Chapter 5 - The Secret Vow
Hannah gently stroked Sophia’s blonde hair, holding the little girl closer to her chest.
"Because I promised her I wouldn't leave her," Hannah wept, the raw emotion in her voice completely shattering the cold atmosphere of the gala.
"When Vanessa blacklisted me, I lost everything," Hannah continued. "I couldn't practice medicine anywhere in the state. But I knew that if Sophia stopped her physical therapy, her muscles would permanently atrophy. She would be trapped in that wheelchair for the rest of her life."
Luca’s chest tightened, a sickening dread washing over him.
"So I took a job with the elite catering company that services your high-society events," Hannah confessed, looking down at her cheap black apron. "For two years, I scrubbed dishes. I served champagne. Just so I could get access to these galas."
The wealthy crowd listened in absolute, stunned silence.
"Every time you attended a charity dinner or a wedding," Hannah explained, "I would wait until Vanessa got drunk on martinis. I would sneak Sophia into the coatrooms, out into the estate gardens, or into the empty hallways. And for fifteen minutes at a time, hidden in the shadows... we did her physical therapy."
Luca was entirely paralyzed.
This young woman—a complete stranger with no money, no power, and a ruined career—had spent two grueling years scrubbing floors and serving appetizers just to secretly rehabilitate his daughter right under the nose of his massive security detail.
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"She told me to be brave, Daddy," Sophia whispered innocently, looking up at Luca. "Hannah said if I practiced really hard, I could run away from the bad lady."
👉 Why did the wicked fiancée want the little girl trapped in a wheelchair forever?
