Marry the Waitress

Chapter 3: The Contract

Charles Sterling did not shout.

That made him more frightening.

He entered the hospital room like he owned the walls, the air, and everyone inside it. His eyes stayed on Anna, soft with fake kindness.

"My dear," he said, "you must be overwhelmed."

Anna stepped behind Lucas without thinking.

Lucas noticed.

So did Charles.

Henry's voice turned sharp. "Leave."

Charles smiled at him. "Father, you collapsed in public and started ordering your grandson to marry a waitress. I think the family deserves answers."

"You don't want answers," Henry said. "You want the pendant."

Charles's smile faded.

Lucas turned to his grandfather. "What is inside it?"

Henry looked at Anna. "A key."

Anna touched the pendant. "To what?"

"To the one thing Charles never found."

Charles's face darkened.

Years ago, Anna's mother Evelyn had discovered that Charles was stealing from Sterling Group through shell companies. She also learned something worse: Charles had been paying a private doctor to falsify inheritance records, hide children born outside legal marriages, and erase people who stood between him and the family trust.

Evelyn collected evidence.

Then she disappeared.

"She didn't disappear," Anna whispered. "She raised me."

Henry nodded sadly. "Because I helped her escape."

Lucas stared at him. "You knew all this?"

"I thought hiding her would save her."

Anna's eyes filled. "It didn't. She died when I was eight."

Henry looked away.

Charles stepped closer. "This is an old man's guilt talking."

Henry raised a shaking hand toward Lucas.

"My will was changed this morning. If you marry Anna, both of you gain temporary control of the Sterling trust before Charles can challenge it."

Lucas almost laughed. "That's why you ordered it?"

"Marriage makes her legally protected inside this family," Henry said. "Without it, Charles can claim she is an outsider trying to steal evidence."

Anna stood up. "I am not marrying anyone."

Charles looked amused. "Smart girl."

Then Henry said quietly, "Your mother's real death report is in the vault the pendant opens."

Anna stopped.

All her life, she had been told her mother died of illness.

Henry's eyes filled with regret.

"She was murdered."

Charles's expression went cold.

Lucas turned to Anna.

And for the first time, his voice was gentle.

"If you want the truth, I'll help you get it. Marriage or not."

Anna looked at the pendant in her hand.

Then at Charles.

"I want the vault."