CHAPTER 4

At that moment, the room held its breath.

Lillian's question hung in the air like a knife balanced on a thin string, ready to drop at any moment.

However no one moved. No one even blinked. The same family that had roared with rage minutes ago now stood frozen, thinking back on what had really been said.

Cecilia never once claimed Mark was the father.

She only said, "I didn't come back just like that. I came with a child."

That was all she said, but why had they all reacted like a fire had been lit under their feet? Why had Lady Willow exploded? Why had Grace sneered? Why had Lillian screamed?

Maybe because deep down… they feared what they refused to accept. Maybe because Everly looked too much like him. Maybe because Mark hadn't hesitated to walk away with Cecilia. Maybe because the truth… felt real even if it hadn't been spoken, and without being told they would tell something was deeply wrong.

Lillian, standing in the center of the suite, could barely breathe.

Her hands were shaking, her chest rising and falling like she'd just run through a storm. Her eyes stayed locked on Cecilia, waiting. Demanding.

But Cecilia didn't rush to answer.

Instead, she slowly folded her arms across her chest, calm and composed, as if she were the one asking the questions.

And then, she said with a tone so still it stung,

"I don't have to answer that question."

Her voice was smooth. Unshaken.

Then she tilted her chin slightly and added, "And you don't have the right to ask either."

At that moment gasps floated in the room again, quiet and sharp.

Hearing her words Lillian's expression darkened, her lips twisting with disbelief and fury.

Her voice shook as she snapped back, "I do have the right! Of course I do! If that child is Mark's, I deserve to know. I've been by his side, I've been—"

But before she could finish, Everly stepped forward.

She didn't raise her voice, she didn't even flinch.

She simply looked up at Lillian, brave and unafraid.

"You don't have the right you're talking about," Everly said, her little arms folded just like her mother's.

"You're not part of this family. So where's your right coming from?"

At that moment the room went still again.

Lady Willow's jaw tightened. Grace lowered her eyes. Even the uncles shifted uncomfortably.

However Everly's voice didn't shake. Her words came straight and simple.

"You're a stranger here."

Immediately Lillian's lips parted, but no words came out. Her face turned pale, then red, then pale again. She looked like someone had pulled the floor from under her.

She couldn't speak, Couldn't argue either, She Couldn't fight that truth.

So instead, she slowly turned to Lady Willow, her voice barely above a whisper, yet heavy with urgency.

"Mother…" she said, eyes pleading. "You ask her. You're the only one she might answer."

At that moment, hearing her request Lady Willow's eyes locked with Cecilia's—a stare that stretched years into the past and dug up everything buried beneath time.

She remembered this woman. Cecilia. The quiet storm in Mark's life. The girl who walked beside him during those earlier years when Mark was still finding his ground. Lady Willow hadn't trusted her then, and even now, after all this time, that distrust still sat sharp in her chest like a thorn that never fell out.

But deep down, something unsettled her, and she wanted to get Clarity about the situation.

She knew Cecilia too well and it worries her, Cecilia wouldn't come here unless she was certain. Unless she had something real. And from the calmness in her eyes… from the stillness in her voice… this wasn't a bluff.

Still, Lady Willow wasn't a woman who moved by feelings. She moved by control. By reputation. By preservation of legacy.

And in that moment, the thought struck her, could it be Mark might've slept with Cecilia by then, because that could only explain the child.

However immediately the thought came, it was deleted, because she

didn't want to believe it, but she wasn't foolish either. Mark was her most responsible child, the one she had shaped to take the Giovanni name forward. But he was still a man. Still capable of making human mistakes.

But Still even if that was what happened…however she couldn't allow Cecilia's presence to unravel everything they had built.

Everyone waited. They expected Lady Willow to ask the question—to be the one to demand the truth.

But instead, she straightened her shoulders and called out, sharply,

"Security."

The word hit like a slap, gasps rose again, the tension twisted like a rope about to snap.

Within seconds, five security men stepped into the suite, all in black suits, earpieces in, standing tall and alert like shadows that obeyed no one but Lady Willow.

She turned slightly toward them and pointed at Cecilia.

"There's no need for questions," she said, her voice firm and final. "She's not welcome here."

Her gaze swept the room, then returned to Cecilia, disgust was written all over it.

When she left Mark and disappeared, everything fell apart for him. His mood, his focus… even the business started shaking. She had to rebuild him from the ground up, it wasn't easy but she succeeded .

At that moment her jaw tightened even more.

She couldn't believe now that he's strong again, now that he had successfully moved on with his life, And now that he's finally the man she raised him to be, there is no way she allow her to bring him down a second time.

At that moment she didn't blink. Didn't pause. Her voice was like steel wrapped in velvet.

"Escort her out."

Without wasting anymore time the security guards stepped forward, slow but sure, moving in toward Cecilia.

But just before they could lay a hand on her, a small voice cried out

"You're mean!"

Hearing the words everyone froze.

It was Everly.

She stepped in front of her mother, her tiny hands clenched into fists, her eyes glaring straight at Lady Willow.

"You're a mean person!" she said again, louder this time. "Uncle saw us earlier. He looked at us and didn't say the things you're saying! He didn't tell us to leave!"

Her small voice trembled but never broke.

