Two Little Secrets From My Boss

Chapter 35

What I got instead of the familiar comfort of home when our door swung open was a woman standing in our living room like she'd been waiting for a verdict she'd already decided.

She was tall, elegantly dressed in charcoal silk, her silver-streaked hair swept back in a style that probably cost more than my entire pre-Xander wardrobe. Her posture was impeccable, her features sharp and refined in a way that immediately reminded me of Xander—the same high cheekbones, the same intensity in the gaze.

But where Xander's eyes could soften, this woman's remained fixed. Calculating and cold.

"Mother," Xander's voice behind me was flat, controlled in a way that set every nerve in my body on edge. "I wasn't aware you were in the city."

"Alexander," she didn't move to embrace him. She didn't smile, but simply inclined her head in acknowledgment like he was a business associate rather than her son. "I heard about the wedding. I thought it was time I met your new family."

The twins pressed against my legs, suddenly shy in a way they rarely were with strangers. Even they could sense something was off.

"Girls," Xander said, his hand finding the small of my back, "this is your grandmother. Eleanor Hale."

Eleanor's attention shifted to the twins with unsettling precision, her gaze sweeping over them like she was cataloging assets. "Nina and Lisa. Yes, I've been shown some photos, but, unfortunately, not from your father. Come here, let me look at you properly."

Nina glanced up at me, uncertain. I gave her a small nod, though everything in me wanted to pull them closer instead.

The girls stepped forward cautiously. Eleanor crouched down to their level, her movements graceful but somehow mechanical, lacking the warmth that should accompany meeting grandchildren for the first time.

"You have the Hale eyes and the bone structure," she observed, studying Nina's face with clinical detachment. "Good. Strong genes tend to carry." She turned to Lisa. "You're the quiet one, I assume. Observers are valuable. They notice what others miss."

Lisa said nothing, her thumb drifting toward her mouth before she caught herself.

"How old are you now? Four? Five?"

"Four and three-quarters," Nina answered, finding her voice. "We'll be five soon, and Mommy says we can have a princess party."

"A princess party," Eleanor's tone suggested she found the concept mildly distasteful. "How quaint."

I stepped forward, positioning myself slightly between Eleanor and the girls. "The flight was long. They should probably rest before dinner."

Eleanor rose smoothly, her attention finally shifting to me. The assessment that followed was thorough and dismissive in equal measure, her eyes traveling from my travel-wrinkled clothes to my bare ring finger—I'd taken off the wedding band during the flight when my fingers swelled.

"You must be Daphne," her smile contained no warmth whatsoever. "I've heard so much about you."

"I wish I could say the same, Mrs. Hale. Xander doesn't talk about his family often."

Something flickered in her expression—irritation, perhaps, at being called out so directly. "No, I don't imagine he does. Alexander has always been private about personal matters. A trait I instilled in him, actually."

"Among other things, I'm sure."

The air between us crackled with tension. Xander stepped forward, his hand tightening on my back. "Mother. Why are you here?” He still seemed shocked to see Eleonot at our place.

She smoothed her already-immaculate jacket. "I do have some questions about the children's routines and their care arrangements, to be precise. A grandmother should know these things."

"You've never shown interest in being a grandmother before," Xander said quietly.

"Circumstances change. I have the Hale heirs now," her emphasis on the family name made something twist in my stomach. "I'd like to understand how they're being raised."

She turned back to me with that precise, polite smile that felt like a weapon. "Who handles their daily care when you're both working? A nanny, I assume? What are her qualifications?"

"We have a wonderful caregiver," I said carefully. "Sarah has been with us for months. The girls adore her."

"And what’s her background? Training? References?"

"All thoroughly vetted."

"By whom?"

I held her gaze steadily. "By me! I'm their mother, so vetting caregivers is part of my job."

Eleanor's smile tightened almost imperceptibly. "Of course. And their education? Have you considered schools yet? The Hale family has connections with several excellent preparatory programs. Legacy admissions can be arranged."

"They're four years old, Mrs. Hale. We're focused on letting them be children right now."

"Children become adults remarkably quickly, so planning ahead is simply responsible parenting," she tilted her head, studying me with renewed interest. "What about discipline and structure? Children need boundaries to thrive."

"They have plenty of it, and plenty of love."

"Love," she said the word like it was a quaint but ultimately useless concept. "It doesn't prepare children for the world they'll inherit. Discipline, education, and proper guidance does."

"I think love is exactly what prepares children for the world," I countered. "Everything else follows from that foundation."

Eleanor's expression didn't change, but something shifted in her eyes—a hardening, a decision being made. "You're very confident in your parenting philosophy. Interesting, given how recently you became part of this family."

"I've been parenting these girls for five years, Mrs. Hale. That's not recent."

"Five years alone, yes, I've heard the story," her voice dripped with implications. "Quite resourceful of you, raising twins without any support. And then, conveniently, reconnecting with their wealthy father just when they needed school and healthcare and all those expensive things children require."

I felt my cheeks flush with anger.

"Mother," Xander's voice was ice. "That's enough."

"I'm simply making an observation, Alexander. You've always been susceptible to women who need rescuing. It's a pattern. First Bianca with her family's debt, now this one with her convenient children and her struggling single-mother narrative."

"Those children are my daughters. Daphne is my wife."

"Yes, so I've been told by lawyers and accountants and various staff members, all of whom seem quite concerned about the speed of these developments." Eleanor picked up her handbag from the couch, her movements unhurried and deliberate. "I came here hoping to find a daughter-in-law worthy of the Hale name. Instead, I see exactly what I expected."

She looked at me one final time, and I understood with perfect clarity what she saw: an obstacle; a gold-digger. A manipulator who had trapped her son with children and sentiment.

"I'll show myself out," Eleanor said smoothly. "We'll speak again soon, Alexander. When you're thinking more clearly."

She walked past us without another word, her heels clicking against the hardwood floor. The door closed behind her with a soft, final click.

Nina tugged at my hand. "Mommy, I don't like the grandmother. She looked at us weird."

"I know, baby," I pulled both girls close, pressing kisses to their heads. "I know."

Xander stood frozen by the window, his jaw clenched so tight I could see the muscle jumping beneath his skin. When he finally spoke, his voice was rough with barely contained fury.

"I'm sorry, I had no idea she was coming. I would have warned you, prepared you somehow."

"Is that what your family is like?" I asked quietly. He didn't answer, but he didn't need to. The woman who had just walked out of our home didn't see children as people to be loved. She saw them as legacy to be managed, assets to be optimized, pawns in whatever game she was playing.

She had made it abundantly clear that I was the enemy. I held my daughters tighter and wondered what storm we had just invited through our door.