Chapter 4 - The Hidden Envelope
"Lea," Daniel said softly, ignoring Vivian entirely. "What is in your hand?"
Lea’s breathing was ragged, but she slowly uncurled her fingers. Resting in her palm was the cream-colored envelope she had been holding when she fell. It was soaked through with pool water, but the heavy, expensive cardstock had kept the contents somewhat intact.
Daniel gently took the wet envelope. His expression shifted from protective concern into a cold, dangerous realization.
"Where did you get this?" Daniel asked, his tone dropping into a quiet, lethal frequency.
"She stole it from my private suite!" Vivian immediately shrieked, pointing an aggressive finger at the soaking wet maid. "I caught her snooping through my desk! That's why she fell, she was trying to run away from me!"
Daniel didn't look at his fiancée. He carefully peeled open the wet envelope and pulled out the document inside.
It wasn't a piece of Vivian's personal mail. It was a restricted, highly confidential financial receipt printed on the official letterhead of the Daniel Cross Foundation.
To understand the absolute insanity of Vivian’s betrayal, one had to know why Lea was working as a maid. Lea was a brilliant, hardworking single mother. Her eighteen-year-old son, Marcus, was a verified genius who had recently applied for the highly competitive, full-ride Cross Foundation Medical Scholarship.
The scholarship was Marcus's only chance to attend medical school.
Daniel stared at the wet receipt. It was a formal notification that the scholarship had been awarded to Marcus. But the letter had never been mailed.
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"I found it in the trash can in the main office," Lea whispered, tears of pure betrayal streaming down her face. "Miss Vivian threw it away."
👉 Vivian thought she had successfully eliminated the competition, completely unaware that Daniel was the one who signed the letter.
