My Ex Husband Treated My Son Without Knowing He Was His Chapter 10

My Ex Husband Treated My Son Without Knowing He Was His Chapter 10

A week of quiet.

Nathan Hayes didn’t come back.

No calls. No texts. Nothing.

I thought he’d given up.

But Elaine said, “Not a chance. He’s a Hayes. Hayes people don’t give up. They just switch tactics.”

She was right.

Thursday afternoon, I got a call from the preschool director.

“Ms. Sterling, a man came to the academy today claiming to be a relative of Liam’s. He asked to pick him up. We refused, of course. He wasn’t on the authorized pickup list. But I thought you should know.”

“What did he look like?”

“Early thirties. Tall. Black sports car. He showed ID. Last name Hayes.”

My blood pressure spiked.

“From now on, anyone not on the pickup list who tries to take Liam gets turned away. If they push it, call the police.”

“Understood, Ms. Sterling.”

I hung up and dialed Julian Croft immediately.

“Julian. He went to the preschool.”

“Who?”

“Nathan Hayes. Tried to pick up my son. The school turned him away.”

“Good. Document everything. If he does it again, it’s harassment. I’ll draft a cease-and-desist letter.

I can have it in his hands by tomorrow.”

“The sooner the better.”

The letter was delivered to Nathan the next day.

It was simple: [Cease all attempts to contact Evelyn Sterling and her minor child, Liam Sterling. immediately. Continued contact will result in legal action.]

That same evening, Nathan called.

Not me-I’d already blocked his number.

He called Elaine.

She picked up and put it on speaker.

“Evelyn won’t take my calls.” His voice was flat, but you could hear the pressure underneath.

“Mr. Hayes, Evelyn has made it clear she wants no personal contact with you.”

“Elaine. You’ve been with her the whole time. Tell her I’m not trying to take the kid. I just want to

see him. Once.”

“Mr. Hayes, you should be saying this to your lawyer

“I don’t want to go the legal route.”

“Then respect Evelyn’s decision.”

“Her decision…” He stopped. “Her decision is to let a four-year-old grow up without a father.”

“Mr. Hayes. It’s been four years. He’s been doing just fine without one.”

A long silence.

Then he hung up.

Three days of nothing.

Day four.

Two in the afternoon. I was in a meeting.

A push notification lit up my phone.

#MedTech Founder Unmarried with Child-Alleged Ties to Major Healthcare Dynasty#

I clicked.

A tabloid blog.

No names. But the details were surgically precise. Female founder. Twenty-eight. Divorced four

years ago. Raised the child alone. Child bears striking resemblance to ex-husband. Ex-husband

currently an attending physician at a major metropolitan hospital. His family controls a large

healthcare conglomerate on the Eastern Coastal.

That was enough.

Anyone in the industry could figure out who they meant.

The comments section was already a war zone.

“Isn’t this the Sterling MedTech CEO?”

“The Hayes family? As in Apex Health Group?”

“What’s the issue with having a kid while unmarried? She didn’t commit a crime.”

“The issue is the father didn’t know. That’s messed up.”

“Why should she tell a deadbeat dad anything?”

“Who says he’s a deadbeat? Maybe this is on her.”

I closed the page.

Who leaked it?

Not Nathan. He didn’t want lawyers involved. He sure as hell wouldn’t drag this into the press.

Not Arthur. The man cared about appearances. He wouldn’t let Hayes family business end up on a

gossip site.

Claire Blanc.

It had to be her.

She knew I had a child. She suspected the child was Nathan’s. She’d warned me over the phone.

Now she’d chosen a different tactic.

Let public opinion apply the pressure for her.

Elaine burst into my office. Her face was pale.

“You saw it?”

“I saw it.”

“What do we do?”

“We don’t respond.”

“Evelyn. Our investor group chat is on fire. They’re asking if this is going to affect the valuation.”

“Tell them the founder’s personal life has no bearing on company operations. If they want to pull funding over a gossip piece, they’re not the investors I want.”

“But-”

“Elaine.” I looked at her. “I stopped caring what people think a long time ago. Four years ago, I gave birth alone in another city. I went through postpartum recovery alone. I job-hunted. I built a company. I didn’t care them all. You think a gossip post is going to break me down now?”

Elaine took a breath and nodded.

“Fine. I’ll handle the investors.”

After she left, I made a call.

To Claire.

She picked up on the third ring.

“Ms. Sterling?”

“Claire. You planted that article.”

A two-second pause.

“I’m not sure what you’re referring to.”

“You’re not sure. Let me be clear. Using some gossips to try to break me down is cheap. But you

did accomplish one thing. You showed me exactly who you are.”

“Ms. Sterling, I think you’ve misunderstood.”

“I haven’t misunderstood anything. I’ll tell you one thing. Everything you’re doing right now, I’m keeping track. And when the time comes, I’ll return every bit of it.”

Thung up.

I opened my laptop and emailed my PR team.

[Subject: Crisis Response Plan-Level A.]

[Body: No response. No denial. No media interviews. Simultaneously initiate legal action. Cease-and-desist to the content creator.]

I would handle this.

Just not right now.