Bankrupting My Husband’s Fake Perfect Family Chapter 12

Bankrupting My Husband’s Fake Perfect Family Chapter 12 Blood in the Rain

“Tell the front desk to keep him downstairs,” I instructed, turning away from the security monitor

“I’ll handle this,” Sebastian offered, reaching for his suit jacket.

“No ” I pressed the elevator button. “He is my biological mistake. I will clean it up.”

The stainless steel doors slid shut, cutting off Sebastian’s reply. The descent felt entirely too fast. A faint buzzing hummed in my ears,

a sharp contrast to the absolute silence of the elevator car.

The lobby doors parted.

A puddle of rainwater and blood stained the pristine white marble floor. Liam stood in the center of it. His ruined hoodie clung to his thin frame, and crimson drops slid from his chin to his collarbone.

Two massive security guards flanked him, keeping a strict distance.

“Mom!” Liam choked out.

He stumbled forward. The guards instantly stepped into his path, blocking him.

“Let him speak,” I commanded, stopping ten feet away.

“You have to help me,” Liam sobbed, wiping his nose with a filthy sleeve. “He went crazy.”

“Who?” I asked, keeping my tone perfectly flat.

“Dad!” Liam yelled, his voice cracking. “I just wanted to buy a sandwich. I tried to take a twenty from his wallet while he was fighting with Chloe. He caught me.”

“And he hit you.”

“He used his belt!” Liam pulled up the edge of his hoodie. A dark, ugly purple welt stretched across his ribs. “He said I was a parasite He told me to get out.”

I examined the bruise. Two days ago, the sight of a scratch on his arm would have sent me into a panic. I would have called a doctor, wrapped him in blankets, and burned the world down to protect him.

Now, my heart beat at a steady, undisturbed rhythm.

“Go to the police,” I suggested.

“I don’t want the police! I want you!”

Liam shoved past the guard. He dropped heavily to his knees right in front of me. His arms wrapped around my calves, his wet face pressing into the fabric of my trousers.

“I’m sorry,” he wailed, his grip tightening. “I know I was wrong. I shouldn’t have ignored you. I shouldn’t have gone with them. Please, Mom. Take me home.”

My muscles locked.

The heat from his palms seeped through the thin wool of my pants Within seconds, that warmth vanished, replaced by the freezing dampness of the rain soaking his clothes.

I stared down at the top of his head. He had my hair He had my jawline

But all I saw was the photo on Julian’s phone. Liam, sitting in the passenger seat of the Porsche I paid for, grinning widely while holding his father’s bastard child. *A true perfect weekend.*

He didn’t want his mother. He wanted his comfortable mattress, his catered meals, and his unlimited credit card.

“We don’t have a home, Liam,” I stated.

His head snapped up Panic widened his bloodshot eyes. “What?”

“I sold the house. The money is gone. Your father is penniless, and I am done funding your existence.”

“You’re my mother!” he screamed, shaking my legs. “You can’t just leave me on the street!”

A faint, dry smile touched my lips. The reaction felt entirely alien, yet completely right.

“Watch me.” I shifted my gaze to the men in dark suits. “Remove him.”

The guards moved instantly. One grabbed Liam’s left shoulder, the other his right.

“No!” Liam thrashed, digging his nails into my calves. “Mom, stop them!”

The taller guard clamped a hand over Liam’s wrist. He pried my son’s thumb backward.

Liam yelped. The first finger popped loose.

The guard methodically peeled the rest of his fingers away, breaking the desperate hold.

I didn’t flinch. The physical severance mirrored the exact moment the maternal nerve inside my brain snapped in half.

They hauled him upward. His sneakers dragged across the marble, smearing the blood and water into a muddy streak.

“You’re a monster!” Liam spat, fighting the guards’ iron grips. “Dad was right about you!”

I unclasped my purse. I reached inside and pulled out a crisp, folded bill.

I tossed it. The hundred-dollar note fluttered through the chilled air, landing directly in the bloody puddle at his feet.

“Buy a bandage,” I advised. “And a sandwich.”

I pivoted on my shoes. The leather soles made a soft thud against the stone. I faced the elevator, ready to return to the warmth of the penthouse.

A blinding flash eradicated the ambient lighting of the lobby.

Twin high beams tore through the floor-to-ceiling glass facade, washing the entire room in a harsh, blinding white glare

Tires shrieked against the wet asphalt outside.

I spun back around.

A battered sedan sat heavily parked on the sidewalk, its bumper kissing the glass

Before the guards could react, a heavy iron pipe smashed into the center of the double doors The tempered glass exploded inward, raining jagged shards across the marble

Julian stepped through the shattered frame, his eyes wild and fixed entirely on me.