Chapter 2 - The Fallout in the Library
Twenty minutes later, the grand estate was in chaotic motion. Guests were being ushered to their limousines by panicked event coordinators, while the media vans outside the gates were multiplying by the minute.
I sat in the mahogany-lined library of the Montgomery mansion. Leo, Liam, and Lucas were sitting quietly on a massive leather sofa, coloring in books my assistant had brought in her bag. They were remarkably resilient, used to travel and used to trusting me completely.
The heavy oak doors flew open, and Ethan walked in, followed closely by Eleanor.
"I want them out of this house immediately," Eleanor commanded, her voice vibrating with suppressed rage. "We have legal teams already drafting a non-disclosure agreement. Sophia, name your price. Ten million? Twenty? You will take the money, sign the custody waiver, and take these bastards back to whatever hole you crawled out of."
"Mother!" Ethan’s voice cut through the room like a whip. "If you speak about my children or Sophia like that again, I will personally strip your name from every foundation, every building, and every board in this country. Do you understand me?"
Eleanor drew herself up. "You wouldn't dare. Without my backing, the board of Montgomery Enterprises will oust you by Monday morning. The Hastings merger was your only play to secure the shipping empire."
"Let them try," Ethan said, his voice deadly quiet. He walked past her and stood in front of me. The man who had been a cold, distant stranger during the final months of our marriage looked completely broken open. "Sophia... please. Tell me everything. From the day you left."
I looked up at him. I had loved this man with every fiber of my being once, before his mother's poison and his own obsession with running his father's empire drove a wedge between us.
"The day after the divorce was finalized, I found out I was pregnant," I said softly, watching Eleanor out of the corner of my eye. "I was terrified, but I wanted to tell you. I came to the office, but your mother intercepted me in the lobby. She took me into a private room. She showed me photos of my apartment, photos of my estranged father's debt records. She told me that if I ever burdened you with a 'middle-class trap,' she would destroy my life and make sure I spent my youth in a federal prison for fraud she could easily frame me for."
Ethan’s fists clenched so hard his knuckles turned white. "Why didn't you call me? Why didn't you trust me to protect you?"
"Because you were busy being the perfect heir, Ethan!" I cried out, the suppressed pain of four lonely years finally breaking through my calm exterior. "You wouldn't even take my phone calls because you were in Tokyo securing the Honda contract! Your mother told me you knew about her threats and approved of them. She handed me a check for fifty thousand dollars and told me to disappear."
"I never saw a single check," Ethan whispered, turning his furious gaze to Eleanor. "And you told me she ran off with an art dealer in Europe. You gave me fake private investigator reports!"
Eleanor crossed her arms, her expression unbothered. "I did what was necessary for the lineage, Ethan. A schoolteacher's daughter from Ohio was never meant to be the matriarch of this family. Look at Caroline! She was perfect."
"Caroline is gone," Ethan said flatly. "And so are you. Get out of my sight, Mother. Before I forget that you gave birth to me."
Eleanor sneered, grabbing her Chanel handbag. "You think you've won, Sophia? You’ve just declared war on the entire establishment of Chicago. Let’s see how long your little empire lasts when I pull the plug." She slammed the door behind her.
Ethan sank into a chair opposite me, looking older than his thirty-two years. He looked at the triplets, who had stopped coloring to watch him.
"Can I... can I talk to them?" he asked, his voice shaking.
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"They know who you are, Ethan," I said gently. "I never lied to them about their father. I just told them you were fighting dragons far away."
Ethan buried his face in his hands, a single, heavy sob escaping his chest. Liam got up from the sofa, walked over, and placed a tiny hand on Ethan's knee. "Don't cry, Prince. We're here now."
