“You carry all that everywhere?” Nathaniel’s voice was a low rasp, cracking under the weight of five wasted years.

Claire didn’t look up as she wiped a smudge of dirt from Caleb’s cheek. “When you’re alone with three infants, Nathaniel, you learn to carry the world on your back. Because nobody else is going to carry it for you.”

The formal use of his full name felt like a physical blow. Nathaniel sat rigid in the plastic café chair, utterly out of place in his tailored Tom Ford suit. Nearby, Daniel Mercer stood like a grim shadow, his eyes scanning the perimeter, but Nathaniel’s focus was laser-locked on the three children happily sipping their apple juice.

My children.

“Why, Claire?” Nathaniel leaned in, his voice dropping to a harsh, forced whisper so the kids wouldn’t hear. “Five years. I lived in a living hell thinking you abandoned our marriage because you were bored, or because my family drove you out. Why didn’t you tell me you were pregnant?”

Claire finally met his gaze. Her brown eyes, once so soft and filled with adoration, were now cold, hardened flint. “Because if I had stayed, Nathaniel, those three children wouldn’t be breathing today.”

Nathaniel froze. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Your mother,” Claire said quietly, her voice trembling with a suppressed, ancient rage. “The day I found out I was pregnant, I went to your family estate to surprise you. You were in New York for an emergency board meeting. Victoria met me in the parlor. She didn’t even let me sit down.”

A cold dread began to pool in Nathaniel’s stomach. “Victoria?”

“She threw a medical report on the table,” Claire whispered, her knuckles turning white around a wet wipe. “She told me she knew I was pregnant. And then she told me that if I didn’t sign the divorce papers and disappear forever, she would ensure the Cross family took sole custody of the babies the moment they were born. She said a middle-class girl from a broken home would never be allowed to corrupt the heirs to the Cross empire. She threatened to declare me mentally unfit. She had the medical records fabricated already, Nate. She was going to lock me away and steal my babies.”

“No,” Nathaniel breathed, the world tilting. “She wouldn’t. She couldn’t.”

“She did!” Claire’s voice cracked, and Lily looked up, her little brow furrowing. Claire instantly softened her expression, patting Lily’s head. Turning back to Nathaniel, her eyes burned. “She told me you knew. She showed me a text message from your phone saying 'Get rid of her, Mother. I’m handling the paperwork.'”

Nathaniel felt as if his heart had been violently ripped from his chest. “I never sent that! My phone went missing for two hours during that New York conference! I thought I lost it!”

“Well, your mother found it,” Claire said, a single tear escaping her eye. “I was terrified, Nathaniel. I was twenty-four, pregnant with triplets, and the most powerful family in the country was threatening to destroy me. So I ran. I hid. I changed my name, moved to a tiny suburb outside Seattle, and prayed to God you would never find us.”

“But I did find you,” Nathaniel said, his hands shaking. “And now that I know the truth, Claire... I am never letting you go again.”

Before Claire could answer, Owen suddenly dropped his plastic dinosaur. It rolled across the slick tile floor, stopping right at the polished leather shoe of a tall, imposing woman who had just walked into the café, flanked by four private security guards.