Chapter 2 Ghosts from the Past

# Chapter 2: Ghosts from the Past

I've never been one to believe in ghosts, but that night, as I tucked the triplets into bed, I felt haunted. Their matching innocent expressions couldn't hide the truth—they had done something that might tear our carefully constructed world apart.

"We need to talk about what happened today," I said, sitting on the edge of Lily's bed. The three of them shared a room by choice, claiming they couldn't sleep unless they were together. Sometimes I wondered if they communicated telepathically when I wasn't looking.

"Are you mad at us?" Oliver asked, his brown eyes—so unlike his father's—wide with worry.

I sighed. "I'm not mad. I'm scared. What you did today was dangerous."

"But he was going to marry that lady!" Ethan protested, sitting up in his rocket ship bed. "And she's not our mommy!"

The revelation hit me like a physical blow. "How... how do you know about your father?"

The triplets exchanged guilty glances before Lily spoke up, apparently elected as their spokesperson. "We found your old laptop in the storage closet. The one with the broken password."

My heart sank. That laptop—I'd meant to destroy it years ago but couldn't bring myself to erase the last remnants of my old life. I'd thought the encrypted drive was secure, but clearly I'd underestimated my own children.

"We saw the pictures," Lily continued. "And the articles about Ted Preston. He looks like Ethan, except for the eyes."

"And then we did research," Oliver added proudly. "He's really rich and makes computers and stuff. Like us!"

"And tonight he was going to marry that lady," Ethan finished. "But we stopped him!"

I rubbed my temples, trying to process this bombshell. "What exactly did you do?"

"We just borrowed the access codes from his company server," Lily explained, as casually as if she were describing borrowing a pencil. "His drone security was actually pretty good, but Ethan found a back door in the light pattern algorithm."

I wanted to be horrified, but a tiny part of me—the part that had spent years coding security systems—felt a flicker of pride. They were only five, and they'd hacked a multi-billion dollar tech company's security protocols.

"You can't do things like this," I said, trying to sound stern. "It's illegal, and more importantly, it could lead him straight to us."

"But why are we hiding from him?" Oliver asked the question I'd been dreading for years. "Doesn't he want us?"

The innocence in his question broke something inside me. How could I explain that their father had chosen his family's empire over us? That I'd run not out of spite but terror?

"It's complicated, sweetheart," I managed. "Now, it's late. We'll talk more tomorrow."

After kisses goodnight and promises of better behavior (which I didn't believe for a second), I retreated to my home office. My hands shook as I pulled up the news. The drone hack was everywhere, with speculation running wild about who might want to sabotage Ted Preston's proposal and why. So far, no one had traced it back to us, but it was only a matter of time before Ted's security team followed the breadcrumbs.

We needed to move. Again. The thought exhausted me to my core.

I opened a secure browser and began the familiar process—new identities, new location, new schools. We'd done it twice before, once when the triplets were babies and again when they turned three. Each time it got harder, especially now that the children were old enough to form attachments and memories.

As I worked, my mind drifted back to five years ago. The day everything changed.

---

"I don't understand," I said, standing in Ted's minimalist penthouse as he stared out the floor-to-ceiling windows, his back to me. "Last week you were talking about our future, and now you're saying it's over?"

"Things change, Wilona." His voice was cold, detached—a tone I'd never heard from him before. "The merger with Chen Technologies is conditional on the marriage alliance. It's business."

"Business?" I echoed, incredulous. "We've been together for three years, and you're throwing it away for a business deal?"

He finally turned, his light hazel eyes—the ones Lily would inherit—empty of the warmth I was accustomed to. "Let's not be dramatic. We had fun, but surely you knew this wasn't forever. Someone like you and someone like me..."

The implication stung worse than the breakup itself. Someone like me—a brilliant programmer from a middle-class background—wasn't worthy of someone like him, tech royalty with old money connections.

"I see," I said, dignity the only thing keeping me upright. "Well, thank you for clarifying where I stand."

I walked out that day with my head high, determined not to let him see me cry. Two weeks later, I discovered I was pregnant. And a week after that, as I was driving to Ted's office to tell him, a black SUV ran me off the road.

I survived the crash with minor injuries, but the message was clear when I found a note on my hospital bed: "Next time, you won't walk away. Stay away from Ted Preston."

The hospital records showed a visitor during my brief unconsciousness—Margaret Preston, Ted's stepmother. The woman who had controlled the Preston empire since his father's death, who had never approved of me, and who had orchestrated the merger with Chen Technologies. I had no doubt she was behind the "accident."

That night, I made the hardest decision of my life. With the help of an old college friend who worked in digital identity protection, I disappeared. Wilona Greenwood died in a follow-up accident—or so the records showed—while the very pregnant and very much alive me established a new identity across the country.

When the triplets were born, I nearly reached out to Ted. But each time I saw news of his engagement to Vivian Chen, each time I saw Margaret standing victoriously beside them in photos, I remembered the SUV and the note. My children's safety had to come first.

---

A notification pulled me from the painful memories. A news alert: "Ted Preston Calls Off Engagement Following Drone Incident."

I clicked on the article, my heart racing. The press conference had clearly been hastily arranged. Ted looked haggard, his usual polished appearance ruffled.

"In light of recent events, Ms. Chen and I have mutually decided to end our engagement," he read from a statement. "We ask for privacy during this time. Preston Technologies will be conducting a full security audit regarding the drone incident."

The camera caught his expression as he looked up—not embarrassment or anger, but determination. Like a man who'd just found something he'd been searching for.

My phone rang, startling me. Unknown number. I never answered those, but something made me pick up.

"Is this Sunshine Kindergarten's parent line?" a professional female voice asked.

"Yes?" I responded cautiously.

"I'm calling from Preston Technologies HR department. We're conducting a routine security check of all educational institutions in the area. Could you confirm if you have a parent registered as Wilona Greenwood?"

My blood turned to ice. I hung up without answering, my mind racing. They'd found us already.

I rushed to check on the triplets, finding them peacefully asleep. As I stood watching their little chests rise and fall, I made a decision. We wouldn't run this time. I was tired of living in fear, of uprooting my children whenever the ghosts of my past threatened to catch up.

Besides, a small voice whispered, if Ted had found us this quickly, running wouldn't help. It was time to face the past I'd been fleeing for five years.

What I didn't know then was that across town, Ted Preston was staring at a kindergarten parent list, his finger frozen over my name. The color had drained from his face as the truth hit him—I wasn't dead, and according to the registration form, I had three five-year-old children. His children.

The same age as the time that had passed since he'd pushed me away to protect me from the very danger I'd run from.