Chapter 19: The Hand That Is Hidden

Williams and I were in a suffocating quiet. There was a strange, uneasy silence that crept into our common area like an intruder. The man I'd been living with for months was a ruthless, cunning businessman with a polished façade and a dominating presence, and I'd thought I knew him. But until tonight, I had never seen him like this. Not after what he found out about me.

Williams was someone I had grown to know as being extremely protective of his feelings, as though they were money he couldn't afford to waste. However, he had changed into a man I couldn't read in the silent years following the discovery of my true identity. His jaw was so tense that I feared it could crack, his eyes had darkened, and everything he did seemed to be planned out with icy accuracy. Even though it was brittle, the trust we had developed over the previous few months now rested on the thinnest of threads.

"How could you not tell me?" At last, in a low voice tinged with something I couldn't quite identify—betrayal?—he said. Are you hurt? Fury? I realised it was all of them and more.

Unable to find the right words to describe it, I stood motionless.

I managed to say, "I didn’t know," in a voice that was almost audible. "I didn't know. I had no idea who I was. I have no idea who they were."

He turned abruptly, his eyes cutting through me as though he was attempting to determine whether or not I was telling the truth. However, I was. In the pit of my stomach, where a weird, unnerving twist of realisation gnawed at me, I could feel the truth in my bones. In the shadows, hidden from me, was the woman in the picture, the one I now knew to be my real mother. And my parents, the Harringtons, had concealed the truth like a perilous secret, only to let it slip at the worst possible time.

"How long were you going to keep this from me?" His remarks pierced the atmosphere like a blade. "You've spent months living in my home and in my environment, and you never once considered telling me what you knew? What is your actual ancestry?”

I said, "I didn’t know, Williams," but my voice faltered this time. "I swear to you, I didn’t know."

With a little lift in his voice, he said, "Then what about the moment you found out?" "How about that instance? Then why didn't you tell me? Why not tell anyone? Do you believe I'm unable to see what's happening here?”

My chest constricted. I said, "I wasn’t ready," in an emotionally charged voice. "I didn't want to include you in anything that I didn't fully comprehend. Williams, I didn't want to include you in this mess. You already have too much on your plate. You have your life, your family, and your business—"

"Don’t you dare act like this is about me!" He interrupted me with a thunderous voice. "Freda, this is about us! I don't deserve to know the truth, do you? You don't believe I should be aware of what you're concealing? You've been keeping this from me while I've been standing up for you, protecting you, and believing in you. You expect me to simply accept it now?"

I swallowed, my chest ached from the hurt of his words. I could feel the pain in his voice, and it was a blow I wasn't expecting. Williams had always maintained a distance from others and concealed his feelings beneath a mask of indifference. Now, however, it appeared as though the mask had come off, exposing the guy who had betrayed me. And the man who did it was furious. and caused pain. And maybe most importantly, disappointed.

I muttered in a tiny voice, "I didn't want to be a part of this world," as the reality weighed heavily on me. "Your family's business was not something I wanted to get engaged with. But now that I'm here, you are aware of the reality."

For a considerable amount of time, he stood with his back to me and his hands clenched at his sides. More than anything else, I was afraid that I couldn't read him or know what he was thinking. I had grown to depend on Williams in ways I never would have imagined, and I wasn't sure if I had simply lost everything at this point.

His voice was calmer now, but no less venomous, when he finally spoke again. "Freda, you've been engaging in risky behaviour. I'm not sure if I can still trust you. You have ties to my competitors, the Harringtons. Did you not consider telling me that, too? Despite everything that has transpired, you have hidden it from me."

As though struck, I stumbled backwards as the words impacted me like a physical blow. The words stopped in my mouth as I tried to explain to him how helpless I had felt when I first learnt the truth and how I had no idea where to turn.

When I finally answered, "I’m not your enemy, Williams," my voice was trembling. "I never was."

His eyes were dark with something I couldn't quite place as he turned. "Perhaps not. But that doesn't make you any less dangerous since you didn't tell me about it."

I started to argue, but his phone rang before I could say anything, slicing through the tension in the room like a sword. Williams answered silently, his face tightening as he looked at the screen.

"Yes?" he answered coldly and curtly.

Although I was unable to hear the voice on the other end, I could see how his shoulders tensed as he listened. Something changed in his gaze; there was suddenly a sense of haste, which was not good.

He abruptly hung up the phone, his eyes meeting mine right away. "You were right," he continued in a tone that was even colder. "This is about more than just you. The family is the focus. And it's about all of my hard work."

"Who was that?" With a knot in my stomach, I asked.

Williams said, "Someone from my family," his expression darkening. Additionally, they have stated unequivocally that the situation is much worse than I had anticipated. We didn't know the Harringtons were involved in so much. And they're pursuing everything, not just you."

I stepped forward, feeling my heartbeat speed. "What are you saying? What plans do they have?”

Williams turned his back on me, his jaw clenched in annoyance. "I don't yet have all the information. However, I am aware that the game has evolved. The Harringtons are more than simply a distant relative. They are crucial to all I have constructed. We are currently in the midst of it.”

The pieces of the puzzle began to fit together with surprising clarity as my thoughts raced. "You mean... they’ve been manipulating you this entire time?"

He took a while to reply. Rather, he looked over his shoulder at me, his eyes black with rage and something else, perhaps fear. "Freda, this is about more than just us anymore. It has to do with power. Concerning control. We're currently sitting in the middle of a storm that neither of us anticipated."

For the first time since I'd met him, I grasped the full extent of Williams' burden as a tense stillness descended between us. It was only now that I realised I was a part of the war he was fighting.

Then his phone rang again, a new message flashing on the screen, as though to confirm the mounting dread. Williams reached for it and read the contents, his expression growing gloomy.

He looked at me after his eyes widened.

"Freda," he murmured solemnly. "You need to see this."

I stepped forward, looking at the screen while my heart pounded in my chest. Although the message was brief, it had an instant impact.

They are aware of your mother. They are pursuing you.

Breathing caught in my throat. Everything I had discovered about my background and everything I believed to be true was now a risky game. Furthermore, the stakes were bigger than I could have ever guessed.

Williams put the phone down and his face grew serious. His words, "This is just the beginning," "And you, Freda... you’ve just become a target."