Chapter 4
Ethan hit the elevator button so hard I thought he would break it.
“Call security.”
A nurse already was.
Sarah tried to get out of bed.
Her legs buckled.
I caught her before she hit the floor.
“I’m going.”
“That’s my son.”
“And you can barely stand.”
“I don’t care.”
“I do.”
Sarah gripped my wrist.
“She’s threatened to take him before.”
I froze.
“What?”
Ethan turned.
“When?”
Sarah glared at him.
“You weren’t around to ask.”
The elevator doors opened.
Ethan stepped inside.
I followed.
My father came with us.
“Claire, stay here.”
“No.”
“This is not your fight.”
I looked at him.
“Dad, that boy ran into my wedding asking for help. I’m not walking away until he’s safe.”
My father’s expression softened.
Then hardened again when he looked at Ethan.
“Fine. But you stay beside me.”
The security guard met us downstairs.
He had already checked the cameras.
“Older woman, gray dress, left through the east entrance with the boy approximately four minutes ago.”
“Was he struggling?” Ethan asked.
“Not visibly.”
“Of course not,” I said. “He thinks she’s his grandmother.”
We ran outside.
Margaret’s car was gone.
Ethan pulled out his keys.
My father stopped him.
“You’re not driving in that state.”
“I know where she went.”
“Where?”
“My parents’ house.”
We took my father’s SUV.
Ethan sat in the passenger seat.
I sat behind him.
Dad drove faster than I had ever seen him drive.
Ethan called his mother repeatedly.
No answer.
He called the house.
No answer.
Then Sarah called me from the hospital.
I answered immediately.
“Any news?”
“Not yet.”
Her breathing was uneven.
“Claire, listen to me.”
“I’m listening.”
“Margaret has spent years telling Noah that I keep him away from Ethan.”
I closed my eyes.
“She’s building a story.”
“Yes.”
“What kind of story?”
“She says I’m unstable.”
Ethan heard.
He turned around.
“What?”
Sarah’s voice came through the speaker.
“She started six months ago.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I did.”
“No, you didn’t.”
“I told you Margaret came to the house.”
“You said she threatened you.”
“She told me if I didn’t sign the divorce papers, she would prove I was an unfit mother.”
Ethan went pale.
“What did you do?”
“I told her to leave.”
“What does she have?”
“Nothing real.”
The last word terrified me.
Nothing real meant something fake might exist.
My father looked at Ethan.
“What kind of woman is your mother?”
Ethan stared through the windshield.
“The kind I should have stopped years ago.”
We reached Margaret’s house twenty minutes later.
The front gate was closed.
Ethan punched in a code.
Rejected.
He tried again.
Rejected.
“She changed it.”
Dad looked at him.
“Call the police.”
Ethan did.
Then I saw movement near the side garden.
“Noah!”
A small figure appeared behind the hedge.
He was crying.
I opened my door before Dad fully stopped.
“Noah!”
He saw me.
“Claire!”
He ran toward the gate.
Margaret appeared behind him.
She grabbed his shoulder.
Not violently.
But firmly enough to stop him.
Ethan jumped from the SUV.
“Mom!”
Margaret looked across the gate.
“Go back to the hospital.”
“Open this gate.”
“No.”
“Open it!”
Noah twisted.
“I want Mom.”
Margaret bent toward him.
“Your mother is sick. We’re helping her.”
“I want Mom!”
Ethan slammed his palm against the gate.
“You had no right to take him.”
“I’m his grandmother.”
“You kidnapped him from a hospital.”
“Don’t be dramatic.”
My father muttered, “That seems to run in your family.”
Margaret ignored him.
She looked at Noah.
“Your father is upset because he doesn’t understand yet.”
Noah’s face was wet with tears.
“You said we were going home.”
“We will.”
“With Mom?”
Margaret paused.
That was all Noah needed.
He jerked away from her.
“No!”
He ran toward the gate again.
Margaret caught him.
Ethan’s voice became dangerously calm.
“Take your hands off my son.”
For the first time, Margaret seemed to understand that Ethan was no longer the frightened young man she could control.
“You’re making a terrible mistake.”
“My worst mistake was listening to you.”
She stared at him.
“I saved your life.”
“You destroyed eight years of it.”
“You had scholarships. Connections. A future.”
“I had a wife and a child.”
“You had a girl who trapped you.”
Ethan’s entire body stiffened.
I stepped closer to the gate.
“Sarah did not trap him.”
Margaret looked at me.
“Claire, please don’t involve yourself in matters you don’t understand.”
“I understand that you sent a sick woman to my wedding hoping your son would reject her publicly.”
Her face changed.
Ethan turned toward me.
“What?”
I held up the note.
“Your mother wrote it.”
Margaret’s eyes dropped to the envelope.
She recovered quickly.
“That proves nothing.”
“It proves you knew exactly where Sarah lived.”
“I never denied that.”
Ethan stared at her.
“You told me you hadn’t seen her in years.”
“I had no reason to discuss her.”
“You stopped the money.”
Margaret said nothing.
Sarah had been right.
Ethan took a step toward the gate.
“You stopped sending Noah’s support.”
“It was my money.”
“No. It was mine.”
“From an account I manage.”
“For my son.”
“You were about to marry Claire. I was forcing Sarah to finally become independent.”
My mouth fell open.
“Forcing her?”
Margaret shrugged.
“She has used that child as leverage for years.”
Noah heard her.
His small face went blank.
I wanted to reach through the gate and pull him away from all of us.
Ethan pointed at the keypad.
“Open it.”
“No.”
Police sirens sounded in the distance.
Margaret finally looked worried.
