Chapter 5 - THE PERFECT MOTHER
By that evening, my face was everywhere.
Business sites.
Local television.
Parenting forums.
Social media pages run by people who had never met me.
The story was simple.
Clara Sterling abandoned her toddler to build an empire overseas.
Clara Sterling suddenly returned when her marriage failed.
Clara Sterling was now exploiting her “emotionally troubled” son to seize corporate control from his devoted father.
The lie was good.
That was what scared me.
Good lies rarely invent everything.
They take one piece of truth and wrap it around poison.
I had left.
I had missed birthdays.
I had chosen to remain in Singapore every time Dominic told me Leo was thriving.
Those facts were real.
That made the rest easier to sell.
At 6:20 p.m., Evelyn found the source.
“Brooke.”
I wasn’t surprised.
“She gave an interview?”
“Through a public relations firm.”
“What firm?”
Evelyn hesitated.
“North & West.”
I knew the name.
“So Dominic paid them.”
“It appears so.”
I called Dominic immediately.
He answered.
“I didn’t authorize this.”
“You hired North & West.”
“For corporate work.”
“They’re representing Brooke.”
Silence.
“Dominic.”
“I didn’t know.”
I believed him again.
That bothered me.
Not because I wanted him to be guilty of everything.
Because it meant someone else had been making moves without him.
“Where is Brooke?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where is Liam?”
“With her.”
“Where is Victoria?”
Another pause.
“I don’t know.”
I closed my eyes.
All three had left the house after investigators arrived.
Dominic claimed he had gone straight to a hotel.
Brooke had vanished with Liam.
Victoria wasn’t answering anyone.
“Find your mother.”
“I’m not your employee.”
“Then find her as Leo’s father.”
That shut him up.
“Why?”
“Because whoever leaked that story also filed a complaint accusing me of hurting Leo.”
He went silent.
“What?”
“You didn’t know?”
“No.”
I listened closely.
His shock sounded real.
“Then somebody is trying to make sure neither of us controls the narrative.”
“Brooke.”
“Maybe.”
“Who else?”
I thought of Victoria.
Then of the forged custody documents.
Then Cedar Grove.
“Find your mother.”
This time Dominic answered quietly.
“I will.”
The next morning, I met with the child services investigator.
Her name was Hannah Ortiz.
She didn’t care that I owned a company.
She didn’t care what the newspapers said.
She didn’t care that Evelyn was sitting beside me.
I liked her immediately.
“Why did you go to Singapore?”
“To expand the business.”
“For how long?”
“Originally eight months.”
“But you stayed two years.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
I looked down.
“Because Dominic kept telling me everything was fine.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
She was right.
I swallowed.
“I stayed because the company needed me.”
“And you chose the company.”
“Yes.”
Saying it hurt.
But I wouldn’t lie.
Hannah studied me.
“When did you last see Leo in person before returning?”
“Seven months ago.”
“Only once during two years?”
“No.”
“I visited four times.”
“How long?”
“Three days.”
“Five days.”
“Four days.”
“Then two.”
“Where did you see him?”
“Hotels.”
Hannah’s pen stopped.
“Why hotels?”
I frowned.
“Dominic said traveling to the house disrupted Leo’s schedule.”
Evelyn and I looked at each other.
Hannah noticed.
“When did you last enter the family home before yesterday?”
I thought about it.
“Twenty-two months ago.”
The answer sounded insane even to me.
Dominic had arranged every visit away from the house.
Sometimes he claimed the plumbing was being repaired.
Once he said Victoria had influenza.
Another time he said Leo had become anxious around changes and should meet me somewhere neutral.
I had believed him.
Because I wanted to.
Because believing him allowed me to keep working.
Hannah leaned back.
“You need to understand something.”
“I do.”
“No.”
Her voice wasn’t cruel.
“You understand that they deceived you.”
“Yes.”
“You also need to understand why people will ask how it worked for so long.”
That one landed.
I looked through the glass wall at Leo.
He was stacking toy cars with Dr. Mason.
“I was easier to deceive because I wanted the arrangement to work.”
Hannah nodded slightly.
“That sounds closer to the truth.”
I looked at her.
“I failed him.”
She didn’t tell me I hadn’t.
I respected her for that.
Instead, she said something harder.
“What matters now is what you do with that.”
The complaint against me fell apart quickly.
The person who called had claimed I slapped Leo in a hotel lobby during one of my visits.
The hotel security footage still existed.
It showed Leo running into my arms.
It showed me carrying him around the lobby while he laughed.
