Sebastian stared at Theodore’s arm around my waist as if he wanted to tear it away with his bare hands.
—Eight men?
I smiled.
—Does that bother you?
His jaw tightened.
—Helena, don’t humiliate yourself just to make me jealous.
I almost laughed.
Five years ago, he had told me I should learn to tolerate his second woman.
Now a hand around my waist was enough to make him lose control.
—Jealous? —I asked—. Why would I want anything from you?
Before Sebastian could answer, the doors of Eastlake Mansion opened again.
Seven men entered.
The room immediately became quieter.
I recognized every face.
Adrian Hale, president of Hale International.
Marcus Hale, director of the family’s investment division.
Julian, Nathaniel, Caleb, Vincent and Alexander.
Men whose names appeared regularly in financial magazines, diplomatic meetings and charity foundations.
Chloe stared at them.
—Why are the Hale brothers here?
Theodore removed his arm from my waist.
Then Adrian crossed the room and stopped in front of me.
For one second, the powerful businessman disappeared.
He simply opened his arms.
—Welcome home, little sister.
The room exploded in whispers.
Sebastian went completely still.
Chloe laughed nervously.
—Little sister?
Adrian looked at her.
—Yes.
He placed a hand on my shoulder.
—Helena Hale. The youngest daughter of the Hale family.
Sebastian’s face lost all color.
For nearly twenty years, the Hale family had searched for the daughter who disappeared after an accident during a family trip.
That child had been six years old.
Her name had never been publicly released.
Neither had her photograph.
Because the Hales feared whoever had taken her might use her against them.
Everyone in Puerto Aurelia knew the story.
Nobody knew that child had grown up inside the Qin household.
Nobody except me.
And for most of my life, not even I had known.
Sebastian finally found his voice.
—That’s impossible.
Marcus gave him a cold look.
—Which part?
—Helena was an orphan.
I tilted my head.
—That’s what your family told everyone.
Sebastian looked at me.
—You knew?
—Not when you sent me away.
The answer seemed to affect him more than I expected.
Because suddenly he understood something.
By exiling me, he had accidentally returned me to the people he had spent years trying to reach.
Three years after arriving in Belvaria, Sebastian stopped sending money.
He thought poverty would break me.
Instead, I began working at a medical relief center near the northern border.
One winter night, a landslide destroyed part of a nearby village.
Among the volunteers who arrived was Adrian Hale.
He noticed the pendant around my neck.
The only thing I had from before the Qin family took me in.
A small silver pendant engraved with a falcon.
Adrian stared at it for almost a minute.
Then he asked:
—Where did you get that?
—I’ve always had it.
His hands began shaking.
Two weeks later, a DNA test confirmed everything.
I was Helena Hale.
The little girl their family had been searching for for almost two decades.
The seven men I had jokingly told Sebastian “belonged to me” were my brothers.
And Theodore?
He had been Adrian’s closest friend since university.
The first person outside my family to help bring me home safely.
The arm around my waist had been nothing more than a carefully planned greeting.
One Theodore had enjoyed far too much.
He glanced at Sebastian now and smiled.
—You should see your face, President Qin.
I almost laughed.
Sebastian didn’t.
His eyes remained fixed on me.
—Why didn’t you tell me?
I stared at him.
—Why would I?
—I was your fiancé.
—You canceled our wedding.
He flinched.
—That was temporary.
—Five years is temporary?
—I was waiting for you to learn—
—Obedience?
The word cut through the room.
Sebastian stopped speaking.
I stepped closer.
—You didn’t send me away because you wanted me to improve.
—You sent me away because I embarrassed you.
—You wanted me isolated, dependent and grateful enough to accept anything you gave me.
His eyes darkened.
—That isn’t true.
—Then why did you withdraw my money?
No answer.
—Why did you have people monitor me?
Silence.
—Why did you threaten to exile me again this morning?
Chloe looked at him.
Several guests exchanged uncomfortable glances.
Sebastian’s expression finally cracked.
—I thought you would come back.
There it was.
Not love.
Ownership.
—I know.
His voice became rough.
—Helena, we can still fix this.
I almost felt sorry for him.
Almost.
Then Chloe suddenly grabbed his sleeve.
—Sebastian, don’t lower yourself to her.
He turned toward her.
She pointed at me.
—So what if she’s a Hale? She still hit me. She still ruined your wedding.
Adrian’s expression became dangerous.
But I raised one hand.
—I can handle this.
I looked at Chloe.
—Do you still have the video from my wedding?
Her face changed.
Sebastian immediately understood.
—Helena.
I smiled.
—Actually, I do.
The giant screen behind the ballroom stage lit up.
Theodore had prepared everything.
The recording Chloe had shown me five years earlier began to play.
