Chapter Eight: Secrets in the Silence
Kimberley Monroe was used to chaos, but the kind she could control. The kind where she gave the orders, and the world bent to her rules. But as she stared at the photo frame on her desk, her fingers paused mid-click above her keyboard.
Zuri.
Her name had never been spoken in this office, yet here she was—frozen in time, smiling up from a photo Kelly had accidentally left on the corner of her desk. That same little girl who waved at her from the school gates. The same one who had given her a sunflower with a toothy grin that had shaken something loose in Kim's chest.
Kim snapped the frame shut like it had burned her. Her brows furrowed as she stood and stalked to the glass window, trying to clear her head. But the images wouldn't stop. Zuri laughing. Zuri beaming. Zuri calling Kelly "Daddy."
And that woman from years ago—
No. She shut the door to that memory like slamming a vault.
She was Kimberley Monroe. She didn't crumble.
She called her assistant. "Get Coudine in here. Now."
---
Kelly hated the silence in his new office. It was too clean, too polished, too fake. He was used to the roar of engines, not the soft click of corporate shoes and fake smiles. He kept glancing at the empty desk space beside him, where he'd set Zuri's photo down earlier. It was gone.
His stomach tightened.
A knock at the door.
Coudine.
"You good, man?" Coudine asked, closing the door behind him.
Kelly sighed, leaning back. "She took the photo."
Coudine blinked. "Kim?"
"Yeah. Walked in, saw it, didn't say anything, but her face... man, something changed."
"You think she knows something?"
Kelly paused. "That's the thing. Zuri's mom… we never talked after she left. She said she'd handle everything. Then disappeared. If Kim knows something… I need to know what."
Coudine rubbed his jaw. "You want me to ask around?"
"No," Kelly said. "I'll talk to her. Directly."
---
Kim stood at the edge of the boardroom, staring down at the roster for the upcoming project launch. The name Kelly Adeniyi popped up again and again. Why did he have to be good at his job?
Her assistant knocked. "Miss Monroe, he's here."
"Send him in."
Kelly entered like a soldier entering enemy territory.
"Close the door," Kim said.
He did.
"You went through my things," he began, arms folded.
"You left it on my desk," she retorted.
"That doesn't mean you get to snoop."
"I didn't snoop. I recognized someone. That child. Zuri."
Kelly's jaw tensed. "What about her?"
"Who is her mother?"
The question sliced through the room like a whip. Kelly didn't answer right away. Then:
"She's out of the picture."
"That's not what I asked."
He stepped closer, voice low. "Why do you care?"
Kim stared at him, then opened her drawer and pulled out a faded photo. A woman. Younger. Prettier. Smiling.
"This woman. Is she Zuri's mom?"
Kelly's eyes widened.
"Where did you get that?"
Kim's voice turned cold. "Answer the question."
"Yes. That was her. How do you know her?"
Kim put the photo back into the drawer, locked it, and turned away.
"That's enough for today, Mr. Adeniyi."
Kelly didn't move. "Kimberley."
She froze.
"If you know something about Zuri's mom… don't keep it from me."
She looked over her shoulder, her eyes sharper than knives. "Some truths ruin more than they fix."
And then she walked out.
---
Later that night, Kelly sat beside Zuri's bed, brushing back her curls as she slept. He stared at her tiny face and whispered, "What are you hiding, Kim? And why does it feel like you're protecting something?"
Across town, Kim stood in her penthouse apartment, staring at the same photo she'd hidden from Kelly.
And behind the photo, tucked in an envelope, was a birth certificate.
Zuri Monroe