Chapter 3 - The Billionaire’s AwakeningOn the street, the cold morning air felt like ice water splashed across Richard Hawthorne’s face.
He stared at his bleeding sons. He stared at their torn clothes. And then, slowly, agonizingly, his gaze shifted up to meet the eyes of the woman he had humiliated and thrown out less than ten minutes ago.
Emily’s eyes weren't filled with anger. They were filled with profound, heartbreaking disappointment.
"You..." Richard choked out, his throat tightening. He looked back at Noah’s bleeding arm, then down at the bright yellow cleaning gloves still clumsily dangling from Emily’s wrists. "Victoria told me... she said you pushed her, that you stole her Rolex, that the boys were safe inside their playroom..."
"You didn't ask," Emily said quietly, her voice cutting through the hum of city traffic with terrifying clarity. "You never asked me a single question, Mr. Hawthorne. You just wanted a convenient excuse to sweep the messy parts of your life under the rug, so your socialite fiancée could step in and play the perfect mother."
Richard flinched as if he had been physically struck.
"Daddy, she’s a monster!" Liam cried out again, clutching Emily tighter. "She took our toys and threw them in the trash! She said when she marries you, we’re going away forever!"
The words echoed in Richard’s ears like a death knell.
“When she marries you, we’re going away forever.”
A terrifying memory flashed through his mind. Three days ago, when he mentioned extending Emily’s contract, Victoria had reacted with sudden, venomous fury: “Those boys need discipline, Richard. They need a mother with high society standards, not a glorified maid who coddles them.”
At the time, he had dismissed it as wedding-planning stress.
Now, looking at his bleeding children clinging to a fired housekeeper for dear life, Richard felt the icy grip of reality close around his heart.
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He had invited a viper into his home, and he had thrown away the only shield protecting his flesh and blood.
"Emily..." Richard whispered, dropping heavily to his knees on the dirty asphalt, completely ignoring the expensive fabric of his trousers. "Please... help me. Please don't leave them."