"You're just saying all this to make yourself look good. But you're lying. You're lying about everything!"

At that moment, Lady Willow's expression hardened, like stone chiseled by years of pride and bitterness. Her eyes burned into Cecilia with a fury that had no more patience left.

"What is this supposed to mean, i said leave. Now."

Her voice thundered across the suite, sharp and commanding. The security guards tensed again, waiting for the final nod to move Cecilia and the child out.

But Cecilia didn't flinch.

She stood still, her hand resting lightly on Everly's shoulder. Her chin lifted, and her voice came calm but strong, it was the kind of strength that grows in silence, in pain, in quiet years lived alone.

"I'm not going anywhere."

Her words fell with finality.

"Mark told me to stay before he left. He asked me to wait for him. And I will."

Hearing what Cecilia just said, the whole of the Giovanni family stared at her like she had just cursed in the middle of a prayer.

Cecilia's eyes swept over them.

She added slowly, "And let's not forget, it was you all who broke into this room. Not me. You forced the door. You brought chaos. Mark will find out."

The words hit hard, it might more jaw tightened.

Then Lady Willow's lips twitched, but she didn't respond fast enough.

That was when Grace stepped forward, her heels clicking against the floor as she crossed her arms with a proud smirk.

"And who's going to tell him?" she said coolly. "Nobody will. Mark doesn't need to know. We'll just tell him something else, something sweeter. He won't know the difference."

Immediately the family nodded slightly behind her, silently agreeing.

But Cecilia's voice cut in fast, low, cold, and piercing.

"I'm not surprised."

She stared directly at Grace, then glanced at Lady Willow and the others.

"You've been doing that since the beginning, feeding him lies."

She shook her head slowly, not with sadness, but something deeper.

"Mark never seems to know the truth about anything, does he?"

At that moment the suite grew silent, no one moved. The weight of that statement pulled the room down.

For a moment, only the soft hum of the air-conditioning could be heard.

Then, Lady Willow's voice returned this time lower, more calculating then before.

"Do you remember why you left five years ago?" she asked, her tone almost a whisper. "You remember what was said. What was done. You know what we're capable of, Cecilia don't you."

She took a slow step forward.

" I can promise you, those things… can be triggered again. So if I were you, I'd be careful."

The words hung like poison in the air.

But Cecilia didn't step back. She didn't shake either.

She simply looked Lady Willow in the eyes and spoke with quiet fire:

"I don't mind anymore."

She turned her hand slightly, holding Everly's tighter.

"Whatever those threats were five years ago… they don't matter now."

At that moment her voice dropped even lower, but every word was crystal clear.

"Do what you want, Lady Willow. But I'm not leaving."

Hearing Cecilia words Lady Willow's rage boiled over.

Her lips curled, and her voice thundered across the suite with sharp authority.

"Enough!" she shouted, lifting one hand into the air.

She snapped her fingers and pointed straight at Cecilia again.

"Throw her out!"

The security guards didn't hesitate this time. With swift, heavy steps, they moved toward Cecilia.

Everly's eyes widened with fear. She jumped in front of her mother instinctively, her small hands outstretched to protect Cecilia.

"Don't touch my mom!" she cried, her voice shaking.

But one of the guards, with no pause and no care, kicked Everly aside like she was nothing.

"No!" Seeing what had just happened Cecilia screamed, dropping to her knees as Everly hit the cold marble floor with a soft thud.

Immediately the little girl let out a cry of pain, her tiny body curled up, one hand clutching her elbow. The sound echoed painfully through the room.

Cecilia scrambled to her, holding her and then pulling her into her arms, her breath shallow and trembling.

"Baby, baby, are you okay? Look at me…"

Her fingers touched Everly's face gently, trying to stop the trembling in her child's body, trying to hold back the rage rising in her chest.

But while Cecilia held her wounded daughter close, Lady Willow stood still, her face hard, cold, unmoved.

She stared down at the two of them like she was looking at garbage left in her house.

"If you don't leave right now," Lady Willow said, her voice low but venomous, "I will break every bone in that child's body… and you won't be able to stop me, and it's a promise, and I'm sure you don't want to test me."

Her words dropped like a guillotine.

Cecilia's heart froze in her chest.

Her hands clenched around Everly. The room around her blurred, but that threat… she heard it clearly.

She had no choice.

Her voice was thin when she finally spoke.

"We'll go."

She stood up slowly, lifting Everly gently in her arms. The child's face rested on her shoulder, her body weak, but still breathing. Still holding on to her arms.

Cecilia looked at no one. She didn't say another word.

But just before she turned, she paused, her eyes slowly shifted to the far corner of the room.

A quiet spot, almost hidden behind the curtain.

She stared at it for a long second. No expression. No explanation.

Then, without a word, she turned and walked out.

And inside the room, the mood shifted again.

The Giovanni family moved nervously. The silence was no longer calm, it was uneasy, crawling with something unseen.

At that moment Lady Willow, her expression unreadable, not wanting to waste anymore time immediately reached into her handbag and pulled out her phone.

Then she dialed a number without hesitation.

When the call picked up, she spoke coldly into the speaker.

"I want you to handle it."

Her eyes stayed fixed on the door where Cecilia had just walked out.

"Same price as before… the mother and the daughter."