My Ex Husband Treated My Son Without Knowing He Was His Chapter 09

My Ex Husband Treated My Son Without Knowing He Was His Chapter 09

That night, I made a decision.

We were moving.

I’d bought the condo three years ago. The address was in Liam’s medical records. Nathan knew it. The rest of the Hayes family could find it just as easily.

The next day I called a realtor and looked at three properties.

I settled in Willow Creek. It had private garage and underground parking.

I paid in cash.

Two thousand square feet. Four bedrooms.

All the paperwork went through the company. My name stayed off everything.

We were moved in within a week.

I switched preschool too.

The new one was a private bilingual academy. Twenty-eight thousand a year. Facial recognition at

the gate plus keycard access.

No one got in without being cleared.

All told, it cost me just under four hundred thousand dollars.

Elaine looked at the expense report and sighed.

“You’re waging a war.”

“The Hayes family wants one. I’ll oblige them.”

“Have you thought about going on offense?”

“What would that look like?”

“You’re holding a card. Liam. You’ve been playing defense this whole time, protecting him like he’s

a vulnerability. But from another angle, he’s your biggest piece of leverage.”

“I don’t use my son as leverage.”

“That’s not what I’m saying.” Elaine’s eyes were serious. “I’m saying Arthur wants this grandchild.

How badly he wants him tells you exactly how much negotiating room you have. You could flip the

script and set the terms.”

“What terms?”

“Make the Hayes family sign an agreement. They never contest custody. They never interfere with Liam’s education or upbringing. Visitation happens by your rules. If they breach, you go public with what they did five years ago. The hush money, one hundred thousand dollars. All of it.”

I was quiet for a long moment.

“You’re saying I should take the initiative back.”

“Yeah. Instead of letting them back you into a corner inch by inch, tear the walls down first.”

I hadn’t thought about it that way.

For the past four years, my strategy had been simple. Run. Hide. Disappear.

But I couldn’t run anymore.

The Hayes family had found me.

“I’ll think about it.”

I didn’t get much time to think.

Three days later, Nathan showed up outside my office building.

I saw his car from my window. A Panamera. Hard to miss.

The front desk called up. “Ms. Sterling, Mr. Hayes is here to see you. No appointment.”

“Lead him up.” A pause. “No. I’ll come down.”

I didn’t want him setting foot inside my company.

In the lobby, he stood by the revolving door.

Dark gray jacket today. A manila envelope in his hand.

“Nathan. What are you doing here?”

“We need to talk.”

“Here?”

“You pick.”

I glanced around. Employees coming and going.

“Across the street. The coffee shop. Ten minutes.”

Five minutes later I sat by the window.

He sat across from me and set the envelope on the table.

“Evelyn. I’m not going to dance around this.”

“Then don’t.”

“I looked into it. Five years ago, two months after you left the Hayes residence, you opened a prenatal file at a private hospital out of state. Ten months and three days later, Liam Sterling was

born. Father’s name left blank on the birth certificate.”

“You accessed my medical records. That’s a violation of privacy.”

“I called in a favor. I know it was wrong.” His voice didn’t waver. “But I had to confirm something.”

He pulled a single sheet of paper from the envelope.

“Liam’s birth date. It lines up exactly with the last time we… during the marriage.”

I lifted my coffee cup. My hand was steady.

“Coincidence.”

“You know it’s not a coincidence.”

“Nathan. What are you here to say? That you’re going to sue me? Sue me for concealing a pregnancy? Legally, I have no obligation to inform anyone who fathered my

“I didn’t say I was suing you.”

“Then what do you want?”

He looked at me.

child.”

Claim

Those eyes. Exactly like Liam’s. Deep brown. Clear

“I want to meet him.”

Just one word. “No.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re not his father.”

“Evelyn-”

“You’re not.” I set the cup down. “You never were. A man who gives up on the mother before the

child is even born doesn’t get to call himself a father”

His face changed.

“Gave up? When did I…”

“Five years ago. Your mother handed me a a sum of money and told me to sign the divorce papers. You stood in the doorway of the living room and you said nothing. Your silence was your choice.”

“I didn’t know you were pregnant!”

“What difference would that have made? You couldn’t even open your mouth to keep your wife. You think you would’ve stood up for a child?”

His hands curled into fists.

“If I’d known then…”

“There’s no ‘if. You made your choice. I made mine. My choice was to have him alone. Raise him alone. And keep him far away from the Hayes family. That choice hasn’t changed.”

I stood.

“Don’t come looking for me again. And stay away from Liam. You showing up in his life does him

no good.”

I walked out of the coffee shop and didn’t look back.

But I heard something behind me. A soft sound. Like something breaking.

Maybe a coffee cup.

Maybe something else.