Chapter 2 — The Secret Behind Her Name

Three months passed.

Elena quickly became invisible inside the Ashford mansion.

She woke early, ate breakfast alone, and left before anyone else arrived.

At family dinners, Adrian’s relatives treated her like a guest who had stayed too long.

One evening, Adrian’s cousin, Marcus, deliberately knocked a glass of wine onto Elena’s dress.

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

His smile made it obvious that he wasn’t.

“Perhaps you should wear cheaper clothes. They’re easier to replace.”

Several people laughed.

Elena stood silently.

Then Adrian placed his fork down.

“Enough.”

Everyone stopped.

Marcus looked surprised.

“Adrian, I was only—”

“I said enough.”

It was the first time Adrian had defended her.

Later that night, Elena found him waiting outside the bedroom.

“Thank you.”

“You don’t need to thank me.”

“Why did you defend me?”

Adrian looked away.

“I don’t like unnecessary cruelty.”

Elena smiled.

“That’s a very Ashford answer.”

For a moment, something softened in his expression.

Their relationship slowly changed.

Adrian began noticing the little things about her.

She remembered the names of every employee in the mansion.

She always thanked the kitchen staff.

She secretly paid the medical bills of an elderly housekeeper.

And when Adrian’s company faced a difficult negotiation, Elena casually suggested a strategy that solved a problem his executives had struggled with for weeks.

“Where did you learn that?” Adrian asked.

“My father taught me.”

Adrian stared at her.

There was something about Elena he couldn’t understand.

She wasn’t educated in an elite school.

She didn’t come from wealth.

Yet she possessed an instinct for business that seemed almost natural.

Then, one afternoon, the Blackwood family arrived at the Ashford headquarters.

The chairman himself walked through the lobby.

Richard Blackwood.

One of the most powerful businessmen in the country.

He refused to meet anyone.

“I’m here for Elena Carter.”

Adrian froze.

“Why?”

Richard looked directly at him.

“Because she is my granddaughter.”

The words seemed to stop time.

Adrian’s face changed.

“What?”

Richard handed him an old photograph.

A young woman stood beside him, holding a newborn baby.

On the baby’s wrist was the same silver bracelet Elena had worn since childhood.

“The baby disappeared twenty-six years ago,” Richard said.

“My daughter spent years searching for her. We finally discovered that the child had been taken to another city after a hospital error.”

Adrian couldn’t speak.

That evening, Elena was called to the Blackwood estate.

She stood in the enormous entrance hall, overwhelmed by the portraits covering the walls.

Then she saw a photograph.

A young woman.

The same eyes.

The same smile.

Elena’s hands began to shake.

“Who is she?”

Richard approached slowly.

“Your mother.”

Elena stared at him.

“No.”

“You were born Elena Blackwood.”

She stepped backward.

“No… my father’s name was Carter.”

“Your adoptive father.”

The truth came piece by piece.

Her biological parents had died years earlier, but her grandfather had never stopped searching.

The Carter family had raised her lovingly, but they had never known her true identity.

Elena sat silently for a long time.

Then she whispered:

“Why did you find me now?”

Richard’s eyes filled with regret.

“Because we finally found the records.”

He placed a document in front of her.

“Everything belongs to you. The Blackwood estate. The family trust. Your mother’s shares.”

Elena stared at the papers.

The woman who had been mocked for marrying into the Ashford family…

was actually the heir to a fortune far greater than Adrian’s.

But she pushed the papers away.

“I don’t want revenge.”

Richard looked at her.

“I didn’t bring you here for revenge.”

“Then why?”

“Because you are family.”

Elena’s eyes filled with tears.

For the first time in her life, she finally understood why she had always felt that something was missing.

But when she returned to the Ashford mansion, she found Adrian waiting for her.

He already knew.

“You should have told me.”

Elena looked at him.

“I only found out today.”

Adrian walked toward her.

“Are you still going to stay?”

She was silent.

Because for the first time, she wasn’t sure whether Adrian loved Elena Carter…

or the woman he had just discovered was a Blackwood.