Chapter 5 - Unraveling the Lies
The paper fell from my fingers onto the polished hardwood floor.
Twelve years. Twelve years of holding Noah in my arms, watching him take his first steps, teaching him to throw a baseball, sitting beside his bed when he had pneumonia at age four. Every memory I had with my son flashed through my mind, suddenly smeared with the dirty fingerprints of a monster.
Arthur picked up the paper, his face darkening as he read the medical header. "Adrian... I'm so sorry. I had no idea this was in the vault."
"He knew," I said, my voice barely audible as I leaned against the desk to steady myself. "Victor put this here. He wanted me to open this safe today. He wanted to break me from the inside out so I wouldn't fight back."
"We can order a independent lab test immediately," Arthur urged. "This could be a forgery designed to alienate you from Noah."
"No," I said firmly, standing up straight. "It doesn't matter."
Arthur looked at me, startled. "What do you mean?"
"Noah is my son," I said, the conviction rushing back into my veins with a fury that surprised even me. "I don't care whose DNA is in his blood. I raised him. He called me tonight when he was terrified. He trusted me to save him and his sister. I am his father, and no piece of paper written by Victor Sloane will ever change that."
I picked up the file and stuffed it into my coat pocket. "Where is Lena being held?"
"The Manhattan Central Booking precinct," Marcus replied. "Her lawyer is trying to post bail, but given the severity of the child endangerment charges, the judge set a hearing for 2:00 PM."
"Get me into that interview room before the hearing," I ordered. "It's time Lena and I had an honest conversation."
An hour later, I sat across from Lena in a windowless interrogation room at the 1st Precinct. She wore an orange jumpsuit, her hair tied back, looking smaller and far less formidable without her expensive designer clothes and curated suburban home.
"Did Victor give you that folder?" I asked directly, placing the hospital record on the metal table between us.
Lena looked at the folder, her eyes narrowing slightly, but she didn't show surprise. "So you found it."
"Why, Lena?" I asked, looking into the eyes of the woman I had spent fifteen years building a life with. "Why build a marriage on a lie that massive? Why help Victor try to destroy our family?"
Lena let out a bitter, lifeless laugh. "Our family? What family, Adrian? You were never there! You gave us a ten-million-dollar house, private schools, and endless credit cards, but you were married to Cole Dynamics! Victor was the one who listened to me. He was the one who funded your initial startup because he knew he could control you through me!"
"You let him manipulate you into abusing our children in a basement!" I shouted, slamming my palm on the table.
"He promised me complete independence!" Lena yelled back, tears finally spilling down her cheeks. "He said if we took your shares, I would have full custody, forty million dollars, and you would be out of our lives forever! I didn't want to hurt Noah and Lily—I wanted to break you!"
"You broke them instead," I said softly, standing up from the table. "Noah knows everything about the basement. He knows about the camera. He knows about the script you forced him to read."
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"He's my son!" Lena cried out, reaching across the table, her handcuffs rattling against the metal.
"He's my son," I corrected her, looking down at her with pity rather than anger. "And as of today, you will never see him or Lily again without a court-appointed supervisor present."
