The Baby Couldn’t Tie Him, The Lie Did Chapter 09

The Baby Couldn’t Tie Him, The Lie Did Chapter 09

After that, Julian never came again.

Ten months later, I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl.

I named her Charlotte Sterling. Lottie for short.

The first time my mother held her, tears streamed uncontrollably down her face.

“Lottie,” she whispered shakily. “Grandma’s sweet Lottie.”

I knew those tears weren’t just from happiness.

She was hurting for me.

Thankfully, Lottie didn’t look like Julian. At least not yet. She looked like me. She had my eyes, my features, even the same soft expression my mother had.

That was probably the best news I’d heard in ten months.

When Melanie came to visit me after the birth, she brought an entire luxury nursery set with

her.

She stood beside the crib for a long moment, staring down at the baby with a complicated

look in her eyes.

“She looks like you.”

I nodded. “Yeah.”

“That’s good,” she said quietly.

Then she reached into her designer bag and handed me a folder.

“The Vance family situation is basically settled.”

I opened it and flipped through the papers.

A stock transfer agreement.

Audrey’s mother had transferred thirty percent of her shares to Melanie.

I looked up in surprise. “She actually agreed to this?”

“She didn’t have a choice.” Melanie leaned casually against the window, her tone calm and

detached. “Audrey was never capable of carrying the family. The Vances needed someone

competent enough to hold everything together.”

She made it sound effortless, but after spending months with her, I knew exactly how much

she had endured to get here.

For years, she had swallowed every humiliation thrown at her. She played the obedient

illegitimate daughter in front of Audrey’s mother and pretended to be harmless around her

father’s other children.

Everyone thought she was weak. Useless. Forgettable.

Meanwhile, behind the scenes, she had been quietly gathering leverage, building connections,

and laying the groundwork for her takeover piece by piece.

She smiled faintly and changed the subject.

“You never ask about Julian. Aren’t you curious how he’s doing?”

I reached down and brushed a finger against Lottie’s tiny hand inside the blanket.

The truth was, I didn’t care anymore.

Still, I humored her.

“How’s he doing?”

“Julian lost his mind,” Melanie said bluntly. “He divorced Audrey. His father was furious

enough to threaten to disown him.”

I froze slightly. “And Audrey?”

“She still goes to see him every day.”

I frowned. “See him?”

Melanie nodded. “He’s being kept at the Everett estate. Audrey stays by his side constantly.”

I went quiet for a few seconds.

Then Melanie added casually, “Good thing two-thirds of the Vance family assets are under

my control now.”

She slid another document toward me.

A share transfer agreement.

I didn’t take it.

“This belongs to you,” she said. “It’s compensation from the Everett family.”

By the time Lottie turned two, I had completely absorbed the Everett Group’s overseas

operations into Sterling Group.

Occasionally, I still heard bits and pieces about Julian.

Apparently, his father had finally given up on him completely. Maybe he’d been too

disappointed. Maybe he simply stopped caring.

Either way, Julian had been officially removed from the Everett family.

At first, he survived off money from his mother and spent every night drunk in bars.

Later, he picked a fight with the wrong gang leader and ended up with a permanently crippled

leg.

After that, even his mother abandoned him.

As for Audrey, once Melanie got approval from Audrey’s mother, she arranged an excellent

political marriage for her.

Another contribution to the Vance family legacy.

I happened to be braiding Lottie’s hair when I heard the news.

She sat on a tiny stool swinging her legs back and forth, chewing on a cookie.

“Mommy,” she asked through a mouthful of crumbs, “what does crippled mean?”

My hands paused for a second.

“It means someone got hurt very badly,” I explained softly. “So walking became difficult.”

“Oh.”

She took another bite of her cookie.

“Does it hurt?”

I thought about it for a moment.

“Probably.”

Lottie lowered her head quietly.

After a while, she broke her cookie in half and handed me the bigger piece.

I stared at the slightly soggy cookie sitting in her tiny palm and suddenly laughed.

This child was softhearted just like my mother.

“Lottie.” I took the cookie and crouched down until I was eye level with her. “What if one day,

a man came looking for you and said he was your daddy? What would you do?”

Lottie tilted her head seriously and thought about it for a long time.

“Would he buy me cookies?”

I blinked. “What?”

“Grandma said people who love me buy me cookies,” she explained with complete sincerity.

“But even if he buys me cookies, I still don’t want him.”

Her little voice turned stubborn.

“I’m already two years old. He never came to see me. He never came to see Mommy either.

So I don’t want him.”

I couldn’t help laughing.

At least her logic was solid.

But as I laughed, tears suddenly slipped down my cheeks without warning.

Lottie panicked instantly.

She jumped off the stool and started wiping at my face with her tiny hands.

“Mommy, don’t cry. Lottie’s here with you…”

I pulled her into my arms and buried my face against her tiny shoulder.

“Mommy’s not crying,” I whispered. “Mommy’s just happy.”

She sounded confused.

“Why do happy people cry?”

I held her tighter.

“Because Mommy has Lottie.”

She clearly didn’t understand what that meant, but she still obediently stayed in my arms,

patting my back gently like she was comforting a child.

Warm sunlight streamed through the windows and wrapped around us.

I suddenly remembered what Melanie had asked me two years ago.

Did I hate Julian?

When I told her no, she hadn’t believed me.

But I had been telling the truth.

Hatred was exhausting.

Now I had Lottie. I had my mother. I had an entire Sterling Group to run.

I had no time left to hate a man who no longer had anything to do with my life.

Julian chose his path.

And I chose mine.

Lottie eventually fell asleep in my arms, breathing softly against my chest.

I carried her to bed, tucked the blanket around her carefully, and kissed her forehead.

“Goodnight, Lottie.”

She rolled over sleepily and mumbled something I couldn’t quite make out.

But I thought I heard her call for Mommy.

I smiled softly and turned off the lights.

Right before I closed the door, I looked back one last time.

Moonlight spilled through the gap in the curtains and fell gently across her little face.

She looked peaceful.

Safe.

Loved.

And that was enough.