Chapter 1 - THE FOUR WORDS THAT STOPPED HIS HEART
“Elena, I need to know.”
Alex’s voice barely survived the sentence.
Elena stood beneath the glass awning outside Little Nests headquarters while cold Boston rain tapped against the sidewalk.
She studied him for several seconds.
Six years ago, she would have filled the silence for him.
She would have explained.
Comforted.
Made his discomfort easier.
She did none of that now.
“You already know,” she said.
Alex swallowed. “I need to hear you say it.”
“Why?”
“Because those children—”
“Have your eyes?”
He went pale.
Elena folded her arms.
“Yes, Alex. Mateo, Lucas, Grace, and Sofia are your children.”
The traffic seemed to disappear.
“All four?”
“All four.”
Alex gripped the edge of a stone planter.
“You were pregnant when I left?”
“I found out three days before you walked into our apartment carrying that suitcase.”
His eyes closed.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“I planned to.”
“What happened?”
“You answered the question first.”
He looked at her.
Elena’s voice remained steady.
“I asked whether you wanted me if I couldn't give you children.”
Alex remembered his silence.
He hated himself for remembering it so clearly.
“I was scared.”
“So was I.”
“I made a mistake.”
“No. You made a choice.”
That landed harder.
Alex forced himself to ask, “Did you ever try to tell me afterward?”
Elena laughed once.
It contained no humor.
“Three letters. Two phone calls. One message through your law office.”
“I never received anything.”
This time Elena’s expression changed.
Not anger.
Confusion.
“I sent the first letter certified.”
“To where?”
“Your office.”
Alex immediately pulled out his phone.
Twenty minutes later, he was speaking with the records manager at the law firm where he had worked during the divorce.
She asked him to hold.
Then returned.
“Mr. Vance, this is unusual.”
“What?”
“We have an unopened personal envelope archived under your name.”
Alex stopped breathing.
“From Elena Rivas?”
“Yes.”
“Why was it never delivered?”
Keyboard clicks.
Then silence.
“The original intake log says someone collected it from reception.”
“Who?”
The woman hesitated.
“Beatrice Vance.”
Alex looked at Elena.
His mother.
Then the records manager added one more thing.
“There’s a note attached.”
Alex’s hand tightened around the phone.
“What does it say?”
She read it aloud.
“Mr. Vance does not wish to receive further communication from Ms. Rivas regarding the pregnancy.”
Elena’s face went white.
Alex whispered, “I never said that.”
May you like
She stared at him.
Because for six years, Elena had believed he had.