It showed Dominic watching from a distance.
It showed no violence.
But the investigators still wanted to know who made the report.
The call had been anonymous.
The number was disguised.
The language used, however, matched phrases in one of Leo’s Cedar Grove files.
“Maternal instability.”
“Disruptive reunification.”
“High-risk attachment.”
Dr. Mason read the report and frowned.
“These aren’t normal observations.”
“What do you mean?”
“They sound manufactured.”
“For custody?”
“Possibly.”
She flipped pages.
“Look here.”
I read.
PATIENT DISPLAYS HEIGHTENED DISTRESS AFTER CONTACT WITH ABSENT MOTHER.
My hands went cold.
The date was seven months earlier.
The same week I had visited.
I remembered that trip.
Leo had cried when I left the hotel.
He chased me toward the elevator.
Dominic picked him up.
I had cried all the way to the airport.
The report transformed that into proof that seeing me harmed him.
“They were building a case.”
Evelyn nodded.
“Slowly.”
“Why?”
“To make your absence legally useful.”
My phone rang.
Dominic.
I nearly ignored it.
Then answered.
“Did you find Victoria?”
His breathing was heavy.
“Yes.”
“Where is she?”
“At my house.”
I frowned.
“You mean the mansion?”
“No.”
“My old lake property.”
I remembered it.
A vacation house he had inherited from his father.
“What is she doing there?”
“I don’t know.”
“Ask her.”
“She won’t answer me.”
“Then why did you call?”
Dominic was silent for several seconds.
Then he said something I didn’t expect.
“Because I found Brooke’s car outside.”
I stood.
“With Victoria?”
“Yes.”
“Where’s Liam?”
“I don’t know.”
“Dominic.”
“I’m going inside.”
“Don’t.”
“What?”
“If they’re hiding documents, evidence, anything connected to Leo, don’t walk in and start screaming.”
“She’s my mother.”
“And Brooke is your mistress.”
His voice tightened.
“Clara.”
“Neither of those facts has helped your judgment so far.”
He breathed out slowly.
“Fine.”
“Send me the address.”
“You know the address.”
“Send it anyway.”
Evelyn was already standing.
We called Detective Mercer.
He told us not to enter until officers arrived.
Dominic ignored him.
By the time we reached the lake house, the front door was open.
Dominic’s car sat sideways in the driveway.
Brooke’s car was parked behind it.
Victoria’s sedan was near the garage.
I ran inside.
“Dominic?”
No answer.
The living room was empty.
A lamp had been knocked over.
Then I heard shouting downstairs.
We followed it.
The basement door stood open.
Dominic was near an old desk.
Victoria was screaming at him.
Brooke stood in the corner holding Liam.
Papers covered the floor.
“What the hell is this?”
Dominic shouted.
Victoria looked at me.
Her face changed.
Brooke tightened her grip around Liam.
I looked down.
Photographs.
Medical records.
Printed emails.
Copies of my travel schedule.
Every visit I had made to Chicago.
Every time I called the house.
Every gift I sent Leo.
All catalogued.
Organized.
Tracked.
Evelyn picked up one page.
Her face hardened.
“Clara.”
I took it.
It was a timeline.
At the top, someone had written:
OBJECTIVE: ESTABLISH VOLUNTARY MATERNAL ABANDONMENT.
My stomach turned.
Below it were dates.
Missed school events.
Missed medical appointments.
Missed holidays.
Each one marked with a check.
Then I saw a note in Victoria’s handwriting.
KEEP HER IN SINGAPORE UNTIL LEO STOPS ASKING FOR HER.
I looked at Victoria.
She didn’t deny it.
Dominic looked shattered.
“Mom.”
His voice barely worked.
“What did you do?”
Victoria straightened.
“What you were too weak to do.”
Dominic stared.
She pointed at me.
“She was going to take everything.”
I felt cold.
“The company?”
“The family.”
Her voice cracked.
“You let her become more powerful than you.”
Dominic stepped back.
“You did this because of the company?”
Victoria laughed.
“You still don’t understand.”
She looked at Brooke.
Then at Liam.
And finally back at me.
“Leo was never supposed to be the child who inherited Sterling.”
Brooke whispered.
“Victoria.”
“Shut up.”
Brooke went pale.
Victoria pointed toward Liam.
“That boy was.”
The room went silent.
Dominic stared at Brooke.
Then at Liam.
“Mom.”
His voice changed.
“What are you talking about?”
Victoria looked at her son.
May you like
And smiled.
“I’m talking about why Brooke was hired in the first place.”
