Chapter 12 - THE BABY SLOANE ACTUALLY WANTED
The third embryo belonged to Sloane.
Not genetically.
Emotionally.
The fertility records revealed something nobody expected.
The third embryo had been created from Sloane’s own frozen egg and sperm from an unknown donor.
She had inserted her own biological child into Anna’s pregnancy without Charles’s knowledge.
“Why?” Julian asked.
Elise answered.
“Insurance.”
Sloane had planned for three possible futures.
Claim Julian’s biological baby if he survived.
Use Gabriel’s baby to control the trust.
And if everything collapsed, take her own child and disappear.
For all her manipulation, she had wanted one thing that was actually hers.
A baby.
That did not excuse anything.
But it explained the grief.
I visited Sloane once before trial.
She sat behind reinforced glass.
“You came to gloat.”
“No.”
“Then why?”
“I wanted to understand.”
She laughed.
“Why?”
“Because I almost pitied you.”
Her expression hardened.
“Don’t.”
“I don’t anymore.”
Silence.
I continued.
“You could have had a life.”
“With what?”
“With yourself.”
She looked away.
“Charles raised me to believe revenge was the only thing keeping my father alive.”
“And it destroyed you.”
“No.”
She looked at me.
“It made me useful.”
I thought of my mother’s letter.
Charles had tried to make me useful too.
That was the difference between us.
Someone had protected me long enough to make choices.
Sloane had been trained out of hers.
“I’m sorry for what happened to you,” I said.
She stared.
“But I’m not sorry you were stopped.”
I left.
Julian was waiting outside.
“You okay?”
“Yes.”
He nodded.
Then handed me coffee.
“Why are you being nice?”
He looked offended.
“I am occasionally nice.”
“To hotel staff, yes.”
“You’re not hotel staff anymore.”
I frowned.
“I didn’t quit.”
“You cannot go back after someone burned the personnel archive trying to abduct you.”
“That sounds like a management problem.”
He smiled.
Then his expression softened.
“Tess.”
“What?”
“Stay.”
My heartbeat changed.
“At the hotel?”
“With me.”
Silence.
He immediately corrected himself.
“Not like that.”
I raised an eyebrow.
“That helped.”
“I mean… stay somewhere protected until the trials are over.”
“Oh.”
A strange disappointment moved through me.
He noticed.
I hated that.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing.”
“Julian.”
His eyes held mine.
“I’m trying very hard not to make your life more complicated.”
“You’re failing.”
“I know.”
We stood in the courthouse hallway.
For five months, I had been the maid who poured his coffee.
Now I knew his dead wife.
His secret child.
His uncle.
His crimes.
His grief.
And he knew more about my family than I did.
“Do you like me?” I asked.
Julian actually looked startled.
“That is a dangerous question.”
“Answer it.”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
He exhaled.
“Enough that I’m trying not to touch you.”
My face warmed.
“That much?”
“Yes.”
I stepped closer.
“Maybe I don’t want you to try so hard.”
His eyes darkened.
“Tess.”
Before either of us moved, Mateo appeared.
“Boss.”
Julian closed his eyes.
“Your timing is terrible.”
Mateo ignored that.
“Charles is talking.”
Julian straightened.
“What did he say?”
“He wants immunity.”
“Impossible.”
“In exchange for the location of the Black Ledger master file.”
Elise had believed it destroyed.
Apparently not.
“Where is it?”
Mateo looked at me.
“Under Kathleen Callahan’s name.”
My mother.
Again.
May you like
Then he added:
“And Charles claims the file proves Kathleen didn’t die in the accident you were told about.”
