Chapter 2 - The Custody War Begins
“Touch them,” Nathaniel snarled, standing up so fast his chair flipped backward, clattering loudly against the floor, “and I will personally ensure you spend the rest of your life in a federal penitentiary, Mother.”
The café grew deathly silent. The holiday music seemed to fade into a high-pitched ring. Daniel Mercer instantly stepped forward, placing himself like a brick wall between Victoria’s guards and the children. Claire panicked, pulling all three kids into her arms, shielding them with her own body.
“Mommy, I’m scared,” Caleb whimpered, burying his face in Claire’s sweater.
Victoria Cross didn't even flinch. She adjusted her Chanel gloves, her eyes narrowing as she studied the triplets. “Look at them. They possess the Cross eyes, the Cross jawline. They are biological assets of our family, Nathaniel. And you’re letting them sit in a filthy shopping mall café eating cheap crackers?”
“They are my children, Victoria,” Claire spat, her voice shaking but fierce. “Keep your hands off them.”
“You are a ghost, Claire,” Victoria replied smoothly, her voice dripping with aristocratic venom. “A ghost who signed a legally binding non-disclosure agreement and a waiver of all maternal associations five years ago in exchange for your quiet disappearance.”
Nathaniel’s head whipped toward Claire. “You signed a waiver?”
“She forced me!” Claire cried out, tears of frustration streaming down her face. “She threatened my family, Nate! She told me if I didn’t sign it, she would ruin my brother’s business and put my father in jail on fake embezzlement charges! I had no choice!”
“There is always a choice,” Victoria said coldly. “Nathaniel, don’t be foolish. This woman hid the heirs to a six-billion-dollar empire. She raised them in obscurity. Think of the press. Think of the stock price. I have already filed an emergency petition for temporary custody with Judge Vance. By tonight, these children will be in the Cross mansion where they belong.”
Nathaniel felt an unholy rage ignite inside his chest. For five years, he had been a puppet to his grief, drowning himself in work, believing his wife had simply abandoned him. Now, the veil was lifted. His own mother had orchestrated the destruction of his family.
“Daniel,” Nathaniel said, his voice deadly quiet.
“Sir?” Mercer replied.
“If any of these men step within three feet of my wife or my children, shoot them.”
Victoria’s eyes widened slightly. “Nathaniel! You wouldn’t dare create a public scandal!”
“Try me,” Nathaniel whispered, stepping right into his mother’s space, towering over her. “You manipulated me. You stole five years of my children’s lives. You are stripped of your title at Cross Enterprises, effective immediately. I am freezing your corporate accounts. And if you ever look at my family again, I will destroy everything you hold dear. Get. Out.”
Victoria stared at her son, realizing for the first time that the monster she had raised was now more powerful than she was. With a tight, furious sneer, she turned on her heel and marched out of the café, her guards trailing behind her.
Nathaniel exhaled, a breath he felt he’d been holding for half a decade. He turned to Claire, kneeling beside her chair. “Claire... we have to leave. Now. My mother doesn’t make empty threats. If she has a judge in her pocket, she will try to take them.”
Claire looked at him, her eyes wide with terror. “Where do we go? She knows where I live. She tracked me here.”
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Nathaniel reached out, gently covering her hand with his. “We go to my private estate in the San Juan Islands. No one can get in there without my personal biometric clearance. But Claire... to fight this legally, to protect them from her permanently... we need to do something drastic.”
“What?” she asked, breathless.
