Chapter 2 - The Ghost in the Rain
I tore through the service corridor, throwing heavy metal doors open and ignoring the panicked calls of my personal assistants trailing behind me. I erupted into the alleyway behind the St. Regis Hotel just as torrential rain began to pour over Chicago.
Fifty yards ahead, Claire was trying to hail a taxi under the dim streetlights, holding her arms over the three boys to shield them from the downpour.
"Claire!" I yelled, throwing off my tuxedo jacket as I sprinted through the rain.
She turned, panic etched into every line of her face. "Ethan, stay back! Please, just leave us alone! Haven't you taken enough from me?"
"I didn't take anything!" I roared, stopping just feet away from her. The rain soaked through my white shirt, but I barely felt the cold. "I came back to that apartment nine years ago ready to burn my family's empire to the ground for you! You were gone! You signed the papers! You refused every single cent I offered you!"
"Because your money was covered in blood!" Claire screamed back, tears mixing with the rainwater streaming down her cheeks. "You think I wanted to leave? You think I signed those papers because I stopped loving you?"
She took a step toward me, her eyes ablaze with nine years of buried hatred. "Your mother came to my clinic appointment while you were in San Francisco, Ethan! She brought two heavy-set men and a team of lawyers. She showed me medical documents proving that if I didn't sign the divorce papers and disappear forever, she would destroy my father's small business, bankrupt my family, and ensure I was thrown in prison for corporate espionage using fabricated evidence!"
My heart stopped beating. "What?"
"She knew I was pregnant," Claire sobbed, her voice breaking under the roar of the rain. "She knew before I even had the chance to tell you! She told me a poor, pathetic nobody like me would never bring Whitmore heirs into the world. She threatened to take my baby away the second it was born using her judges!"
I stood frozen in the alley, the world spinning out of control. My mother didn't just evict Claire. She hunted her. She blackmailed her. She stole my family before I even knew it existed.
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"Then who is 'Grandma'?" I demanded, the terrifying realization dawning on me. "Why did my son ask if I was the man Grandma talked about?"
Claire covered her mouth with a trembling hand. A look of sheer horror crossed her face—not at me, but at the secret she had accidentally let slip. "Oh God," she whispered. "You really don't know..."
