My Ex Husband Treated My Son Without Knowing He Was His Chapter 03

My Ex Husband Treated My Son Without Knowing He Was His Chapter 03

The day after next arrived.

Apex Health Group’s headquarters sat in a forty-eight-story glass tower in the financial district.

I wore a black sheath dress, hair pinned up, full makeup.

Not for anyone in that building. Battle armor. Nothing more.

The elevator let me out on the forty-eighth floor. A receptionist led me to a conference room big enough to land a plane.

Three people were already inside.

Marcus Webb. A guy who looked like legal counsel.

And a woman.

Mid-twenties. Long hair. Polished. She was wearing a Chanel tweed jacket.

She rose politely when she saw me.

“Ms. Sterling. I’m Claire Blanc. Mr. Hayes’s executive assistant. He was pulled away last minute and asked me to step in.”

Claire Blanc.

Nathan’s fiancée.

The name the nurse had dropped that night.

She didn’t know me. We’d never met.

I was the past Nathan had buried.

“Ms. Blanc.” I extended my hand.

She shook it once. Brief and clean.

“Impressive what you’ve built with Sterling MedTech. Mr. Hayes has been following your growth closely.”

“Thank you.”

Pleasantries over. We got to work.

Marcus walked through the framework we’d already agreed on. Claire took notes. She interjected now and then with sharp and well-researched questions.

Not window dressing.

Forty minutes in, her phone lit up.

“Excuse me. I need to take this.”

She stepped into the hallway.

The door didn’t latch.

Her voice carried through the gap.

“Hey, babe. Yeah, I’m stuck in a meeting at Apex. The medical device company… Sterling something? Evelyn Sterling. You know her? … No? Okay. Anyway, we still need to do the tasting tonight. Engagement dinner menu’s not final. … Yeah, love you too.”

Babe.

Love you too.

I stared at the contract in front of me. Word by word. Line by line.

Claire walked back and sat down with a polite smile.

“Sorry about that. Where were we?”

“We were here.”

The friction showed up when we hit the revenue split.

“Thirty-five percent channel fee, Ms. Sterling.”

“Thirty. That’s my floor. Industry standard caps at thirty.”

“Apex covers six states on the Eastern Seaboard. That’s a reach nobody else can match.”

“And my devices are patented. Three national approvals last year. Zero alternatives on the market.”

She held my gaze. The smile never flickered.

“You’re confident.”

“Confidence doesn’t close deals. Leverage does.”

She didn’t push.

“I’ll brief Mr. Hayes. We’ll circle back.”

Meeting adjourned.

I stood and grabbed my bag.

Claire walked me to the elevator bank.

“Ms. Sterling, if you don’t mind my asking. Are you married?”

“No.”

“Children?”

I met her eyes.

“Is that relevant to the partnership, Ms. Blanc?”

She smiled.

“Not at all. Just curious. Women like you—the girlboss—you’re usually flying solo.”

The elevator doors slid open.

I stepped in and hit the lobby button.

She gave a little wave as the doors closed.

The smile was sweet and harmless.

But there’d been something behind those two questions. A flicker of investigation.

I couldn’t tell if she was making small talk or if she’d caught a scent of something.

Friday.

Open House at Maplewood Bilingual Academy.

I took a half-day and showed up in jeans and a sweater.

The classroom was packed with parents. Most of them in pairs. Mom and Dad.

Liam stood in the doorway waiting. He sprinted when he spotted me.

“Mommy!”

“Hey, baby. Let’s go inside.”

Ms. Thompson had organized a parent-child activity.

First up, a family portrait. Mom, Dad, Kid. All three figures pre-printed on the sheet.

Liam grabbed a crayon and got serious.

Mom got long hair and a red dress.

The kid got himself.

The dad silhouette, he hesitated.

Then he drew a figure in a white coat.

My heart stuttered.

“Liam. Who’s this?”

“The doctor. The nice one. I want him to be my daddy.”

A parent nearby glanced over.

I flipped the paper over.

“Let’s draw on the other side, okay?”

“Why?”

“I want to do a different one.”

He thought about it. “Okay.”

After the activity, Ms. Thompson pulled me aside.

“Ms. Sterling, Liam’s been a little different lately.”

“Different how?”

“He never used to bring up fathers. But recently he’s been asking the other kids—what does your daddy do? One of them said you don’t have a daddy, and Liam cried for a long time.”

My grip tightened on my purse strap.

“I’ll talk to him.”

“Have you considered having that conversation? Four-year-olds are building identity. He needs an answer.”

“I understand. Thank you.”

On the way home, Liam sat in his car seat, staring out the window.

“Mommy.”

“Yeah?”

“Do I really not have a daddy?”

I glanced in the rearview mirror.

His eyes were dry, but the rims were red.

“You have a daddy, Liam. Everyone does.”

“Where is he?”

“He’s… I’ll tell you when you’re a little older.”

“When?”

“Soon.”

He looked down at his fingers, twisting them.

“Zachary said kids with no daddies come from the trash.”

I hit the brakes and pulled over to the shoulder.

I unbuckled my seatbelt, climbed into the back, and pulled him out of that car seat into my arms.

“Liam Sterling. Listen to me. You are not from the trash. You are the most precious thing in my entire life. Anyone says that again, you tell me. I’ll handle it.”

He wrapped his arms around my neck.

“Mommy, I don’t want you to go fight people. I don’t want you to get in trouble.”

Four years old.

And already protecting me.

I shut my eyes and took a breath.

This wasn’t fair.

He was supposed to have a whole family.

I was the one who’d walked away.

I didn’t regret it.

But God, some days it burned.