His Secret Son, Her Stolen Fortune

king for my mother' s old earrings in the safe when my fingers

asn't me, his wife of seven years. It was a five-year-old boy named Leo Herrera, and his leg

hone slipped from my hand. A cold numbness spread through me. Seven years. I had spent seven years ju

ass doors, I saw them: Aiden, bouncing Leo on his knee, Haven beside him, her head resting on his shoulder.

o Leo' s trust is complete," his father said, rai

"Charlotte's family money should have a

re the future of his betrayal. They had all known. They had all conspired. His rage, his para

we had shared for seven years, and locked the door. I looked at my reflection, at the

red to the empty room. "I

pte

her' s old earrings in the safe, the ones he insisted on keeping for "protecti

the label read. I opened it. The legal language was dense, but the names

of seven years. It was a five-year-old boy named Leo Herrera. And his

ed siste

It didn't make sense. I called our

fy a trust do

er. It was real. Ironclad.

me, starting from my chest and reaching the tips of my fingers.

ickness festering in his mind. Intermittent Explosive Disorder, the doctors called it. IED.

g-any of it could set him off. He never hit my face. He was too smart for that. He would grab my arms, his fingers digging into my skin, leav

d my head by inches and shattered against the wall. A shard of glass ricoch

tructive guilt. He would see the terror in my eyes, the cut on my arm, and his face would cru

Lottie. I'm sorr

lt his agony as if it were mine. He was sick, not evil. He loved me

is calls, managed his schedule, and learned to read the subtle shifts in his mood like a sailor

s paranoia grew. The explosions became more freq

r invitation he thought I accepted just to defy him, he locked himself in the bathroom. I

membered our childhood. We grew up next door to each other. He was always the intense, quiet boy who watched over me. H

acked down a boy who asked me to the prom and threatened him so badly the boy moved scho

was a sun that was either warming me or burning me alive. But I believed, I truly believed, th

ught of him suffering alone was worse. I co

p them away from me. He would get therapy. And the most important rule, the one I made him swear on his life: No matter what, no

begged, he tried to manipulate me. B

hought we had found a way to survive. I thought his love for me was, in its own broken way, abso

one promise that held our fragile worl

years ago. Haven, who I had donated a kidney to when hers faile

blank, and walked through the cold, silent mansion. My feet carried me,

all. It was coming from the sunroom. I crept closer,

bouncing the little boy on his knee. Haven was beside him, her head resting on Aiden' s shoul

a perfec

the door, my breath

o Leo' s trust is complete," his father said, rai

"Charlotte's family money should have a

secret son. My own money, used to secure the future of

ndful of chocolate cake all over the f

a classic trigger. An unexpected mess. A disru

, a low, gentle sound. He took a napkin and carefully, tenderly,

r, aren't you?" he murmured,

ever could. His rage, his paranoia, his sickness-it wasn't fo

s your son, through and through. Thank God Haven had the s

he child. "The trust is set. He's

an I had spent years trying to save, the man I thou

e. I ran. I ran back to our bedroom, the one we

ring back at me. Her face was pale, her eyes hollow. I turned on the faucet and scrubbed my hands, t

. Everythin

of the woman I used to be. A quiet vow

red to the empty room. "I