My Ex Husband Treated My Son Without Knowing He Was His Chapter 06

My Ex Husband Treated My Son Without Knowing He Was His Chapter 06

The contract signing was set for next Friday.

However, on Tuesday, something blew up.

“They want to add a clause. Related-party disclosure.” Elaine walked in holding the revised

contract like it was a dead rat.

“Meaning what?”

“They want us to disclose familial relationships for all shareholders and executives. Marital status. Immediate family.”

I took the contract. Flipped to the page.

[Section 17: Party B shall fully disclose the actual controller’s family relationships and any personal connections that may compromise the neutrality of this partnership…]

This was aimed at me.

Arthur was probing.

He wanted confirmation on whether Nathan and I were still tied. More precisely, he wanted to know if Liam existed.

“Elaine. I’m not signing this.”

“Then the deal?”

“Strike Section 17. Everything else stays. If they push back, we call it off.”

“Evelyn. Four million dollars-”

“I can find four million somewhere else. But if the Hayes family gets their hands on Liam’s information, I lose a hell of a lot more than four million.”

Elaine opened her mouth as if to speak, but swallowed her words in the end.

She knew I was right.

I had legal draft a revised proposal and send it to Apex to remove the Section 17, with a note attached: [Sterling MedTech’s actual controller information is publicly available through the state business registry. For compliance inquiries, please use formal channels.]

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Polite. Unambiguous. And a hard no.

That afternoon, Claire called.

“Ms. Sterling. Section 17 is standard boilerplate from our legal department. All partners sign it.”

“Ms. Blanc. I pulled Apex’s partnership templates from the last three years. That clause doesn’t

appear in any of them. It’s new.”

Silence on the line. Two beats.

“You’re thorough.”

“In this business, if you’re not thorough, you don’t survive.”

“I’ll brief Mr. Hayes and get back to you.”

“Do that. I need an answer by Friday. Otherwise we pursue other options.”

I hung up.

I leaned back in my chair and closed my eyes.

Arthur was tightening the screws.

He’d recognized me. Now he was hunting for proof

I had to move faster.

Thursday night.

I was at the office until ten.

I was packing up to leave when my phone lit up.

Unknown number.

“This is Claire Blanc. From Apex.”

“Ms. Blanc. It’s late.”

“There’s something I think we should discuss privately.”

Her voice was different. Not the polished corporate tone. Something else underneath. Chapter 6

“Go ahead.”

“Mr. Hayes has agreed to strike Section 17. The contract will be signed Friday as scheduled.”

“Good. Thank you for letting me know.”

“But I have another question.”

“What?”

“Ms. Sterling. What’s your relationship with Nathan Hayes?”

My fingers tightened around the phone.

“I don’t have a relationship with Nathan Hayes.”

“No? The day you came to Apex to negotiate, Arthur reacted in a way I’ve rarely seen. He doesn’t

treat business partners like that. Afterward, he had someone look into your background.”

“What did they find?”

“Corporate records. Education. Your startup history All clean. But there was one thing. You were

married. Five years ago.”

I said nothing.

“The spouse’s name was redacted. But the government’s redaction on public records never scrub

everything. Arthur saw a last name.”

“And?”

“Ms. Sterling, I’m not here to make accusations. I just want to know one thing.”

Her voice dropped.

“Is Nathan your ex-husband?”

I fell silent for a few seconds.

“Claire. Your fiancé is your fiancé. You should know more about him than I do. That’s not the

question you really want to ask.”

“Fine. I’ll be direct.” She dropped the act. “The boy you brought to the ER. Is he Nathan’s?”

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The phone pressed against my ear. I could hear my own pulse.

“Ms. Blanc. Nothing you’re saying right now has anything to do with the partnership between Apex and Sterling MedTech. If you’re trying to use my personal life to influence a business deal, I’d think very carefully about that.”

“You’re misunderstanding me. That’s not my intention.”

“Then what is?”

“I’m a woman trying to figure out if there’s something in my fiancé’s past that I should know about.”

“Ask Nathan. Not me.”

“I did. He said there was nothing between you.”

“Then there’s nothing.”

“He left the house at three a.m. last night. When he came back this morning, there was a little dinosaur plush in his car. Green. Like the kind a kid would carry around.”

A dinosaur plush.

Liam’s.

The one he’d been clutching in the backseat outside Northshire Memorial Hospital.

Had he dropped it in the parking lot when we left?

“Ms. Blanc, I don’t know what you’re talking about. If there’s nothing else, I’m hanging up.”

“Ms. Sterling.” Her voice shifted. The warmth was gone.

“One piece of advice. Nathan is mine. Whatever happened in the past-he’s my fiancé now. If anyone thinks they can use a child to change that, they’re going to learn real fast that the Hayes family’s threshold isn’t crossed with blood alone.”

I hung up.

My palms were slick with sweat.