Chapter 2 - THE QUESTION SARAH HAD FEARED FOR FIVE YEARS
Julian ordered the music stopped.
Then he told security to clear the ballroom.
Victoria immediately protested.
“This is my engagement gala too!”
“Not anymore.”
The words hit harder than shouting could have.
Victoria stared at him.
“You cannot possibly be serious.”
Julian did not answer.
He turned toward Sarah.
“Come with me.”
Sarah tightened her grip around Leo.
“No.”
Julian stopped.
“I’m not trying to hurt you.”
“I don’t know that.”
Sarah had imagined seeing Julian again thousands of times.
In every version, she had been stronger.
Calmer.
Prepared.
She had never imagined standing before him in a maid uniform while their son held her hand.
Their son.
Even thinking the words frightened her.
Julian lowered his voice.
“Sarah, please.”
“I need to understand what Leo just said.”
Victoria laughed sharply.
“You are actually listening to this?”
“She probably trained the boy to say it.”
Leo hid behind Sarah.
Julian turned toward Victoria.
“Leave.”
Victoria stared at him in disbelief.
“This is my family’s house.”
“No.”
Julian’s voice was cold.
“It belongs to Vance International.”
“And after what I just watched you do, you are fortunate I’m allowing you to walk out of it.”
Security approached.
Victoria looked toward the guests still lingering near the doors.
Humiliation twisted across her face.
Then she pointed at Sarah.
“This woman planned this.”
“You are going to regret believing her.”
Sarah said nothing.
Victoria left.
Julian brought Sarah and Leo into his private study.
Leo immediately noticed the enormous model train on a shelf.
“Wow.”
Julian almost smiled.
“My grandfather gave me that when I was five.”
Sarah flinched.
Leo loved trains.
He always had.
Julian noticed.
“Sarah.”
She looked at him.
“How old is he?”
“Four.”
“When is his birthday?”
Sarah hesitated.
“November seventeenth.”
Julian went completely still.
He calculated instantly.
Five years earlier, he and Sarah had spent six months together while Julian was overseeing the opening of Vance Chicago.
They had separated in February.
Not because they wanted to.
Because Sarah disappeared.
At least that was what Julian had believed.
“You were pregnant.”
It was not a question.
Sarah looked away.
“Yes.”
Julian stood.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Sarah stared at him.
Then she laughed.
There was no humor in it.
“I did.”
Julian’s expression changed.
“No, you didn’t.”
“I wrote you.”
“I called your office.”
“I came to the hotel three times.”
“I even mailed the ultrasound photograph.”
Julian shook his head.
“I never received anything.”
Sarah’s eyes hardened.
“Yes, you did.”
“No.”
“You answered me.”
Julian stopped.
Sarah opened her handbag.
Inside was an old envelope she had carried for years.
She removed a folded letter.
The paper was worn along the creases.
She placed it on his desk.
Julian recognized the letterhead.
Vance International.
Sarah’s voice shook.
“You told me the baby would destroy your future.”
Julian stared at her.
“You told me never to contact you again.”
He unfolded the paper.
His own signature sat at the bottom.
But Julian knew immediately.
“I didn’t write this.”
Sarah’s eyes filled.
“Then who did?”
Julian kept reading.
Then something on the second page made his face change.
A payment authorization.
Fifty thousand dollars.
Sarah whispered.
“I never cashed it.”
Julian looked up.
“Why?”
“Because I didn’t want your money.”
Julian stared at the account number printed at the bottom.
It was not a Vance corporate account.
But he recognized the banking code.
Sterling Family Office.
And suddenly Julian understood that Victoria’s terror downstairs had not begun when Leo called Sarah Mommy.
May you like
It had begun when Victoria saw the silver train around Leo’s neck.
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