Chapter 2 - The Mother's Confession
The ride to the safehouse was completely silent.
I didn't take them to my primary penthouse. Coraline and my mother would be waiting there. Instead, I directed Wesley to a private estate I kept in upstate New York—a property registered under a dummy corporation. Nobody knew about it.
It was a fortress hidden in the woods.
When we arrived, the housekeeper, Mrs. Gable, immediately took charge. She drew a warm bath, found dry clothes, and prepared hot soup. I waited in the study, pacing the floorboards until I thought I would wear a hole through the wood.
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Mave standing in the rain with that cheap plastic folder.
Job applications.
The woman who had once been the center of my universe had been begging for minimum-wage work while I was trying on bespoke tuxedos.
The heavy mahogany door creaked open.
Mave stepped in. She was wearing one of my oversized gray sweaters, her blonde hair damp but clean, falling softly over her shoulders. She looked so small. So fragile. Yet, she possessed a quiet strength that I had clearly underestimated.
"Posie is asleep," she said softly.
"Is she warm enough?"
"Yes. Mrs. Gable gave her a heated blanket." Mave wrapped her arms around herself. "She's a good girl, Garrett. She rarely cries. She just... absorbs things."
I poured a glass of amber whiskey and offered it to her. She shook her head.
"Tell me," I said, my voice cracking. "Tell me everything."
Mave walked over to the fireplace, staring into the dancing flames. The light caught the deep shadows under her eyes.
"We were happy, Garrett. We were so happy in our little apartment before your family found out about us." She took a ragged breath. "Do you remember the day my father collapsed?"
I nodded slowly. "He had a severe heart attack. I was in London closing the Sterling deal. I took the first flight back, but by the time I landed, you were gone. The apartment was empty."
"I didn't pack," Mave whispered, a tear finally escaping her eye. "I was escorted out."
"By who?"
"By your mother's private security."
Mave turned to face me. The pain in her expression was raw and unfiltered. "While you were over the Atlantic, your mother, Eleanor, came to the hospital. My father was on life support. He needed a specialized surgery that my insurance wouldn't cover. Your mother bought the debt."
My chest tightened. "She what?"
"She bought the hospital debt. And then she gave me a choice." Mave's voice shook. "She handed me a cashier's check for one million dollars and a set of flight tickets. She told me that if I disappeared, she would pay for my father's surgery and ensure he had the best care for the rest of his life."
"And if you refused?"
"If I refused, she would have the hospital transfer him to a county facility. He would have died that night, Garrett. The doctors said so themselves."
I slammed my fist onto the mahogany desk. The crystal decanter rattled violently.
"She used a dying man to force you out?" I roared, blinded by rage.
"That wasn't all," Mave sobbed, wrapping her arms around her stomach as if protecting an old wound. "I was two months pregnant. I had just found out. I planned to tell you when you got back from London."
The breath was completely knocked out of my lungs.
"Eleanor knew," Mave continued, her tears flowing freely now. "She had a private investigator following me. She told me that if I stayed, she would tie me up in court until I went bankrupt. She said she would claim I was an unfit, gold-digging mother. She would take my baby, Garrett. She would take Posie, and I would never see her again."
I fell into the leather armchair, burying my face in my hands.
My own mother.
The woman who taught me how to read, who wiped my tears when my father died, had systematically destroyed the only woman I ever loved. She had robbed me of my child’s first steps, her first words, her first three years of life.
"Mave..." I choked out, looking up at her. "I didn't know. I swear to God, I didn't know."
"I know you didn't," she said softly, kneeling beside my chair. Her hand tentatively touched my knee. "But you're the heir to the Hail empire. You belong to a world that crushes people like me. I ran to save my father. I hid to save my daughter."
I reached out, pulling Mave into my chest. She collapsed against me, the dam finally breaking. She sobbed, gripping my shirt, releasing three years of terror, poverty, and loneliness.
I held her tight, resting my chin on her head.
"Your father?" I asked gently.
"He passed away six months ago," she whispered into my chest. "The surgery gave him two more years. But after he died, the money your mother gave me ran out. I couldn't find work. Blacklisted."
"My mother blacklisted you."
"Every time I applied somewhere, a background check flagged me as a liability. I was desperate, Garrett. I was on Fifth Avenue today to apply for a janitorial position at a hotel. I didn't even know it was your wedding day until the crowds formed."
Fate.
It was pure, undeniable fate.
May you like
I kissed the top of her head, my heart hardening into solid steel.
"You will never have to run again," I promised, my voice echoing in the quiet study. "I am going to tear my mother's empire down to the ground. And I am going to build a new one. For you. And for Posie."
