CHAPTER 2 – THE LIE THAT BROKE US
The hardest thing about discovering the truth was realizing how easily I had believed the lie.
For eight years, I had carried a version of Piper Reynolds in my mind.
A woman who abandoned me.
A woman who chose to disappear.
A woman who looked at everything we had built together and decided it wasn't worth fighting for.
I had turned her into a villain because it was easier than admitting something far more painful.
That maybe...
I had failed her.
I sat beside Emma's hospital bed until sunrise.
I didn't move.
I didn't check my phone.
I didn't answer the thirty-seven missed calls from my assistant.
I didn't care about the board meeting I was supposed to lead in six hours.
For the first time in my life, there was something more important than Beck Industries.
My daughter.
My seven-year-old daughter.
A child who knew my name before I even knew hers.
A child who had spent her entire life wondering where I was.
The thought was unbearable.
Every few minutes, Emma would shift in her sleep.
Every time, my heart would stop.
Because I was afraid.
Afraid she would disappear.
Afraid this was some cruel dream.
Afraid I would wake up and be thirty-two-year-old Warren Beck again.
The man who had everything.
Except the one thing that mattered.
Family.
The hospital room was quiet when Piper walked in.
She looked different.
Not physically.
Not completely.
But I saw her differently.
The woman standing in front of me was no longer the person who had destroyed my life.
She was the woman who had survived hers.
Her hair was still damp from the shower the hospital staff had arranged.
Someone had given her clean clothes.
A simple gray sweater.
Black pants.
Nothing expensive.
Nothing like the Piper I remembered.
The Piper I knew wore white dresses and laughed at expensive restaurants.
This Piper looked like someone who had learned not to expect anything from the world.
“You stayed.”
Her voice was quiet.
I looked at her.
“Of course I stayed.”
A sad smile touched her lips.
“You used to say that.”
The words hit me.
“Used to?”
She looked away.
“Before you became Warren Beck.”
I didn't like the way she said my name.
Not with anger.
With sadness.
“What does that mean?”
Piper pulled a chair closer.
For several seconds, she said nothing.
Then she whispered:
“It means I lost you before I ever left.”
The sentence hurt more than any accusation.
Eight years earlier.
Before the money.
Before the empire.
Before the coldness.
There was a different Warren Beck.
A man who worked late nights in a tiny apartment.
A man who cooked terrible pasta because Piper said effort mattered more than talent.
A man who danced with her in the kitchen while rain hit the windows.
A man who promised:
"No matter what happens, we choose each other."
That was the Warren she loved.
The problem was...
His father had spent his entire life trying to destroy that man.
“My father hated me being with you.”
I stared at Piper.
“Why?”
She gave a humorless smile.
“Because he thought I was beneath you.”
The anger came instantly.
“My father would never say that.”
Piper looked at me.
And the sadness in her eyes told me something.
“You still defend him.”
I opened my mouth.
Nothing came out.
Because suddenly I remembered.
Small comments.
Little things.
Things I had ignored.
My father asking:
"Do you really think a waitress can stand beside the future CEO of Beck Industries?"
My father telling me:
"Love is a weakness successful men cannot afford."
My father warning:
"Women like Piper are distractions. They don't understand ambition."
I had always considered those comments old-fashioned.
Cruel.
But harmless.
Maybe because I didn't want to believe the alternative.
That my father was capable of hurting the woman I loved.
“What happened that night?”
Piper looked down.
“The night I disappeared?”
I nodded.
She took a deep breath.
“I found out I was pregnant three weeks before our wedding.”
My heart tightened.
“And I was terrified.”
She smiled sadly.
“Not because I didn't want Emma.”
Her eyes moved toward our daughter.
“She was the best thing that ever happened to me.”
I swallowed.
“Then why didn't you tell me?”
Piper looked at me.
“Because I tried.”
Silence.
“Over and over.”
She pulled her phone from her bag.
The same old phone case.
The same tiny scratch near the corner.
She had kept it.
“I called you that night.”
My jaw tightened.
“I know.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“You know I called.”
She unlocked the phone.
“I don't think you know how many times.”
She turned the screen toward me.
My breath caught.
Twenty-three missed calls.
From Piper.
Eight years ago.
The date.
The night before our wedding.
My hands became cold.
“But I didn't see these.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“Because your father answered your phone.”
The room went silent.
My eyes narrowed.
“My father?”
Piper nodded.
“He called me back.”
A sick feeling entered my stomach.
“What did he say?”
She looked away.
“I still remember every word.”
The night before the wedding.
Piper sat on the floor of her apartment.
One hand resting over her stomach.
The other holding her phone.
Waiting.
Waiting for Warren.
Waiting for the man who promised he would always choose her.
Instead...
The phone rang.
But it wasn't Warren.
It was Richard Beck.
Warren's father.
"Mrs. Reynolds."
Piper had never liked the way he said her name.
Like she was a problem to solve.
"Where is Warren?"
She asked.
There was silence.
Then:
"He's busy preparing for tomorrow."
"I need to talk to him."
"No, you don't."
Her heart sank.
"What?"
Richard Beck's voice remained calm.
Cold.
"My son is about to inherit an empire. He cannot destroy his future because of a mistake."
Piper froze.
"A mistake?"
"The pregnancy."
