“Not now, Bennett,” Adrian growled, burying his face in his hands.
“Yes, right now, Adrian,” the lawyer snapped, his professional patience finally breaking. “Mrs. Elena Bennett’s legal counsel possesses irrefutable, documented proof that restricted marital funds were aggressively diverted to purchase the West Side properties through dummy corporations. The forensic accountants are already moving. If you refuse to cooperate with me right now, this ceases to be a messy divorce and becomes a federal fraud indictment.”
Margaret stared down at her golden-boy son as if he had mutated into a monster right before her eyes. “Adrian… is that true? Did you steal from your own family trust?”
Adrian clenched his jaw, his silence an admission of supreme guilt.
From across the room, Chloe suddenly let out a sharp, hysterical laugh. “Look at that,” she wiped a smudge of mascara from her cheek. “Turns out, you’re a liar too.”
Adrian’s head snapped up, his eyes burning with venom. “You don’t get to speak. Ever again.”
“Yes, I do,” she fired back, stepping into the center of the room, her voice echoing off the vaulted ceiling. “Every single person in this room spent the last year pretending to be so morally superior! You used my youth to feel like a god again. Your mother used my stomach to show off a legacy trophy to her friends. Your sister used my presence to torture Elena for sport. And I used a desperate, stupid lie because I wanted to stay in a world I never belonged in.”
She looked at all three of them, shaking her head. “We all deserve exactly what we’re getting.”
For once, no one yelled. The truth was an impenetrable shield.
Dr. Reynolds appeared quietly in the doorway. “Mr. Castillo. Ms. Chloe. I am respectfully asking you to vacate the medical premises. Now.”
That was the exact moment that Margaret—the rigid, unforgiving matriarch who had never once offered me an apology or an ounce of grace—slowly lowered herself into the nearest chair. Her immaculate posture crumbled.
“My grandchildren…” she whispered, the reality finally piercing her armor. “Noah and Lily… they were my actual grandchildren.”
Adrian closed his eyes. There was no heir. There was no gleaming penthouse future. There was no triumphant victory over the nagging wife.
There was only the crushing, permanent absence of two beautiful children who were already halfway across the world.
Chapter 4: The Ascent
Seven hours later, as the massive plane sliced through the dark canopy of the night sky, Lily stirred in the seat beside me. She rubbed her eyes, peered out the small oval window at the blanket of stars, and then looked up at me.
“Mommy?” she mumbled sleepily. “Is Daddy coming on a different airplane later?”
The innocent question was a serrated knife dragging across my ribs.
I reached out, wrapping my hand tightly around her tiny, warm fingers. I swallowed the lump of grief in my throat. “I don’t know, sweetheart. But I promise you, no matter what happens, we are going to be completely okay.”
From the window seat, Noah, who I thought had been asleep for hours, quietly opened his dark eyes. He looked at me with a solemn seriousness that broke my heart.
“Mom,” he whispered. “Are we not going to hear the yelling in the house anymore?”
My heart shattered, but the pieces fell together in a completely different, stronger configuration. I leaned over, wrapping both of my arms fiercely around him, anchoring him to me.
“No, baby,” I promised, kissing his forehead. “The yelling is over. Not anymore.”
