Chapter Three: What She Was Worth
1068 Words
Hailey woke the next morning with a headache and a determination not to complain about it.
She had learned early that exhaustion was easier to carry when nobody knew you were carrying it.
By nine, she was back at the firm.
By ten, she had reviewed Emma's deposition.
By eleven, Emma was standing in her office doorway looking relieved.
“You saved me.”
Hailey looked up from her computer.
“No. You saved yourself. I just stopped you from making three very expensive mistakes.”
Emma laughed.
“I knew there was a reason I loved you.”
Hailey smiled.
“Go.”
Emma turned to leave, then stopped.
“Dad wants to see you.”
Hailey's fingers paused over the keyboard.
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
“Did he say anything?”
Emma shrugged.
“Something about the board.”
Hailey nodded.
“Okay.”
Emma left.
Hailey stared at the closed door.
The board.
She had spent years learning how the Stonnes family operated.
When Richard wanted something done, he called a meeting.
When Margaret wanted something changed, she simply made the decision.
And when Hailey was needed, someone always came looking for her.
She pushed the thought away.
She had work to do.
Richard's office was quiet when she entered.
He was standing by the window.
“Come in.”
Hailey closed the door.
“You wanted to see me?”
Richard turned.
“Yes.”
There was something different in his expression.
Not anger.
Not disappointment.
Something harder to read.
“You've had quite a week.”
Hailey smiled.
“It's been busy.”
“You won the Harrison case.”
“Yes.”
“You handled Emma's deposition.”
“She handled most of it.”
Richard gave her a look.
Hailey smiled.
“Fine. I helped.”
He walked toward his desk.
“I've been thinking about your future.”
The words made her straighten.
“My future?”
“You're twenty-seven, Hailey.”
She almost laughed.
“Thank you for reminding me.”
“I mean it.”
Richard sat down.
“You've done more than most lawyers twice your age.”
Hailey waited.
She knew there was more.
“There will come a time when you have to decide what you want outside this firm.”
Her smile faded slightly.
“Outside?”
Richard nodded.
“Your own life.”
Something about the words unsettled her.
“This is my life.”
Richard looked at her.
“No.”
A pause.
“This is your work.”
Hailey didn't know what to say.
Before she could answer, the door opened.
Margaret walked in.
“Richard, have you—”
She stopped when she saw Hailey.
“Oh.”
Hailey smiled politely.
“I'll leave you both.”
She turned.
“Hailey.”
She stopped.
Margaret looked at her for a moment.
Then smiled.
“There's an event tomorrow night.”
“The Brooke anniversary?”
“Yes.”
“I thought Emma was attending.”
“She is.”
Margaret's eyes moved briefly over Hailey's suit.
“You should come too.”
Hailey hesitated.
“Of course.”
“Wear black.”
Hailey almost laughed.
“Of course.”
Margaret smiled.
“Good.”
Hailey left.
She closed the door behind her.
Only then did she let her shoulders fall.
Something had changed.
She didn't know what.
But she could feel it.
That night, she returned home earlier than usual.
For the first time in weeks, she wasn't carrying a file.
She found Emma sitting on the floor of the living room, surrounded by dresses.
“You're home early!”
Hailey smiled.
“I know. It's shocking.”
Emma held up an emerald gown.
“This one.”
Hailey stopped.
The dress was beautiful.
Deep green.
Elegant.
Exactly the colour Margaret had dismissed at dinner.
“You'd look incredible in this,” Emma said.
Hailey touched the fabric.
“Margaret wants me in black.”
Emma rolled her eyes.
“Of course she does.”
Hailey laughed softly.
“You shouldn't say that.”
“Why?”
“Because she's our mother.”
Emma's expression changed.
“Our mother.”
She said it gently.
But something about the way she said it made Hailey look at her.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
Emma looked away.
Hailey studied her sister.
For the first time, she wondered if Emma noticed the things she pretended not to.
Before she could ask, Emma smiled.
“You should wear the emerald.”
Hailey looked down at the dress.
Then back at her sister.
“Maybe.”
Across the city, Damien Ashford closed another file.
He had read enough.
He now knew about Hailey's career.
Her education.
Her victories.
Her connection to Stonnes & Partners.
Her adoption.
He knew the official story.
He wasn't interested in the official story.
He opened a photograph.
Nine-year-old Hailey stood between Richard and Margaret Stonnes.
She was smiling.
Damien stared at the photograph.
Then at the woman she'd become.
“Why,” he murmured, “did they make you work so hard to belong?”
He set the photograph down.
His phone rang.
“Yes?”
A man's voice answered.
“Everything is ready.”
Damien looked toward the window.
“Good.”
“Should I contact Stonnes & Partners?”
“No.”
A pause.
“I'll deal with Hailey Stonnes myself.”
---
Hailey stood in front of her bedroom mirror that night.
The emerald dress hung from the wardrobe door.
She touched it.
For some reason, she couldn't stop thinking about Margaret's voice.
Black is more appropriate.
She smiled at herself.
It was only a dress.
She had survived worse.
Tomorrow she'd wear black.
She always did what was expected of her.
She always had.
But as she turned away from the mirror, her eyes fell on the photograph beside her bed.
Nine-year-old Hailey.
Smiling between the two people she'd spent eighteen years trying to make proud.
For the first time, she wondered something she'd never allowed herself to wonder before.
What if being good enough had never been the problem?
She stared at the photograph.
The question frightened her.
So she put it away.
She switched off the light.
And somewhere across the city, a man she'd never met was already making plans that would force her to ask it again.
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