Chapter 4 - The Bloodline Clause
Sebastian entered my tiny living room, his tall, broad-shouldered frame immediately shrinking the space. He looked around—taking in the faded sofa bought off Craigslist, the hand-knit throws covering worn fabric, and the colorful plastic toy bins neatly stacked against the peeling wallpaper.
His eyes lingered on a small framed photo on the bookshelf: Noah, Ivy, and Owen on their third birthday, wearing paper party hats and grinning with cake smeared all over their cheeks.
A shudder ran through him. "Three of them," he whispered, pressing two fingers against his eyelids. "You raised three babies in this place by yourself."
"Don't play the grieving father with me," I said, leaning against the kitchen counter with my arms crossed over my chest. "You have nine minutes left. Start talking."
Sebastian dropped his hand and turned to face me. The arrogance that usually defined the Vale bloodline was completely stripped away, leaving behind raw, agonizing guilt.
"Four years ago, three weeks before our divorce, Arthur called me into his office at the estate," Sebastian began, his voice hollow. "He told me that our marriage was an unacceptable liability. Vale Enterprises was preparing for an international merger with the Sterling Group—Clarissa’s family. Arthur made it clear: either I dissolved our marriage and formed an alliance with the Sterlings, or he would trigger the board's morality clause and strip me of the CEO position."
"And you chose your money over me," I spat. "How predictable."
"I told him to go to hell!" Sebastian’s voice rose with sudden, fierce intensity. "I walked out of that office, Maya! I told him he could burn the entire conglomerate to ash, because I wasn't letting you go!"
I stared at him, stunned into silence by the sheer venom in his tone.
"Then why did you leave?" I asked, my voice barely audible. "Why did you send me divorce papers? Why did you leave that note?"
"Because three days later, Arthur laid an ironclad dossier on my desk," Sebastian said, his jaw working as he fought for composure. "It contained medical records showing you had visited a fertility clinic in private, followed by bank statements showing massive deposits from an offshore account linked to an corporate rival. And then... he showed me the video."
My blood ran cold. "What video?"
"A blurry surveillance tape of you meeting a man in a hotel lobby in Boston, kissing him on the cheek, and taking an envelope of cash," Sebastian confessed, his voice breaking. "Arthur told me you were an corporate spy planted by the Vance family to infiltrate the Vale trust. He said you were terminating our marriage quietly because you had already achieved your payout."
"That's insane!" I cried out, stepping forward. "I never went to Boston! I was in Brooklyn working sixty hours a week! Arthur fabricated all of it!"
"I know that now!" Sebastian shouted, stepping toward me until he was only inches away, his gray eyes burning with agony. "Do you think I haven't spent the last six hours tearing Arthur’s files apart? The moment I left the park, I drove straight to the family archives. I bypassed Arthur's head of security and tore into the private server."
He reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a folded sheaf of papers, throwing them onto the small kitchen table between us.
"The video was doctored by an offshore digital firm Arthur hired for half a million dollars. The bank accounts were shell entities set up in your name using your forged signature," Sebastian said, his breath hitching. "And the handwritten note you received with the divorce papers? Arthur hired a professional calligrapher to mimic my handwriting from old board memos."
I looked down at the documents on the table, my head spinning. The world seemed to tilt on its axis.
"Why?" I gasped, clutching the edge of the counter to keep my balance. "Why would he go to such monstrous lengths just to break us apart? If he wanted the Sterling merger, he could have just fired you!"
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Sebastian leaned in, his voice dropping to a terrifying, deadly register.
"Because of the Vale Family Bloodline Clause," he said. "Arthur's father created an irrevocable trust fifty years ago. Under that trust, the first male heir to produce direct grandchildren automatically gains fifty-one percent of the voting shares of Vale Enterprises, completely stripping the patriarch of executive control. Arthur knew that if we had children, his reign was over. And when his security director intercepted your first letter confirming your pregnancy... Arthur realized his worst nightmare had come true."
