4. The Clean Break
The air in the study hardened as I slipped the check into my purse. Arthur looked stunned—he had clearly rehearsed his righteous fury, and I had stripped him of the performance.
Julian finally looked up from his phone. His brow creased, confusion flickering across his face—perhaps even the shadow of something darker—but it no longer mattered.
“I’ll be out in thirty minutes,” I said.
I went to the bedroom we had shared. I ignored the designer dresses and diamond jewelry Arthur had chosen to make me appear acceptable. Instead, I reached into the back of the closet and pulled out the scuffed suitcase I’d arrived with.
I shed the silk dress and pulled on my old jeans and a plain white T-shirt. When I zipped the suitcase shut, the pressure crushing my chest finally eased.
My phone buzzed. The family lawyer.
“Ms. Vance… the CEO wants confirmation that you’ve signed.”
“It’s done,” I said evenly. “Tell him he got what he paid for.”
I walked down the stairs. The living room was empty. No one bothered to watch me leave.
Perfect.
I called an Uber. I didn’t go to my parents—I couldn’t bear for them to see me like this. I checked into a hotel under my maiden name.
The next morning, I went to a clinic.
When the doctor handed me the ultrasound, time stopped.
“Congratulations, Ms. Vance. It’s quadruplets. Extremely rare, but all four heartbeats are strong.”
Four heartbeats.
I sat on a bench outside the hospital and finally cried—not from grief, but from something fierce and overwhelming. These children didn’t belong to the Sterlings.
They were mine.
I pulled out my phone and stared at the photo of the check. That money had been meant to purchase my silence.
Instead, it would finance my reckoning.
