Chapter 2
I did not let anyone move the twins.
Not even Evan.
That hurt him.
Good.
Not punishment.
Reality.
I had just learned my husband did not know the full truth about me, while I had just learned his mother tried to redistribute our children like family property.
Trust was crowded.
Claire checked my incision while I watched everyone else.
Doreen remained seated under guard.
Callie cried quietly.
Evan stood near the window.
“Start with Sebastian.”
Callie looked at Doreen.
Her mother snapped:
“Don’t say another word.”
I almost smiled.
“Callie.”
She looked at me.
“When did Sebastian Vale first contact you?”
“Six months ago.”
My body went cold.
I had been pregnant six months ago.
Barely showing.
“What did he say?”
“He said he was your uncle.”
True.
“That your family was worried about the pregnancy.”
Possible.
“That you were under pressure.”
True.
Then:
“That two babies would complicate succession.”
There it was.
Evan looked at me.
“Succession?”
Doreen stared at him.
“You really knew nothing.”
He ignored her.
His eyes remained on me.
I would answer later.
First the threat.
“What exactly did Sebastian suggest?”
Callie started shaking.
“He said Vale tradition would never accept both children being raised inside a Hale household.”
Lie.
There was no such tradition.
“He said the boy would eventually become important.”
Closer.
“And?”
Callie closed her eyes.
“That if he were raised separately, things would be… cleaner.”
I looked toward Miles.
Hours old.
Already somebody’s political solution.
Doreen finally spoke.
“We were protecting him.”
I turned.
“From what?”
“From being raised by a woman who didn’t understand that world.”
Her mouth stopped.
She had forgotten who she was speaking to.
Good.
I waited.
Doreen corrected herself badly.
“We thought you were nobody.”
There.
Finally.
Not unstable.
Not overwhelmed.
Nobody.
I leaned back carefully against the hospital pillow.
“And because I was nobody, my son became available.”
She said nothing.
Evan’s face hardened.
“Mom.”
Doreen turned on him.
“You brought a night cleaner into this family, gave her children the Vale name, and expected us not to ask questions.”
I looked at Evan.
That part mattered.
Miles Vale.
Ivy Vale.
Not Hale.
My decision.
Evan had agreed.
Doreen had apparently never forgiven it.
Then Claire quietly picked up one torn half of the folder.
“There’s a second signature line.”
I looked at it.
Not mine.
May you like
Sebastian Vale.
My own uncle had prepared to witness the transfer.
