Chapter 4
I held my son for a long time.
He was lanky, all arms and legs, but his shoulders were already broad, strong from a year of lifting heavy trays at the diner and working on bikes in his spare time.
He smelled like fryer grease and cheap laundry detergent, and it was the best thing I’d ever smelled.
When we finally pulled apart, Evelyn was watching us, her hand over her mouth, crying so hard she could barely breathe.
I walked over to her and knelt down in front of the couch, so I was eye level with her.
“I’m so sorry,” I said, reaching out to brush a strand of hair off her face. She flinched a little at first, then leaned into my touch. “I’m sorry I hated you all those years. I’m sorry I never looked harder. I should have known you’d never leave me for no reason.”
She shook her head, her fingers curling around my wrist.
“It’s not your fault,” she whispered. “She was good at what she did. She made sure no one would talk.”
I stood up, my mind already racing.
“Okay,” I said, clapping my hands together once, the way I did when I was about to close a big deal. “Here’s what’s happening now. First—you two are not going back to that tiny apartment you’re living in. You’re moving in here. Today. Margaret will get the guest suite ready for you, and we’ll turn the whole third floor into whatever Liam wants. A workshop for his bikes, a gaming room, whatever.”
Liam’s eyes went wide.
“Wait, we can’t just—”
“You can,” I cut him off, firm. “This is your home now. Both of you. No more running. No more hiding. No more working three jobs just to pay rent. You never have to be scared of Victoria again. I have more money than I’ll ever spend, and the best lawyers in the state. She can’t touch any of us now.”
Evelyn opened her mouth to argue, then closed it again.
She looked at Liam, at the dark circles under his eyes from months of dialysis, at the way he was leaning against the couch like even standing up was tiring him out.
She nodded, slow.
“Okay,” she said, quiet. “Okay.”
“Good,” I said. “Second—Liam’s kidney transplant. I’m calling the best transplant team in the Pacific Northwest right now. We’re getting you in today. No more waiting lists. No more worrying about if you’ll find a match in time.”
Liam started to say something, but I held up a hand.
“And before you argue—I’m getting tested first thing tomorrow morning. If I’m a match, I’m donating. End of discussion.”
Evelyn stood up so fast she almost stumbled.
“Jonas, no,” she said, grabbing my arm. “You can’t do that. You run a billion-dollar company. You have responsibilities—”
“My only responsibility right now is my son,” I said, and my voice left no room for argument. “Nothing else matters. Not the company, not the deals, not anything. If I can give him a kidney so he can stop being tired all the time, so he can go to college, so he can live a normal life? I’m doing it. No arguments.”
She stared at me for a long second, then nodded, fresh tears spilling over.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “Thank you.”
I pulled out my phone and called my head of security first.
“Tom,” I said the second he picked up. “I need two men at the penthouse 24/7 starting now. No one gets in unless I say so. Especially not Victoria Hale. If she shows up, you escort her off the property immediately. Call the police if she causes a scene.”
“Got it, boss,” Tom said, no questions asked. He’d worked for me for 10 years. He knew better than to ask.
Next, I called my lawyer, Claire.
She’d been with me since the early days, when I was running the company out of my garage.
“Claire,” I said, pacing the length of the living room. “I need you to dig up everything you can on Victoria Hale. Every bank record, every property, every transaction she’s made in the last 20 years. I want to know exactly how much money she’s taken from my family’s accounts since my dad died. And I want proof of every threat she made against Evelyn Carter back in 2008. Talk to everyone who was in town back then. Leave no stone unturned.”
Claire paused on the other end of the line.
“Jonas, what’s going on?” she asked, sharp. “You never go after Victoria unless it’s serious.”
“It’s life or death serious,” I said, glancing at Liam, who was now sitting on the couch, his head resting on his mom’s shoulder, his eyes closed. “She almost killed my son.”
Claire was quiet for half a second.
“On it,” she said. “I’ll have a team on it in 10 minutes. Call me if you need anything else.”
I hung up and turned back to them.
Liam was asleep now, his breathing slow and even, his face still pale.
Evelyn was running her fingers through his hair, her face soft, all the fear gone for just a second.
“He gets so tired these days,” she said, quiet, without looking up at me. “The dialysis drains him. He still works his shift at the diner after, though. Says he has to help pay the bills.”
My chest ached.
This kid.
My kid.
He’d been working since he was 14, helping his mom, never asking for anything, never complaining.
And I’d missed all of it.
Missed his first steps, his first day of school, his first broken bone, his first heartbreak.
All because Victoria had been scared I’d “throw my life away” on the woman I loved and the son we’d made together.
I knelt down next to the couch, so I was eye level with Evelyn again.
“I’m going to make this right,” I said, soft, so I wouldn’t wake Liam. “I’m going to make sure Victoria pays for everything she did to you. To both of you. And I’m going to spend the rest of my life making up for all the time I lost with you two. I promise.”
She looked at me, her eyes glistening in the soft light of the penthouse.
“I never stopped loving you,” she whispered, so quiet I almost didn’t hear it.
May you like
I reached out, brushing my thumb across her cheek, wiping away a tear.
“I never stopped loving you either,” I said. “Even when I hated you. Even when I tried to forget you. You were always the only one.”
