Chapter 6 - THE CHILD THEY CHOSE
Brooke started shaking her head.
“No.”
Victoria ignored her.
“Tell him.”
Brooke tightened her arms around Liam.
“Victoria, stop.”
Dominic stepped toward her.
“Tell me what?”
Liam looked frightened.
I hated every adult in that room for allowing him to hear any of this.
I walked toward Brooke.
“Take Liam upstairs.”
She glared at me.
“This has nothing to do with you.”
“It has everything to do with me.”
I lowered my voice.
“But it has nothing to do with him.”
Brooke looked down at her son.
For once, she listened.
She led Liam upstairs.
Dominic waited until we heard the bedroom door close.
Then he turned toward his mother.
“What did you mean?”
Victoria lifted her chin.
“You wanted a son you could shape.”
“I had a son.”
“You had Clara’s son.”
The sentence hit the room like broken glass.
Dominic stared.
I felt something inside me go very cold.
Victoria continued.
“Leo would always belong to her first.”
“He’s my child.”
“You say that now.”
She laughed bitterly.
“You weren’t saying it when he cried for her every night.”
Dominic’s face tightened.
“What does Brooke have to do with this?”
“I found her.”
Brooke had returned to the stairs.
She stopped halfway down.
Dominic looked at her.
“You what?”
Victoria smiled faintly.
“Brooke was smart.”
“She was ambitious.”
“She was exactly the kind of woman you should have married.”
I almost laughed.
Even now, Victoria had to make it about choosing her son’s wife.
Dominic stared at Brooke.
“You knew my mother before you worked for me?”
Brooke didn’t answer.
That was enough.
He stepped back.
“You lied.”
Brooke’s eyes flashed.
“You lied to Clara every day for two years.”
“I’m talking about us.”
“So am I.”
Victoria snapped.
“Stop acting shocked.”
Dominic turned toward her.
“You arranged this?”
“I introduced opportunities.”
“You hired her?”
“I recommended her.”
Dominic looked at me.
I could almost see the exact moment he realized he hadn’t been the brilliant seducer he thought he was.
He had been manipulated too.
That didn’t make him a victim.
It made him arrogant enough to be easy.
Victoria continued.
“Brooke already had Liam.”
“You were lonely.”
“Clara was gone.”
“And you wanted a family.”
Dominic stared.
“I had a family.”
Victoria’s expression softened in a way that made me sick.
“You had a wife who was richer than you.”
The truth finally crawled out.
Not love.
Not loyalty.
Power.
“You hated that.”
Dominic’s face reddened.
“That’s not true.”
“You hated introducing Clara as the founder.”
“I never—”
“You hated board members asking for her opinion after you spoke.”
“Stop.”
“You hated reporters calling you Clara Sterling’s husband.”
“Stop.”
Victoria’s voice rose.
“So I gave you something that could be yours.”
She gestured toward the stairs.
“Brooke admired you.”
“Liam adored you.”
“And Leo only wanted his mother.”
Dominic looked as though he might be sick.
I felt no sympathy.
He had made every choice that allowed Victoria’s plan to work.
Brooke came downstairs.
Her face was wet with tears now.
“Liam really does love you.”
Dominic laughed.
“Don’t.”
“I didn’t fake that.”
“You faked everything else?”
“I didn’t know what Victoria planned to do to Leo.”
I looked at her.
“That’s a lie.”
She turned toward me.
“You don’t know anything.”
“I know you laughed while my son crawled across the floor.”
Her face changed.
“That was one moment.”
“One moment tells me enough.”
“I never put him in that room.”
“Did you know about it?”
Silence.
“Brooke.”
She looked away.
“Yes.”
Dominic shut his eyes.
I stared at her.
“How long?”
“A few months.”
“How long?”
“Eight months.”
My heart pounded.
“You knew a three-year-old was being locked in a room.”
“I told Victoria it was too much.”
“Did you open the door?”
Brooke said nothing.
“Did you call me?”
“No.”
“Did you call anyone?”
“No.”
“Then you chose it.”
Brooke’s face twisted.
“You think everything was simple?”
“Yes.”
I stepped toward her.
“That part was.”
“A child was locked behind a door.”
“You open the door.”
“It was Victoria’s house.”
“No.”
I corrected her.
“It was mine.”
She flinched.
