Chapter 5 - Clarissa's Threat
The revelation hung in the air like a poisonous fog.
Arthur Vale hadn't just torn us apart for business prestige. He had done it out of pure, unadulterated megalomania. He couldn't stomach the thought of losing control of his empire to his own great-grandchildren.
"He hid three human beings," I whispered, the horror sinking deep into my bones. "He hid his own blood just to keep a title."
"And I let him do it," Sebastian said, his voice ragged with self-loathing. "I let my pride, my jealousy, and my anger blind me. When I saw that fake footage, I wanted to hurt you the way I thought you had hurt me. I signed the papers in a drunken rage. I let Arthur handle the filing. And by the time my head cleared, you were gone."
He reached out, his hand hesitating in mid-air before gently brushing a strand of hair behind my ear. His touch was warm, familiar, and so intensely painful that a sob caught in my throat.
"I spent two years looking for you, Maya," he whispered. "Arthur’s men fed my investigators false leads in Europe, in Asia, in South America. They kept me chasing ghosts while you were five miles away, struggling to buy milk for my babies."
Before I could answer, a soft scuffling sound came from the hallway.
We both froze.
Owen stood in the doorway of the bedroom, clutching a battered stuffed bear. His oversized dinosaur pajamas dragged on the floor, and his dark curls were wild from sleep. He rubbed his eyes, blinking in the dim kitchen light, his gaze shifting between me and the tall man standing next to me.
"Mommy?" Owen asked, his little voice laced with sleep. "Who is the big man?"
Sebastian stopped breathing.
I watched the most ruthless billionaire in the tri-state area fall to his knees on my cheap linoleum floor. He lowered himself until he was eye-level with the little boy, his massive shoulders trembling.
"Hi, Owen," Sebastian said, his voice cracking so severely he could barely get the syllables out. "I'm... I'm a friend of your mommy's."
Owen tilted his head, studying Sebastian’s face with uncanny seriousness. "You have eyes like me."
A single tear slipped down Sebastian’s cheek. "Yeah, buddy. I guess I do."
"Are you staying for pancakes tomorrow?"
The question was so innocent, so devoid of the four years of agony that had preceded it, that my own tears finally spilled over. Sebastian looked up at me, his eyes pleading, begging for permission to answer.
Before I could speak, my cell phone buzzed violently on the counter.
I wiped my face and glanced at the screen. It was an unknown number. Thinking it might be the children's pediatrician or the late-night pharmacy, I picked it up.
"Hello?"
"Maya, darling. How touching it must be to have Sebastian playing house in that squalor."
Clarissa’s voice was as smooth and lethal as venom.
I stiffened, stepping away from the kitchen table. Sebastian immediately noticed the shift in my posture, his eyes narrowing as he rose to his feet.
"How did you get this number?" I demanded quietly.
"Arthur gave it to me," Clarissa replied with a mocking laugh. "Did you really think Sebastian could run off to play knight in shining armor without the old man finding out? Listen to me very carefully, you little charity case. Arthur has already mobilized the legal team. If you think for one second that Sebastian is going to bring three bastards into high society and ruin my family's merger, you are criminally mistaken."
"They are not bastards," I hissed through clenched teeth. "They are Sebastian's legitimate children!"
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"Not according to the courts, they aren't," Clarissa purred. "A mother with no stable income, a history of living in poverty, and a father who supposedly abandoned them? Arthur will paint you as an unfit, unstable opportunist. By tomorrow afternoon, child protective services will have a dossier that will tie you up in court for a decade while those children are placed in a boarding school in Switzerland. Back off, Maya. Take a settlement and disappear. Or Arthur will erase you."
The line went dead.
