Chapter 5
The next morning, I was at the hospital at 6 a.m. to get tested for the transplant.
Evelyn and Liam came an hour later, Liam yawning, still half-asleep, his arm slung over his mom’s shoulders.
The nurses recognized me immediately—my company had donated $50 million to the children’s hospital wing two years earlier—but I told them to treat me like any other patient.
The tests took all morning.
Blood work, urine samples, a full physical, a dozen scans to make sure my kidneys were healthy enough to donate.
Liam sat next to me through all of it, making fun of how I flinched when the nurse took my blood.
“Tough billionaire can’t handle a little needle?” he teased, grinning that crooked grin of his.
I laughed, shoving his shoulder playfully.
“Watch it, kid. I’m still your dad. I can ground you.”
He laughed, loud and bright, and it was the best sound I’d ever heard.
By noon, we were back at the penthouse, waiting for the results.
We’d just sat down to eat lunch—Margaret had made Liam’s favorite, fried chicken and mashed potatoes, after Evelyn told her what he liked—when the front door slammed open.
Victoria stood in the doorway, her face bright red, her designer coat askew.
She’d dyed her hair blonde since the last time I’d seen her, six months earlier at my dad’s birthday dinner.
She looked older now, the lines around her eyes deeper, her smile tight and mean.
“Jonas!” she shrieked, storming into the living room. “What is the meaning of this? I got a call from my banker this morning saying all my accounts are frozen? My lawyer says you’re trying to take the house in the Hamptons and the condo in Aspen? Have you lost your mind?”
She stopped short when she saw Evelyn and Liam sitting at the dining table.
Her eyes narrowed.
“What is this trash doing in my house?” she sneered, pointing a perfectly manicured finger at Evelyn.
I stood up so fast my chair scraped the floor.
“This is not your house,” I said, my voice cold enough to freeze water. “And you will not speak to them that way. Ever.”
Victoria laughed, sharp and ugly.
“Oh, please,” she said, rolling her eyes. “I see you finally found the little whore who left you high and dry all those years ago. And what’s this? Her bastard kid? Did she come back to shake you down for money? I told you she was nothing but a gold digger—”
I crossed the room in two strides and grabbed her arm, hard, before she could say another word.
She gasped, trying to pull away, but I didn’t let go.
“You do not get to talk about them that way,” I said, my voice low and dangerous. “You do not get to talk about them at all. Because I know everything now, Victoria. I know you threatened her. I know you told her you’d plant drugs on me if she didn’t leave. I know you paid her to disappear. And I know you threatened to take her son away if she ever told me the truth.”
Victoria’s face went pale.
For half a second, I saw real fear in her eyes.
Then she recovered, her mask snapping back into place.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said, her voice shaking a little. “She’s lying. She’s just trying to get your money—”
“Liam is my son,” I cut her off, and I yelled it so loud the windows rattled. “He’s 17 years old. He needs a kidney transplant. And he’s dying because you spent 18 years making his mom too scared to come find me, too scared to ask for help. You almost killed my son because you were too much of a selfish, vain monster to let me be happy with someone who actually loved me.”
The fear in her eyes turned to shock.
She stared at Liam, really looked at him for the first time—at my eyes, my smile, my cowlick—and her mouth fell open.
“He’s… yours?” she whispered.
“Of course he’s mine,” I said, shoving her arm away from me like she was something dirty. “And if anything happens to him—if he doesn’t get that transplant, if he so much as catches a cold because of the stress you’ve caused— I will make sure you spend the rest of your life in prison for extortion, for harassment, for every single illegal thing you’ve ever done. Claire already has half the proof. She’ll have the rest by the end of the week.”
Victoria stumbled back, her hand pressed to her chest.
“I didn’t know,” she said, her voice small, all the arrogance gone. “I swear, Jonas, I didn’t know she was pregnant when I—”
“You didn’t care,” I said, and my voice was dead calm now, which was worse than yelling. “You didn’t care if you ruined my life. You didn’t care if you ruined hers. You only cared about yourself, about keeping up appearances, about making sure I married some rich girl you approved of so you could keep spending my family’s money. Well, it’s over. All of it. The houses, the cars, the credit cards, the monthly allowance. Gone. You get nothing. And if you ever come within 100 feet of me, of Evelyn, of Liam, ever again? I will have you arrested so fast your head will spin.”
I nodded at the two security guards who’d appeared in the doorway behind her.
“Escort her off the property,” I said. “And make sure she doesn’t come back.”
The guards grabbed her arms, gentle but firm.
She screamed, kicking and thrashing, calling me every name in the book, but they didn’t stop until they’d dragged her out the front door and into the elevator.
The doors slid shut, and the penthouse went quiet again.
I turned around, my heart still racing, to find Liam standing behind me, a small smile on his face.
“That was pretty cool, Dad,” he said.
Evelyn walked over to me, her arms wrapping around my waist, her face pressed into my chest.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
I held her tight, kissing the top of her head.
“Always,” I said.
My phone buzzed in my pocket.
It was the hospital.
I answered it, my free hand still wrapped around Evelyn.
“Mr. Hale?” the doctor said, his voice bright. “Great news. You’re a perfect match for Liam. We can do the transplant day after tomorrow.”
May you like
I looked at my son, at the hope in his eyes, at the woman I loved in my arms.
For the first time in 18 years, everything felt like it was going to be okay.
