Spencer pulled up a chair and sat beside the bed. "Casey said you had a daughter with my father. That means Charlee's mother was my half-sister."
Florence nodded slowly, staring at the ceiling as if watching her memories play out on a projector. "Thirty years ago, I was the head maid at the Warren estate. Your father, Arthur, was a complicated man. His marriage to your mother was a business arrangement. Cold. Loveless. He found comfort in me. I knew it was wrong, but I loved him. When I found out I was pregnant with Amelia—Charlee's mother—I was terrified."
"Why didn't you tell him?" Spencer asked, his voice thick with suppressed emotion. He had grown up believing his father was a stone-cold corporate titan incapable of love.
"I tried," Florence sobbed. "But your older brother... Richard. He was only eighteen at the time, but he was already a monster. He found the pregnancy test. He cornered me in the laundry room. He told me that if I ever breathed a word to Arthur, he would ensure I suffered a fatal 'accident.' Richard paid me off from his own trust fund and threatened to kill my baby if I ever returned to Pinecrest Heights."