“You called the police on your own mother?”
“You took my son.”
“I protected him.”
“From what?”
She looked straight at him.
“Sarah.”
Noah began shaking his head.
“My mom didn’t do anything.”
Margaret ignored him.
“She is sick, unemployed, behind on rent, and living in a house that should have been condemned years ago.”
Ethan looked shocked.
“You knew all that?”
“I know everything that threatens this family.”
“Then why didn’t you tell me Noah was struggling?”
“Because every dollar you sent made Sarah more comfortable refusing to disappear.”
Ethan looked as if she had slapped him.
The police arrived.
Two officers approached the gate.
Margaret opened it before they could force the issue.
Then she changed completely.
Her voice softened.
Her posture relaxed.
She became the elegant woman who had smiled through countless charity dinners and church events.
“Officers, thank goodness.”
Ethan stared in disbelief.
Margaret continued.
“My grandson’s mother is hospitalized. I brought him home because the child was distressed.”
Noah shouted, “She lied!”
One officer crouched.
“What’s your name?”
“Noah Miller.”
“Who do you want to be with right now?”
“My mom.”
“Your mom is at the hospital?”
“Yes.”
“And this man?”
Noah looked at Ethan.
“My dad.”
Margaret interrupted.
“Paternity is complicated.”
Ethan almost exploded.
“No, it isn’t.”
The officer raised a hand.
“One at a time.”
Margaret went inside and returned with a folder.
“I was prepared for this.”
My stomach tightened.
Of course she was.
She handed the folder to the officer.
“These documents show ongoing concerns about Sarah’s ability to care for Noah.”
Ethan stared.
“What documents?”
Margaret looked almost satisfied.
“Medical records. School absences. Unpaid bills. Statements from neighbors.”
Noah yelled, “Mom was sick!”
The officer reviewed the papers.
My father stepped forward.
“Are those enough to let this woman take him?”
The officer shook his head.
“We’re not deciding custody in a driveway.”
Margaret smiled.
“Exactly.”
“But we are concerned about a child removed from a hospital without the mother’s permission.”
Her smile disappeared.
“I am family.”
“That doesn’t automatically give you authority.”
Ethan held out his hand toward Noah.
“Come here, buddy.”
Noah ran to him.
Margaret tried to protest.
The officer stopped her.
“Ma’am.”
Ethan lifted Noah into his arms.
The boy buried his face against his father’s shoulder.
“I thought she was taking me away.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Are we going back to Mom?”
“Yes.”
Margaret stepped closer.
“You take that child back to Sarah and you’re proving you learned nothing.”
Ethan looked at her.
“What exactly was I supposed to learn?”
“That love does not excuse irresponsibility.”
“No. But money doesn’t excuse cruelty.”
Her face hardened.
“You think Claire’s family will still invest in you after this?”
Ethan glanced at me.
Then back at Margaret.
“I don’t care.”
I knew that statement might finally be true.
Too late for us.
But maybe not too late for Noah.
We returned to the hospital.
Noah ran straight to Sarah.
She cried when she saw him.
So did he.
Ethan stood at the doorway.
He didn’t enter.
Sarah finally looked at him.
“You brought him back.”
“Yes.”
“Thank you.”
Ethan’s jaw tightened.
“You should never have had to thank me for that.”
Sarah looked away.
My father touched my shoulder.
“We should go.”
This time, I agreed.
I had heard enough.
Seen enough.
My wedding day had ended.
I wanted my own bed.
My own house.
My own life.
But before I left, Ethan caught up to me near the elevator.
“Claire.”
I faced him.
“I know you hate me.”
“I don’t know what I feel.”
“I love you.”
“That doesn’t help.”
“I never wanted to use you.”
“My father says your company needed his investment.”
“It did.”
“And you hid your wife and child.”
“Yes.”
“Then tell me why that doesn’t look like using me.”
He struggled for an answer.
“I thought I could separate the two parts of my life.”
I stared at him.
“You thought you could keep your shame in one town and your future in another.”
His face fell.
“That’s not—”
“That’s exactly what you did.”
The elevator doors opened.
I stepped inside.
Ethan put his hand between the doors.
“There’s something you need to know about the investment.”
I almost told him I didn’t care.
Then I saw fear in his eyes.
Not fear of losing me.
Something else.
“What?”
“My mother didn’t just manage the account I used for Noah.”
I waited.
“She manages the company finances too.”
My father moved closer.
“What are you saying?”
Ethan looked at him.
“I think she moved some of your money before the wedding.”
Dad’s expression became deadly still.
“No money was supposed to move before closing.”
“I know.”
“How much?”
“I don’t know.”
“Ethan.”
“I don’t know!”
My father stared at him for a long second.
Then he took out his phone and walked away.
I stepped out of the elevator.
“You knew she had access?”
“Yes.”
“And after discovering what she did to Sarah, you still let her control your company?”
“I didn’t know how much she had done.”
“That’s your answer to everything.”
His face tightened.
“I know.”
I looked toward Sarah’s room.
“Then start knowing.”
My father returned.
His face was white.
“Claire.”
“What happened?”
He looked at Ethan.
“Three million dollars left the holding account yesterday morning.”
Ethan stopped breathing.
“I didn’t authorize it.”
Dad’s voice dropped.
“Someone did.”
Ethan shook his head.
“No.”
My father turned his phone toward him.
“The approval came from your office.”
Ethan stared.
Then he whispered, “Mom.”
May you like
Dad stepped closer.
“If your mother stole three million dollars from my company while you were preparing to marry my daughter, your wedding disaster is about to become the smallest problem your family has.”
