Chapter 3 - The Boys in the Street.
.The first thing Emily noticed was that Liam had forgotten his shoes.
His small socked feet struck the warm pavement as he ran, one heel already gray from the road.
The second thing she noticed was Ethan’s face.
He was not simply upset.
He was frightened in the quiet, focused way children became frightened when they had heard adults say something they were never supposed to hear.
Emily ran toward them.
“Slow down!”
Ethan did not.
He reached her first and collided with her so hard that she staggered backward.
His arms locked around her waist.
Noah reached her next.
Then Liam.
Within seconds, all three boys were pressed against her as if someone might pull them away.
Emily dropped to her knees.
“Hey.”
She forced her voice to stay steady.
“Look at me.”
Ethan tried.
His lower lip trembled.
“What happened?”
Noah looked over his shoulder.
Richard was still coming down the street, moving faster than Emily had ever seen him move outside a gym.
His tie was gone.
His white shirt had come untucked on one side.
The billionaire who could walk into a boardroom and make forty executives sit straighter looked like a man who had lost control of the only thing that mattered.
“Miss Emily,” Liam said.
He could barely get the words out.
“She said you’re gone forever.”
Emily felt a cold pressure behind her ribs.
“Who said that?”
All three boys looked back toward the mansion.
Richard reached them.
He bent forward, one hand on his knee, breathing hard.
“What are you doing out here?”
His voice was not angry.
It was scared.
Ethan moved closer to Emily.
Richard noticed.
That hurt him.
Emily saw it.
“Why did you run out of the house?” Richard asked.
Noah stared at the pavement.
Richard softened his voice.
“Noah.”
Nothing.
Richard looked at Emily.
She kept one arm around Liam and held Ethan’s hand with the other.
“Give them a second.”
Richard almost objected.
Then he stopped himself.
For once, he listened.
Emily turned back to Ethan.
“Tell me what happened after I left.”
Ethan swallowed.
“Miss Victoria came upstairs.”
Richard’s face tightened.
“What did she say?”
Ethan glanced at him.
Then away.
“She said we had to be good because everything was changing.”
Richard straightened.
“What does that mean?”
Noah answered this time.
“She said Miss Emily was never coming back.”
Emily closed her eyes for one second.
Richard stared at his sons.
“She told you that?”
Noah nodded.
Richard looked toward the mansion.
The distance between him and the house seemed to change in that moment.
It was no longer home behind him.
It was a question.
Liam tugged Emily’s sleeve.
“She said Daddy chose her.”
Richard turned back so quickly that Liam flinched.
Emily gave Richard a warning look.
He immediately softened his posture.
“What exactly did she say?”
Liam looked at Emily before answering.
Emily nodded gently.
“You can tell him.”
Liam’s voice became very small.
“She said Daddy chose her instead of us.”
Richard went pale.
“I never said that.”
Ethan’s eyes filled.
“She said you did.”
“I didn’t.”
Richard knelt on the pavement in front of them despite his expensive trousers.
“I would never say that.”
Noah looked at him with a strange mixture of hope and suspicion.
“Then why did you make Miss Emily leave?”
The question landed harder than anything Emily could have said.
Richard opened his mouth.
No answer came.
Emily looked away because she did not want to see him search for one.
Ethan squeezed her hand.
“She said we’re leaving too.”
Richard’s head snapped up.
“What?”
Ethan pointed toward the mansion.
“Miss Victoria.”
Richard’s face became completely still.
“What did she say?”
Noah spoke in a rush now, as if holding the words inside had become impossible.
“She said there’s a school far away and we’re going there after the wedding because she and you need quiet.”
Richard stared at him.
Emily felt her heart pounding against her ribs.
Liam added, “She said it has uniforms.”
Ethan said, “And airplanes.”
Noah said, “And we can’t come home whenever we want.”
Richard stood slowly.
“That isn’t happening.”
The boys watched him.
His voice strengthened.
“Do you understand me?”
He looked at each of them.
“No one is sending you anywhere.”
Ethan’s grip on Emily loosened slightly.
Then he said the sentence that changed Richard’s expression again.
“She said you already signed it.”
Richard froze.
Emily looked at him.
“The paperwork?” she asked.
Richard’s eyes moved to her.
“What paperwork?”
Emily almost said, I tried to tell you.
She did not.
Instead, she asked Ethan, “Did you see papers?”
Ethan nodded.
“On Daddy’s desk.”
Richard’s face sharpened.
“My office?”
The boys nodded.
“No one goes into my office without permission.”
Noah looked at him as if that rule seemed irrelevant now.
“Miss Victoria does.”