Sebastian’s voice filled the ballroom.
“She can’t leave me.”
Then:
“In our society everyone has a confidant. Helena just has to learn to accept it.”
And finally:
“You can ask me anything you want.”
Nobody spoke when the video ended.
Chloe looked horrified.
Sebastian looked furious.
Not because of what he had done.
Because people had seen it.
That difference told me I had made the right choice five years ago.
Adrian turned toward him.
—The Qin Group has approached our family six times in the last three years asking for cooperation.
Sebastian’s eyes narrowed.
—Business has nothing to do with this.
Marcus laughed softly.
—It does now.
He placed a folder on the table.
—Your largest overseas expansion depends on Hale financing.
Sebastian looked at me.
He finally understood why the Hale family had suddenly agreed to meet with the Qins.
They had never intended to sign.
They had been investigating.
Because during my years in Belvaria, we had also discovered something else.
My disappearance as a child had not been random.
Records showed that the woman who brought me to the Qin family had received a large payment.
From a company controlled by one of Sebastian’s uncles.
Madam Eleanor Qin had eventually realized something was wrong.
That was why she had protected me.
That was why, before dying, she had repeatedly told Sebastian:
“Never abandon Helena.”
She hadn’t been asking him to marry me.
She had been trying to protect me from the secret buried inside his own family.
Sebastian looked as though the floor had disappeared beneath him.
—My mother knew?
—I think she suspected.
His eyes dropped.
For the first time that night, he looked genuinely broken.
Not jealous.
Not angry.
Ashamed.
—Helena…
I shook my head.
—Don’t.
He approached anyway.
—I didn’t know.
—About my family? No.
I looked directly at him.
—But you knew exactly how you treated me.
That stopped him.
Because there was no excuse for that.
No family secret could erase it.
No misunderstanding could change it.
Five years ago I had begged him with my eyes to choose me.
Tonight, he was the one standing in front of me with nothing left to offer.
—Give me one chance —he whispered.
Chloe stared at him in disbelief.
I answered quietly.
—I gave you nine years.
Sebastian closed his eyes.
When he opened them again, they were red.
—Do you love Theodore?
Theodore nearly choked on his champagne.
I smiled.
—No.
Sebastian’s expression changed immediately.
Hope.
Poor man.
He still hadn’t learned.
I continued:
—But that doesn’t mean I’m coming back to you.
The hope disappeared.
—I don’t need another man to justify leaving you.
I took the engagement ring I had kept for five years from my bag.
Not because I treasured it.
Because I wanted to return it myself.
I placed it in Sebastian’s palm.
—This belonged to the girl who thought being Mrs. Qin was the greatest future she could have.
I closed his fingers around it.
—She doesn’t exist anymore.
The investigation into my disappearance lasted another six months.
Several members of the Qin family were implicated in the old cover-up.
Sebastian himself had known nothing about it, and I never blamed him for crimes he hadn’t committed.
But the Qin Group lost the Hale partnership.
Then several other investors withdrew.
Sebastian remained wealthy.
Powerful.
Respected.
But for the first time in his life, he discovered that some things could not be restored with money or influence.
Chloe left him shortly afterward.
Apparently being someone’s “confidante” was much less exciting once she realized she would never become his wife.
I heard that Sebastian never married.
For months, flowers arrived at Hale Manor.
I returned every single one.
Then the letters came.
I never opened them.
A year after my return, Theodore found me sitting on the terrace of my family’s estate.
—Another letter from Qin.
—Throw it away.
He obeyed immediately.
Then he sat beside me.
—You know, when you said you had eight handsome men, I think your brothers were deeply offended that you counted me first.
I laughed.
—You were standing closest.
—So I’m the favorite?
—Absolutely not.
He placed a hand over his heart.
—Cruel.
Behind us, my seven brothers began arguing over dinner.
My father was shouting that somebody had stolen his newspaper.
My mother was telling everyone to stop treating me as if I might disappear again.
It was noisy.
Messy.
Overwhelming.
Everything I had never had.
Everything I had once believed I didn’t deserve.
Theodore looked toward the house.
—Happy?
I thought about the girl who had stood at an airport five years earlier, carrying one suitcase and believing she had lost her entire world.
I wished I could go back and tell her something.
You are not being abandoned.
You are being released.
I smiled.
—Very.
Because Sebastian Qin had sent me abroad believing distance would teach me obedience.
Instead, it taught me independence.
He took away my money, and I found my strength.
He took away my name, and I found my family.
He canceled our wedding, and unknowingly saved me from the worst marriage of my life.
And when I finally returned to Puerto Aurelia, Sebastian learned the lesson he had intended for me all those years ago.
Some people only understand the value of freedom…
when the person they tried to cage no longer belongs to them.
