The Billionaire Behind The Mask

Chapter 2

The Mansion Behind the Mask

Elena's POV

I couldn't answer him. Not because I didn't know what to say. But because I knew the truth.

That voice, that scent and those eyes. They belonged to the man from Paris. Silas Sterling.

My anonymous stranger. The father of my twins. And now my husband. “Mrs. Sterling?”

The lawyer's voice pulled me back. I blinked. Silas was still watching me. “I asked you a question,” he said.

“I didn't hear it.”

“You're distracted.”

“I've had a difficult morning.”

“So have I.”

He turned away. I released the breath trapped in my chest. I couldn't tell him, not yet.

If Silas really was the man from Paris, then everything had changed. He had to know about Noah and Nora eventually. But not today. Not until I understood why he was marrying me.

The drive to Sterling Mansion was silent.

I sat in the back seat beside Silas. He didn't speak, neither did I. I stared through the window, the city moved around us.

Cars, people, buildings. Everything looked normal. But my life wasn't. I had just become the wife of the most feared billionaire in the city.

A man who might be the father of my children. A man I had spent three years trying to forget.

My phone vibrated with a message from my nanny. The twins are asking when you're coming home. My heart jumped.

I quickly typed. Soon. Mommy has something important to do. I raised my head and looked at him, before sending another message.

Don't let them leave the house. I had no idea why I wrote that. Something about Silas made me nervous.

The car pulled to a stop, I looked outside. Huge iron gates stood before us. They opened. Sterling Mansion appeared beyond them.

God! It was enormous, cold, and beautiful. Heavily guarded. Security stood everywhere. Silas stepped out first. I followed.

The moment I entered the mansion, a woman approached me. She was elegant.

Blonde. And perfectly dressed. And far too comfortable in Silas's home.

She smiled. “Silas.” He stopped. “Celeste.”

My breathing nearly stopped. She walked to him and touched his arm.

“You didn't tell me you were bringing someone home.” Silas removed her hand.

“I don't report my movements to you.” Her smile faded.

Then she looked back at me. Her eyes moved from my face to my wedding ring.

“You married her?” She asked.

Silas said nothing. And Celeste laughed.

“You can't be serious.”

“I am.”

She looked at me again. “Do you even know what you've married into?”

“I know enough.” I answered. She stepped closer. “Do you?”

“Celeste.” Silas called her name, before I answered her. She stopped. For a moment, neither moved. And then she smiled.

“Congratulations, Mrs. Sterling.”

She walked away. I watched her disappear upstairs. “Who is she?” I asked Silas.

“My former lover.”

I looked at his face, he didn't seem bothered. “Why is she living here?”

“She isn't.”

“Then why was she here?”

“That's not your concern.”

“You just told me I'm your wife.”

“You are.”

“Then perhaps I should know who keeps walking around your mansion.”

“You've been here less than ten minutes.”

“And already I have questions.”

A smile touched his mouth. “That's going to be a problem.”

“Probably?”

He walked past me. “Your room is upstairs.”

“Separate rooms?”

“Yes.”

I stopped, and turned. “You expected otherwise?”

“No.”

“Good.”

He continued walking. Then he stopped outside a large bedroom.

“This is yours.”

I entered. A suitcase was already waiting, my clothes. My personal things. Everything had been moved from my old apartment.

I opened the suitcase, I was shocked. My hand reached beneath my clothes. Something was missing, my mother's necklace.

The small silver pendant she had given me before she died. I searched again, nothing.

“Looking for this?” A voice asked. I spun around. Silas stood in the doorway. My necklace hung between his fingers.

“Where did you get that?” I asked.

“It was inside your suitcase.”

“No.”

“You're certain?” He asked.

“Yes.”

“Why is it important?”

“It's mine.”

He walked closer. I held out my hand.

“Give it to me.”

He didn't. Instead, he examined the pendant. “Your mother gave you this?”

“How do you know?”

He laughed, and then handed it back.

“Lucky guess.”

I closed my fingers around it. Something was wrong, very wrong. “How did you know my mother gave it to me?”

“I didn't.”

“You just said—”

“Forget it.”

He turned to leave. “Wait.” I stopped him.

“Did you know my mother?”

His shoulders stiffened, only for a second.

Then he looked back. “No.” The answer came too quickly.

He left. I stared after him as he left.

I knew he was lying. I knew it. But why?

That night, I couldn't sleep. I sat beside the window, holding my mother's pendant.

Three years earlier, a stranger in Paris had touched the same necklace. I remembered his fingers brushing it. I remembered his voice, beautiful.

I had laughed. It's the only thing my mother left me. He had asked me about her, and I had told him everything.

Except my name, except where I came from and except that I was a Vale. We had promised not to ask questions.

One night. No names, no past and no future. Then I left. I had thought I was protecting myself. But now that stranger is my husband.

A knock sounded at the door. I quickly hid the pendant. “Come in.” The door opened.

Silas stood there, without his jacket. His sleeves rolled up, and his mask still covered his face.

“Why are you awake?” He asked.

“I could ask you the same.”

He walked inside. “I need to discuss something.”

“What?”

“Your children.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

He watched my face. “You have twins.”

I couldn't speak. “How old are they?”

“Five.”

“Five?” He asked, laughing.

“Yes.”

“Boys or girls?”

“A boy and a girl.”

“What are their names?”

“Noah and Nora.”

Silas looked away, and whispered. “Interesting.”

“What is?”

“Nothing.”

He turned to the door, and then stopped. “Bring them here tomorrow.”

“What?” My chest hit.

“I want to meet them.”

“Why?”

“Because they're now part of my household.”

“No.”

“Excuse me?”

“My children stay where they are.”

“You're my wife.”

“And they're my children.”

“You signed the contract.”

“It doesn't give you the right to control my children.”

“Actually, it does.”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the contract. He opened it. My eyes scanned the page, there it was. A clause I hadn't noticed.

Any children under the legal guardianship of the wife shall reside in the Sterling household for the duration of the marriage.

My heart sank deeper.

Victoria had known. She had actually planned all this. Silas folded the contract and said, “Bring them tomorrow.”

I shook my head. “No.”

“Why are you afraid?”

“I am not.”

“Then bring them.”

I couldn't, not yet. Because if he saw them—He would see himself.

Their eyes. Their smiles. The tiny dimple Noah had on his left cheek. The same one I had seen on the stranger in Paris.

Silas walked to the door, and paused. “One more thing.”

“What?”

“Your daughter has my eyes.”

“How in God's name did Silas know all this?” He had never met Nora. So how could he possibly know?

Then my phone vibrated. A message appeared, from an unknown Number:

“He knows.” My heart stopped beating.

Another message arrived. “You should have kept the twins away from Silas Sterling.” Then a photograph loaded.

It showed Noah and Nora outside my apartment. It's taken that morning. Someone had been watching my children.

A third message appeared. “Because their father isn't the only person looking for them.”