Emily stood.
The yellow gloves suddenly felt absurd on her hands.
She pulled them off and stuffed them into the side pocket of her bag.
Richard looked toward the house again.
“Did she show you the papers?”
Ethan shook his head.
“She was talking on the phone.”
“What did she say?”
Ethan frowned, concentrating.
“She said the signatures were done.”
Richard’s breathing changed.
“She said after today nobody could stop it.”
Emily and Richard looked at each other.
For the first time since the accusation, there was no anger between them.
Only alarm.
Richard pulled out his phone.
Emily remembered hers lying somewhere on the road behind her.
Martin, the gate guard, had jogged toward them and now stood several yards away, wisely staying silent.
Richard dialed someone.
“Claire.”
Emily heard only his side.
“Where are you?”
A pause.
“What paperwork did I sign regarding the boys?”
Another pause.
Richard’s eyes moved to Emily.
“No.”
His voice sharpened.
“I did not approve a boarding school.”
He listened.
Then he said, “What passport copies?”
Emily watched the color drain from his face.
The boys noticed too.
Liam moved closer to her leg.
Richard turned away, pacing two steps before stopping himself.
“When did she ask for them?”
Another pause.
“Send me everything.”
He ended the call.
For a moment, nobody spoke.
Then Richard looked at Emily.
“You knew about the school.”
Emily met his eyes.
“I knew she was researching one.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
The unfairness of that question nearly took her breath away.
She stared at him.
“I was about to.”
Richard seemed to realize what he had just asked.
Emily continued before he could apologize.
“I heard her talking weeks ago.”
“About sending them away?”
“Yes.”
“And you said nothing?”
“I had no proof, Richard.”
Her voice hardened.
“And based on what happened an hour ago, how much proof would I have needed for you to believe me over her?”
He looked down.
That answer was enough.
Ethan tugged Richard’s sleeve.
“Daddy?”
Richard immediately crouched again.
“Yes?”
Ethan’s face was serious.
“Miss Victoria said something else.”
Richard’s eyes lifted.
“What?”
Ethan hesitated.
Emily could see he was deciding whether telling the truth might make things worse.
“Say it,” she told him gently.
Ethan swallowed.
“She said Miss Emily had to leave before tonight.”
Every adult became still.
Richard’s voice dropped.
“Why before tonight?”
Ethan shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
Noah spoke suddenly.
“I do.”
Everyone turned toward him.
Noah’s eyes were fixed on Richard.
“She said someone was coming.”
“Who?” Richard asked.
Noah shook his head.
“She didn’t say.”
Liam looked up at Emily.
“She said after they came, everything would be easier.”
Emily felt the same cold pressure she had felt during Claire’s call.
Richard stood.
“Martin.”
The gate guard stepped forward.
“Yes, sir.”
“Lock the vehicle gate.”
Martin hesitated.
Richard’s voice hardened.
“Now.”
Martin moved quickly toward the gatehouse.
Richard dialed another number.
“Daniel, I need you at the house.”
He listened.
“No, not later.”
His gaze shifted toward the mansion.
“Now.”
Emily looked at the boys.
She wanted to take them away from the entire mess.
She wanted to put them in the back seat of a safe car, buy ice cream, and tell them adults had fixed everything.
But adults had not fixed anything.
One adult had built the problem.
Another had ignored it.
And Emily had been thrown out just before the final step.
Richard ended the call and looked at her.
“Come back to the house.”
Emily stared at him.
The request would have been simple an hour earlier.
Now it was not.
“I don’t work for you anymore.”
Richard flinched.
“I know.”
“And you told me to stay away from your children.”
His face tightened with shame.
“I know.”
Emily looked at the boys clinging to her.
“Then why should I go back?”
Richard took a slow breath.
“Because whatever Victoria is doing, she wanted you gone before it happened.”
He looked at his sons.
“And I was foolish enough to help her.”
Emily wanted that admission to satisfy her.
It did not.
It only confirmed how serious the situation had become.
A car engine sounded near the far side of the community gate.
Martin’s radio crackled.
Then the guard’s voice came from behind them.
“Mr. Hawthorne.”
Richard turned.
Martin stood outside the gatehouse with one hand against his earpiece.
“There’s a vehicle at the entrance asking for Ms. Lane.”
Richard’s expression changed.
“Who is it?”
Martin looked uneasy.
“They say they’re from St. Aldwyn’s International Academy.”
Emily felt Ethan’s fingers tighten around hers.
Richard did not move.
For one terrible second, he simply stared toward the gate.
May you like
The school was not a future idea.
It was already here.
