Chapter 2 - The Family Folder
"You decided?" I yelled, the shock instantly morphing into blinding rage.
My mother crossed her arms, standing tall in her silk robe.
"Keep your voice down, Lucas. Charlotte is still sleeping upstairs."
"I don't care who is sleeping!" I fired back. "You hid my child from me for five years?"
Aunt Laura quietly began picking up the shattered pieces of my coffee cup.
"I did what I had to do to protect your future," my mother said coldly.
"Protect me? From my own flesh and blood?"
"From a woman who wanted to trap you!" she snapped. "You two were divorced. The papers were signed. You had a fresh start in Canada waiting for you."
"So you just sent her away into the rain?" I asked, disgusted.
"I gave her a choice," my mother stated.
I froze.
"What choice?"
My mother sighed, walking over to the large mahogany desk in the corner of the room.
She unlocked the bottom drawer and pulled out a thick, leather-bound family folder.
She tossed it onto the glass coffee table.
"I offered her financial support. A very generous settlement to walk away and raise the child quietly."
I stared at the folder, my stomach churning.
"Did she take it?" I asked, terrified of the answer.
"No," my mother sneered. "She threw the check in my face and said she only wanted to speak to you."
"And you didn't let her."
"I told her you had already left for the airport. I told her you knew about the baby and wanted nothing to do with it."
The air left my lungs.
I stumbled backward, hitting the edge of the sofa.
"You told her... that I abandoned them?"
Aunt Laura stood up, placing the broken ceramic shards on the table.
"Eleanor, you went too far," Laura said softly. "I told you that day, you went too far."
"I saved this family's reputation!" my mother roared.
Just then, footsteps echoed on the stairs.
Charlotte appeared in the doorway, wearing her silk pajamas, looking panicked.
"What's going on? I heard yelling," she said.
I looked at my fiancée.
I remembered Camilla's eyes at the airport. The look of recognizing someone she already knew.
"Charlotte," I said slowly. "Did you know about this?"
Charlotte swallowed hard, avoiding my gaze.
"Know about what?" she stammered.
"Don't play dumb. Did you know Camilla had a child?"
Charlotte looked at my mother for help, but my mother was staring out the window.
"Lucas... your mother mentioned it a few years ago. But she said it wasn't yours."
"She said it wasn't mine?" I laughed, a bitter, hollow sound. "And you believed that?"
"Why would I question your mother?" Charlotte cried. "We were starting our life together!"
I grabbed the leather folder off the table.
"I am going to find her," I said, heading for the door.
"Lucas, stop!" my mother commanded. "If you walk out that door, you are throwing away everything we've built."
May you like
I didn't even turn around.
"You already destroyed it, Mom. You just delayed the explosion."
