Zara stared at him.
He opened it.
There were printed photographs, addresses, employment records, notes from investigators, and copies of letters sent to old contacts.
The details on the pages were turned away enough that she could not read them clearly, but there were too many pages for this to have begun recently.
“How long?” she whispered.
“Since the morning you left the Grandeur.”
She looked at him sharply.
Damian gave a bitter laugh.
“You thought I forgot you?”
“I thought you would want to.”
“That was convenient for you.”
The words had an edge, but he kept his voice low because the children were watching.
Zara folded her arms across herself.
“You had just been abandoned at your own wedding.”
“And?”
“And I was a housekeeper you spent one night with because you were devastated.”
His stare hardened.
“Is that what you decided happened?”
“What else was I supposed to think?”
“You could have asked me.”
Zara flinched.
Gloria quietly guided the twins toward the bedroom, giving Zara one long look before closing the door behind them.
The moment they were gone, Damian’s restraint cracked.
“You had my children.”
“I know.”
“For two years.”
“I know.”
“And you never told me.”
Zara’s eyes burned, but she refused to look away.
“I was scared.”
“So was I that morning.”
That stopped her.
Damian pulled out a chair but did not sit.
“When I woke up, you were gone.
I called housekeeping.
Your supervisor said your shift had ended.
I asked personnel to contact you.
By the end of that day, you had resigned.”
Zara remembered walking into the staff office before sunrise and signing the resignation form with trembling fingers.
“I thought leaving quickly was better.”
“For whom?”
She had no answer.
Damian continued.
“I went back to that stairwell twice during the first week.”
Zara stared at him.
“Why?”
“Because it was the only place in that entire hotel where someone had spoken to me like I was still a person.”
The anger left his voice as suddenly as it had arrived.
He looked exhausted now.
“Do you understand what that night was for me?”
“Your wedding collapsed.”
“No.
My certainty collapsed.”
He looked toward the closed bedroom door.
“Vivian’s message embarrassed me.
Losing you confused me.”
