David asked Elena to sit down on the plush velvet sofa in the parlor.
She held Leo gently while David walked over to his private study room.
He needed to check the family records stored in the upper floor offices.
His mind was racing with questions that made no sense to him yet.
He climbed the grand spiral staircase with fast, urgent strides.
The mansion was far too big for just him and a baby.
His late parents had built the estate thirty years ago in the countryside.
They had always kept strict secrets about the family business and past.
David entered the dusty storage room located near the top attic floor.
He opened a large wooden chest filled with old family photo albums.
He pulled out a thick leather album marked with his father's initials.
He flipped through the yellowed pages under the bright ceiling light.
There were pictures of old family dinners and formal estate galas.
Then his thumb stopped on a faded photograph from twenty years ago.
The picture showed his mother standing in front of the same estate flag.
Standing right next to her was a young girl wearing a simple dress.
David zoomed in on the face of the young girl in the photo.
The eyes were unmistakable, even through the faded colors of the picture.
It was Elena, looking much younger but with the same gentle expression.
David felt a cold shiver run down his spine as he stared at it.
Why was his new housekeeper in a twenty-year-old family photograph?
He turned the photo over to read the handwritten note on the back.
The ink was faint, but the words were clearly written in his father's handwriting.
The note stated that the girl had been placed in an adoption system.
David closed his eyes as the realization hit him like a heavy wave.
Elena was not just a random person looking for a cleaning job.
She had a deep, personal connection to his family's long history.
He grabbed the old photograph and ran back down the grand staircase.
The footsteps echoed loudly across the tall marble walls of the foyer.
Elena was still sitting on the sofa, softly singing to the sleeping baby.
David held up the faded picture so she could see it clearly.
David: You lived in this house twenty years ago, didn't you?
Elena looked at the photograph and let out a long, quiet sigh.
She did not look surprised to see her younger self in his hand.
Elena: I thought your father had destroyed every single copy of that picture.