The word cut deeper than any knife.
"You think I don't know?"
Richard continued.
"You think Warren doesn't understand what this means?"
Piper started crying.
"I love him."
"Love doesn't build companies."
"He loves me."
"Then why hasn't he answered your calls?"
Piper had no response.
Because she didn't know.
Because she believed the silence meant something.
Richard continued.
"You need to leave."
"No."
"If you stay, Warren will lose everything."
"He would never choose that."
A pause.
Then the sentence that destroyed her:
"You don't know my son as well as I do."
I stared at Piper.
“He threatened you?”
She nodded.
“He offered me money.”
My hands curled into fists.
“How much?”
“Enough to disappear.”
“And you refused.”
“Yes.”
“Then why did you leave?”
The tears returned.
“Because he showed me something.”
“What?”
Piper looked at me.
“He showed me a video.”
My blood ran cold.
“What video?”
“Of you.”
I froze.
“He recorded you.”
“Doing what?”
“Talking to him.”
A memory surfaced.
A meeting with my father.
The week before the wedding.
I remembered being angry.
I remembered saying things.
Things I never meant.
Things taken out of context.
“He told me you were reconsidering everything.”
“No.”
“He told me you were going to marry me because you felt responsible.”
My chest tightened.
“That was a lie.”
“I know that now.”
Her voice broke.
“But back then…”
She looked down.
“I was twenty-four. Pregnant. Alone. And the man I loved suddenly stopped answering.”
I had no defense.
Because from her perspective...
She had lost me.
Not because I stopped loving her.
Because I disappeared.
Even if it was not my choice.
The result was the same.
“Why didn't you come back?”
The question left my mouth quietly.
Piper looked at Emma.
“Because I tried.”
My heart sank.
“What?”
“After Emma was born, I came back to Chicago.”
“When?”
“Three months later.”
I stared at her.
“Where did you go?”
“Your office.”
My stomach dropped.
“You came to Beck Industries?”
She nodded.
“I waited six hours.”
Six hours.
I remembered that day.
I remembered being in meetings.
I remembered my father saying:
"Don't let emotional distractions interfere with your future."
I remembered ignoring the woman waiting downstairs.
Because I never knew.
“She told me you were married.”
My face changed.
“What?”
Piper's eyes filled with pain.
“Your assistant.”
I shook my head.
“I wasn't married.”
“I know.”
“Then why?”
“She showed me a picture.”
My breathing stopped.
“A picture of you with another woman.”
My phone.
My father.
The meetings.
The lies.
All the pieces started connecting.
Someone had carefully destroyed every path between us.
Someone had made sure we never found each other.
“Who was the woman?”
Piper looked at me.
“Your fiancée.”
The room went cold.
My current fiancée.
Victoria.
For months, I had believed I had moved on.
Victoria Hale was beautiful.
Elegant.
Powerful.
The perfect woman for the future CEO of Beck Industries.
That was what everyone told me.
My father approved.
The board approved.
The world approved.
But now...
I wondered.
How much of my life had actually been my choice?
My phone rang.
The screen lit up.
Victoria.
Twenty missed calls.
I stared at the name.
Piper noticed.
“She doesn't know, does she?”
I didn't answer.
Because she was right.
Victoria didn't know.
Nobody knew.
Except the person who had spent eight years making sure Piper and I never found each other.
My father.
Richard Beck.
I stood.
“I need to talk to him.”
Piper grabbed my arm.
“Warren.”
I looked at her.
“Don't go angry.”
“Why?”
“Because that’s what he expects.”
Her voice became softer.
“He knows how to control anger.”
I stared at her.
“What should I do?”
For a moment...
The old Piper returned.
The woman who always saw the truth before I did.
“Find the evidence.”
I nodded.
“And then?”
She looked at Emma.
“Make sure your daughter never has to lose you again.”
That night, after leaving the hospital, I drove to Beck Manor.
The place where I grew up.
The place where my father taught me that emotions were weaknesses.
The place where he taught me that winning mattered more than people.
The gates opened.
The guards looked surprised.
They weren't expecting me.
Neither was my father.
I found him in his study.
Sitting behind his desk.
Drinking whiskey.
As if nothing had changed.
“Warren.”
His eyes moved over me.
“You finally decided to answer your phone?”
I didn't sit.
“Did you know?”
A pause.
Small.
Almost invisible.
But I saw it.
“Know what?”
I placed the old phone on his desk.
Twenty-three missed calls.
Piper's name.
His face changed.
Only for a second.
But enough.
“You knew.”
The room became silent.
My father leaned back.
“Be careful with accusations.”
“You stole eight years from me.”
His expression hardened.
“You're emotional.”
“My daughter almost died tonight.”
That got his attention.
For the first time...
Richard Beck looked afraid.
“What did you say?”
“My daughter.”
The word echoed.
“My daughter was sleeping in the snow because you kept me away from her.”
His face went pale.
And in that moment...
I knew.
He knew.
Everything.
“You have no idea what you're dealing with.”
I stepped closer.
“No.”
My voice became cold.
“You have no idea what you've created.”
I turned toward the door.
“Because the son you controlled for thirty-two years…”
I looked back.
“Just became a father.”
And for the first time in my life...
May you like
My father looked afraid of me.
END OF CHAPTER 2
