes she forgets to eat dinner so there's enough food for me."
Nathaniel closed his eyes, his jaw clenching tightly. I saw his knuckles turn white as he gripped his cane.
"She was always like that," he murmured softly to himself. "Always putting everyone else before her own comfort."
"You know my mom?" I asked, looking up.
"I knew her twelve years ago," Nathaniel said, a deep sadness filling his voice. "She was my chief research assistant at Graves Energy. She was brilliant, fearless, and kinder than anyone I had ever met in my life. And then... one night, she vanished without a trace."
"Why did she vanish?"
Nathaniel opened his mouth to answer, but the limousine pulled to a curb right in front of my crumbling apartment building.
"We are here, sir," the driver announced.
I unbuckled my seatbelt and opened the door. The familiar smell of damp concrete and old exhaust fumes filled the air. I ran up the cracked concrete steps toward the main entrance, with Nathaniel following closely behind, his silver-tipped walking cane clicking rhythmically against the stone.
We climbed four flights of dark, narrow stairs. The hallway on the fourth floor smelled of stale cabbage and bleach.
When we reached Apartment 4B, I saw my mother sitting on a wooden crate in the hallway. Her face was buried in her hands, her shoulders shaking with quiet, desperate sobs. Her worn cardigan had holes at the elbows, and her hair was tied in a messy bun.
"Mom?" I called out softly.
My mother gasped, dropping her hands. Her eyes were red and swollen. "Ruby! Where have you been? I went to your school and they said you weren't there for lunch! I was so worried—"
She froze mid-sentence.
Her eyes drifted past me to the tall man standing in the dim light of the hallway.
The color drained from my mother’s face even faster than it had from Nathaniel's back at the skyscraper. She scrambled backward against the apartment door, her hands flying to her mouth.
"No..." my mother whispered, her voice trembling with absolute terror. "No, no, no... how did you find us?"
Nathaniel stood perfectly still ten feet away. The fierce, commanding CEO of Graves Energy looked entirely broken.
"Maya," Nathaniel said, his voice dropping into a tender, aching tone. "I didn't find you. Your daughter found me. She brought back my wallet."
My mother looked at me, her eyes wide with shock and confusion. "Your... wallet?"
"Mom," I said, stepping between them. "I found his wallet at the bus stop. I didn't keep the nine hundred dollars. I took it to his office because you told me to always be honest."
My mother stared at me, then looked back at Nathaniel. Tears poured down her pale cheeks as she slowly stood up, placing her back against our apartment door as if trying to shield me from him.
"You have to leave, Nathaniel," my mother wept desperately. "Please. You promised twelve years ago that if I left, you would leave us alone. You promised!"
"I never made that promise, Maya!" Nathaniel took a step forward, his voice cracking with emotion. "It was my brother Julian who told me you ran away with ten million dollars from the corporate foundation! He showed me forged resignation letters! He told me you died in a boating accident in Europe eight years ago!"
My mother gasped, her hand clutching her chest. "Julian told you... I died?"
"I built a memorial park in your name, Maya!" Nathaniel shouted, tears streaming freely down his cheeks. "I mourned you for twelve years! And today, an eight-year-old girl walked into my lobby wearing your face, holding a pink eviction notice for the very building my family's trust fund was supposed to protect!"
My mother looked utterly stunned, her mouth opening and closing without sound. "Julian... Julian took the foundation money?"
Nathaniel pulled a yellowed piece of paper from his pocket—a copy of an old trust fund document—and held it up.
"Julian framed you, Maya," Nathaniel said, his voice dropping to an agonizing whisper. "He stole the money, forced you into hiding, and lied to both of us for twelve years... to keep me from knowing the truth about who Ruby really is."
My mother fell to her knees, weeping openly.
I looked back and forth between my sobbing mother and the billionaire standing in our hallway.
"Mom?" I whispered, my heart racing. "What is he talking about? Who is he?"
May you like
My mother looked up at me through her tears, her voice broken into tiny pieces.
"Ruby..." my mother choked out, extending her trembling hand toward me. "He... he isn't just Mr. Graves. Ruby... he's your father."
