The CEO hidden heir

Chapter three

Bad Luck, Again

Nora

I nearly dropped the coffee mug when the hammer slipped from my hand and clanged against the old brick.

“Mom!” Ethan’s voice rang out from the porch steps. “You okay?”

I wiped the dust off my jeans and forced a smile. “Yeah, baby. Just clumsy today.”

He ran over, his dark curls bouncing, and held out a fresh piece of toast. “Eat this. You forgot breakfast again.”

I took it, ruffled his hair, and sat on the edge of the scaffolding. The morning sun hit Seabrook Cove just right—soft light on the cracked facades of the old town hall and the empty storefronts we had spent months pulling back from ruin.

My crew hadn’t arrived yet. It was just us and the quiet, beautiful life.

“You finished the sketch for the windows?” I asked.

Ethan nodded hard. “I drew the big arched ones as you showed me. Can we paint them blue?”

“Maybe. If the council doesn’t change their minds again.”

He climbed onto my lap without asking, sticky fingers on my sleeve. “Will the buildings look pretty when we’re done?”

“They will,” I said, and meant it. This place has given us a life. A small house near the water, steady work and no one asking questions about where we came from.

The town hall bell rang once. Then the mayor’s assistant, Mrs. Lang, hurried across the square waving a folder.

“Nora! You need to hear this.”

I set Ethan on his feet. “Stay right here.”

Mrs. Lang stopped in front of me, out of breath. “The council voted last night and they awarded the full redevelopment contract.”

My stomach tightened. “To whom?”

She looked away for a second. “Hale Development from New York. They’re sending their lead man next week. He has big plans, with hotels and condos. All the work.”

The toast turned dry in my mouth. “Hale?”

“Yes. Adrian Hale himself is coming to oversee the first phase. They’re taking over the waterfront, the old warehouse district…everything we’ve been working on.”

I stared at her. “That’s not possible. We already have permits.”

“They bought the rights in a higher bid. The mayor just signed it this morning.” She handed me a printed notice. “There will be a public meeting Friday. Everyone’s expected to attend.”

Ethan tugged my shirt. “Mom, what’s wrong?”

I crouched so we were eye level. “Nothing, sweetheart. It's just grown-up stuff.”

Mrs. Lang lowered her voice. “I know you’ve poured everything into these buildings. I’m sorry.”

I stood straight. “Thanks for telling me.”

She left. I read the notice twice. Hale Development with Adrian Hale as the lead representative.

It had been six years and during that duration, I had changed my last name, cut my hair and dyed it a beautiful ginger colour, moved cities and built a life where no one knew the girl who once ran from a black car in the rain. And still his name landed in my hands.

Ethan pulled at my fingers. “Can we go to the pier? You promised ice cream if I finished the drawing.”

“Soon,” I said. My voice came out steady, but my hands shook.

I walked him home, unlocked the door, and set him in front of the television with a cartoon. Then I locked myself in the bathroom and stared at the mirror.

The same face looked back but older, tired around the eyes, but still the one Adrian once kissed in the dark. I pressed both palms flat on the sink.

“f**k,” I whispered.

A knock came from the front. I opened the door to find my neighbor, Tom, holding a toolbox.

“Heard the news,” he said. “You all right?”

“No.”

He stepped inside. “They’re bringing in outsiders to gut the place. What are you going to do?”

“Fight it.”

“How? They’re richer than God.”

I looked past him at Ethan, laughing at the screen. “I don’t know yet.”

Tom set the toolbox down. “The Meeting’s on seven Friday. The whole town’s going. You should speak up about it.”

“I will.”

After he left, I sat at the kitchen table with a legal file and wrote down every reason the original restoration mattered: the local jobs, the rich history, and the way the light hit the old brick at dusk.

I crossed out half the lines because they sounded weak next to a billion-dollar company.

Ethan wandered in. “Who’s Adrian, Mum?”

I froze. “Where did you hear that name?”

“You said it when you were talking to yourself in the bathroom.”

I pulled him close. “He’s just a man from a long time ago. Nothing for you to worry about.”

He rested his head against my chest. “Is he mean?”

“I don’t know what he is anymore.”

That night I lay awake listening to the waves. Every time I closed my eyes I saw the positive test on the bathroom floor, the way his voice had sounded when I hung up.

I pressed a hand to my stomach the way I used to when Ethan kicked inside me and reminded myself why I left.

Morning came all gray and cold. I dropped Ethan at school, drove to the site, and found the building already marked with new survey flags with the Hale colors, red and black.

A truck pulled up and two men in suits stepped out with clipboards.

“Miss Jonas?” the taller one called and I nodded in confirmation. “We’re the advance team for Hale Development. We’ll need access to your current plans.”

I crossed my arms. “Those plans belong to the town.”

He smiled without warmth. “Not anymore. Mr. Hale arrives Monday and he wants a full walkthrough of every structure.”

I turned away so they wouldn’t see my face. Behind me, the old warehouse windows rattled in the wind, the same kind of beam that once nearly killed three men while I still believed in forever.

As the surveyors left, Mrs. Lang came running back across the square, pale and breathless.

“Nora!” she shouted. “The meeting’s been canceled.”

I frowned. “Why?”

Mrs. Lang swallowed hard. “Because Hale Development doesn’t want the town voting anymore. They've already decided.”