Marry the Waitress
Chapter 2: The Pendant
Lucas did not let Anna leave.
Not because he believed his grandfather's order made any sense, but because the moment Henry saw the pendant, every bodyguard in the restaurant changed.
They were no longer watching the old man.
They were watching Anna.
She sat in a private hospital waiting room two hours later, still wearing her waitress uniform, still smelling faintly of spilled wine and broken plates.
Lucas stood by the window.
"You knew my grandfather before today?" he asked.
"No."
"Then why did he react like that?"
Anna's fingers closed around the pendant. "I don't know."
The pendant was small, silver, and shaped like an old key wrapped in vines. Her mother had worn it every day until she died. Anna had been eight then. After that, it became the only thing she had left.
A doctor came in to say Henry was awake.
When Anna entered the hospital room, Henry looked weaker but more alert. Lucas followed close behind.
Henry pointed to the pendant.
"Open it."
Anna frowned. "It doesn't open."
"It does."
Henry reached out with trembling fingers and pressed a hidden notch near the back.
The pendant clicked.
Inside was a folded strip of paper, yellowed with age.
Anna stopped breathing.
She had worn it for years and never known anything was hidden inside.
Lucas carefully removed the paper.
On it were three handwritten words:
Protect Evelyn's child.
Anna's voice shook. "My mother's name was Evelyn."
Henry closed his eyes.
"I knew her."
Lucas turned sharply. "Grandpa, who was she?"
Henry looked at Anna with guilt in his tired eyes.
"Your mother was my son's wife."
The room went dead silent.
Lucas's face went pale.
"My father's wife?"
Henry nodded.
Anna stepped back. "No. My mother was poor. We lived above a laundromat."
"Because she was forced to run," Henry said.
Lucas stared at Anna.
If Henry was telling the truth, then Anna was not only connected to the Sterling family.
She might be Lucas's half-sister.
Then Henry spoke again.
"Not by blood."
Lucas froze.
Henry's eyes moved between them.
"Lucas's father loved your mother, Anna. But the child she carried was not his. It belonged to the man who tried to destroy us."
Before Anna could ask more, the hospital door opened.
A tall man in a dark coat stood outside.
Lucas's face hardened.
"Uncle Charles."
Charles Sterling looked straight at Anna's pendant.
Then he smiled.
"So Evelyn's little girl finally came home."
