One Night in Valeria - Chapter 7: Chapter 7

The air in Aunt Kemi’s house was thick with the scent of old books and hibiscus oil. Jessica sat on the worn sofa, the photo of her mother clutched tightly in her hand.
Her aunt’s expression had been calm until she saw the man beside Klara in the image.
That calm cracked like old porcelain.“Where did you find this?” Kemi whispered.
“In a box. Mama kept it hidden.” She should’ve burned it.
Jessica looked up sharply. “Who is he?”
Her aunt hesitated, eyes clouded with a memory she clearly didn’t want to relive.
“That’s Dorian Velar. Your mother’s mistake.”
Jessica blinked. “The same Dorian Velar… Liam’s father?”
A heavy pause. Then, a small, almost defeated nod. “Yes.”
The truth she wasn’t ready For Kemi’s voice dropped to a whisper, like the walls might overhear.
“Klara fell in love with him. Headfirst, recklessly. They kept it secret for months. She thought they could survive it.”
“Why wouldn’t they?”
“Because Dorian was already married.” Jessica went cold.
“To Liam’s mother. The Velar family protected their image at all costs. Klara was the scandal they buried.”
“She got pregnant.”
“And he…?” Kemi looked down. “He disappeared. She never spoke of him again.”
The silence was unbearable. It pressed against Jessica's chest like a weight she didn’t know how to hold.
“He didn’t just abandon her,” Kemi said. “He abandoned you, too.”
Back in Jessica’s Apartment, nightfall rain tapped at the window like quiet fingers.
Jessica sat cross-legged on the floor, the photograph still in her hand.
She flipped over the frame and that’s when she saw it. A slip of aged paper tucked behind the backing, sealed with burgundy wax.
Her name written on it.
"To Jessica Hale, in case she ever comes home."
Her breath caught.
The seal bore a mark she'd seen only once before on Liam’s office ring, embossed in silver.
The Velar crest.
She cracked the wax and unfolded the letter.
The Letter
> Jessica,
If you’re reading this, then I never found the courage to see you face-to-face.
I made promises I couldn’t keep, and you are the price of my silence.
I watched you grow through shadows and whispers, never near enough.
You deserved a father. You deserved truth. You got neither.
This city will test you. It will try to take your voice, your name, your light.
But you have your mother’s fire.
And that… may be the only thing powerful enough to burn this legacy down.
Dorian Velar.
Her hands shook.She didn’t cry.She didn’t scream.She just sat there… feeling everything she had ever known begin to shift.
Meanwhile Liam’s penthouse, Liam stood by the window, the city stretching out beneath him like a battlefield.
He hadn’t seen Jessica since the rooftop. He hadn’t been able to.
Not after the way she looked at him like she could see everything he was hiding.
He opened the drawer of his desk and pulled out a letter of his own one written to him years ago, now torn and creased from how often he read it.“If she ever returns… don’t punish her for my sins.”
“She’s innocent. She’s everything Klara once was. Don’t lose her like I lost them both.”
Liam swallowed hard.But it was too late.He already had.
Midnight Jessica's thoughts, lying in bed, eyes wide open, Jessica clutched the letter to her chest. She remembered the rooftop.The way Liam looked at her.The way her skin prickled when he was near like her body remembered something her mind couldn’t.
Maybe she wasn’t imagining it.
Maybe… somehow, deep down… she had always known.