Detective Mercer arrived with two officers.
The room changed immediately.
Victoria stopped talking.
Brooke wiped her face.
Dominic moved away from everyone.
Mercer photographed the papers.
Then the detectives began separating us.
I gave a statement upstairs.
Dominic gave his outside.
Brooke asked for an attorney.
Victoria refused to say anything.
Forensic officers boxed everything.
One folder contained copies of emails supposedly sent by me.
They looked real.
Messages saying I didn’t want Leo interrupting calls.
Messages saying Dominic should stop sending videos because they made me distracted at work.
Messages saying I was considering boarding school when Leo was older.
I had never written any of them.
Evelyn leaned over my shoulder.
“They were planning to use these later.”
“For what?”
“Custody.”
“Divorce.”
“Company negotiations.”
“Maybe all three.”
Then an officer carried an old laptop upstairs.
“Found it in a locked cabinet.”
Evelyn looked at me.
“Whose?”
The officer turned it over.
A faded Sterling International inventory sticker was on the bottom.
My stomach dropped.
That laptop belonged to me.
I had used it before Singapore.
It contained years of old email archives.
Password templates.
Scanned signatures.
Enough material to imitate me.
I stared at Victoria.
She stared back.
Then she smiled.
A tiny smile.
As if she still knew something I didn’t.
I walked toward her.
“What?”
She remained silent.
“What are you smiling about?”
Detective Mercer stepped closer.
“Mrs. Sterling.”
I ignored him.
Victoria whispered.
“You think finding paperwork changes what people see.”
I stared.
“They already believe you abandoned him.”
“You made sure of that.”
“Yes.”
No hesitation.
No shame.
My hands curled.
“Why?”
“Because perception survives truth.”
She leaned closer.
“You can prove every signature is fake.”
“You can prove every photograph was staged.”
“You can prove every terrible little thing you want.”
Her eyes moved toward the window.
“But the world still knows you left.”
I swallowed.
She smiled again.
“And so does Leo.”
That one hit.
She knew it.
Her eyes brightened.
“You can take the company.”
“You can take the house.”
“You can destroy Dominic.”
“But every time your son wakes up crying because you weren’t there, you’ll know I didn’t invent that.”
I stood completely still.
Then I said the only thing that mattered.
“You’re right.”
Victoria’s smile faded.
“I left.”
I looked toward the hallway where Leo sat with Dr. Mason.
“I can’t change it.”
Victoria frowned.
“But unlike you, I’m not going to lie to him about what I did.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“I’m going to tell him I made a mistake.”
I stepped closer.
“And then I’m going to spend the rest of my life showing him I came back.”
The officers led Victoria outside.
Brooke followed with Liam.
Dominic stayed near the door.
He looked suddenly older.
“Clara.”
I turned.
“I didn’t know how far she went.”
“That sentence won’t save you.”
“I know.”
“I’m not sure you do.”
He looked toward Leo.
“Can I see him?”
“No.”
Pain crossed his face.
“You can request supervised contact through the court.”
“I’m his father.”
“And he’s terrified of you.”
“I never hit him.”
“That is a very low bar, Dominic.”
He looked down.
“I loved him.”
“Past tense?”
His eyes lifted quickly.
“I love him.”
“Then why did you let everyone make him feel unwanted?”
Dominic had no answer.
I walked away.
That evening, the forensic team unlocked my old laptop.
Most of the files were exactly what we expected.
Old contracts.
Email archives.
Tax records.
Scanned documents.
Then they found a hidden folder.
It had been created sixteen months earlier.
Inside were dozens of short videos.
The first showed Leo standing beside the kitchen table.
Victoria’s voice came from behind the camera.
“Ask again.”
Three-year-old Leo whispered.
“Can I sit?”
“No.”
“Why?”
Leo looked down.
“Because Mommy left me.”
The next video showed him crying beside the red room.
Another showed Brooke laughing as Victoria put a plate on the floor.
Another showed Dominic walking through the background without stopping.
My stomach turned.
Then Evelyn opened the final file.
It was different.
The camera angle was shaky.
Brooke appeared to be recording secretly.
Victoria stood in the kitchen.
Dominic stood across from her.
May you like
And my husband said something that erased his last excuse.
“If locking him in there stops the screaming, do whatever you have to do.”
