A Love Beyond Fortune

Chapter five

For the next three months, Victoria and Daniel existed in a secret world that belonged only to them. They stole moments whenever they could, careful never to let anyone see. Victoria would tell her parents she was going out with friends, and Daniel would pick her up, but instead of dropping her at some party or restaurant, they'd drive to quiet places where no one knew them. They'd park by the water and talk for hours. They'd walk through small towns where nobody recognized her last name. They'd sit in diners where the coffee was cheap and the booths were worn, and Victoria would marvel at how happy she felt doing nothing.

Daniel showed her a world she'd never known existed. He took her to the neighborhood where he grew up, showed her the tiny apartment he shared with his sister. Victoria met his sister, Emma, a sweet nineteen year old studying nursing who hugged Victoria like they were old friends. For the first time in her life, Victoria sat at a dinner table where the food was simple and homemade, where people actually talked to each other instead of checking their phones, where laughter was real and not performative.

In return, Victoria opened up to Daniel in ways she'd never opened up to anyone. She told him about how lonely her childhood had been, how she'd learned to be mean because it was easier than being vulnerable, how she'd spent her whole life trying to get her parents' attention and never quite succeeding. She cried in front of him once, something she never did, and Daniel held her and told her she deserved better than the life she'd been given.

They fell in love slowly and then all at once. It happened in quiet moments, like when Daniel would reach for her hand without thinking, or when Victoria would watch him smile and feel her heart skip. It happened in stolen kisses in the car before she had to go back inside her house and pretend everything was normal. It happened in late night phone calls where they'd talk until dawn, neither wanting to hang up first.

But the secrecy was hard. Victoria hated lying to her parents. Every time her mother asked where she'd been or who she'd been with, Victoria felt sick with guilt. She wanted to tell them, wanted to say she'd found someone who made her happy, but she knew they'd never accept it. Her father had very specific ideas about who she should date, the kind of man he'd approve of. A driver wasn't anywhere on that list.

Daniel felt the weight of it too. Every time he pulled up to the Montgomery estate to pick up Victoria, knowing he was going to spend the day with her in secret, he felt like a fraud. Thomas Montgomery trusted him, paid him well, treated him with more respect than most employers would. And Daniel was repaying that trust by falling in love with his daughter.

"We can't do this forever," Daniel said one night. They were parked by a lake, sitting in the back seat with their arms around each other. "Eventually someone's going to find out."

"Then we'll figure it out when that happens," Victoria said, but even she knew it wasn't that simple.

"Your father will fire me," Daniel said quietly. "Or worse."

Victoria pulled back to look at him. "Do you want to stop? Do you want to end this?"

Daniel closed his eyes. "No. God, no. But Victoria, I'm terrified of what's going to happen when this falls apart."

"It won't fall apart," she insisted. "We just have to be more careful."

But being careful only works for so long.