Chapter 5 - CAROLINE'S WRATH
The next forty-eight hours were a masterclass in vindictive power. Caroline Whitmore did not make idle threats.
By Tuesday morning, the tabloids and financial papers were flooded with "leaked" stories. The headlines were vicious: HAWTHORNE CEO CRACKS: CANCELS HIGH-SOCIETY WEDDING FOR THE HELP? and BILLIONAIRE DUPED BY MAID'S ELABORATE CON.
Rachel was terrified. She hadn't gone back to her tiny apartment in Stamford. Ethan had insisted she and Sophie stay in the estate's secure guest wing, knowing the paparazzi would be hunting them.
"They're calling me a mastermind," Rachel said, staring at her phone in horror as she sat in Ethan's kitchen. "They're saying I manipulated Daniel before his death."
Ethan snatched the phone from her hands and placed it face down on the marble counter. "Stop reading it. Caroline's PR team is working overtime to control the narrative. They want the board of directors to think I've lost my mind so they can trigger a morality clause and force me to step down."
"Can they do that?"
"They can try," Ethan said, pouring her a cup of tea. He looked exhausted, having spent the last two days on calls with lawyers. "But they don't know that I have the original code, and they don't know the truth about Daniel. I'm going to hold a press conference tomorrow."
But Caroline was already three steps ahead.
That afternoon, Child Protective Services arrived at the Hawthorne estate gates, accompanied by local police.
Rachel’s blood ran cold when the head of security informed Ethan. She clutched Sophie, her heart hammering against her ribs.
Ethan marched out to the front gates himself. The CPS worker, a stern-looking woman holding a clipboard, looked unimpressed by the billionaire.
"We received an anonymous tip," the worker said, clearly reciting from a script. "Allegations of child endangerment. The report claims the mother is emotionally unstable, living in squalor, and using the child in an extortion plot against her employer."
"That is a complete fabrication," Ethan snarled. "The tip came from Caroline Whitmore, my disgruntled ex-fiancée."
"Be that as it may, Mr. Hawthorne, we have to investigate. And frankly, keeping a mother and child locked up in your estate doesn't look great."
Rachel stepped out of the front doors, holding Sophie. She stood tall, despite the terror threatening to break her. "I have nothing to hide. I am a good mother. My apartment is small, but it is clean and safe."
The police officer accompanying CPS stepped forward. "Ma'am, we also have a warrant to search your apartment in Stamford. Allegations of stolen property belonging to the Hawthorne estate."
Ethan’s eyes widened. "Caroline planted something," he realized, his voice a dark whisper. "She has keys to the staff files. She found your address."
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"Let them search," Rachel said, looking Ethan in the eye. "I trust the truth."
But as the police cars drove away toward Stamford, Ethan knew the truth rarely mattered to people with Caroline's kind of money.
