Chapter 4 - The Shadows of the Past
Three days later, Sloan was moved out of intensive care into a private wing of the hospital. Her strength was slowly returning, though the doctor ordered strict bed rest. The girls had spent hours curled up beside her on the bed, giggling as Griffin quietly brought them meals and read them stories, though the air between Griffin and Sloan remained thick with unspoken words and unresolved pain.
Late that evening, after the twins finally fell asleep on the sleeper sofa across the room, Griffin walked over to Sloan's bed and pulled up a chair.
"The doctors say you can be discharged in two days," Griffin said calmly, folding his arms. "You aren't going back to your house."
Sloan looked up, her expression hardening. "Griffin, you can't control my life."
"I have three private security teams stationed around this hospital right now, Sloan," Griffin replied, his tone icy and sharp. "Because yesterday morning, a file was leaked to my board of directors attempting to question my leadership, citing 'unstable personal affairs.' Someone knew you were here before I even released a public statement. And I think you know exactly who that someone is."
Sloan went deathly pale. "Arthur."
Griffin’s eyes narrowed into slits of dark steel. Arthur Drake—his ruthless, scheming father who had fought Griffin for control of Drake AI from the day the company went public.
"Tell me what happened nine years ago," Griffin demanded softly. "Tell me why you took off in the middle of the night without a word."
Sloan choked back a sob, looking at her sleeping daughters before looking back at Griffin. "Nine years ago, two weeks after you proposed to me, your father came to my apartment while you were in San Francisco closing your first major funding round."
Griffin’s breath hitched.
"He showed me photos," Sloan continued, her voice trembling with remembered terror. "Photos of my mother's home, photos of my younger brother at his college campus. He told me that Drake AI was on the verge of a billion-dollar valuation, and a background check on me—a girl with a bankrupted family and an estranged, incarcerated father—would ruin the IPO. He said if I didn't leave you immediately, he would ensure my family was ruined financially and socially. And then..."
She swallowed hard, tears overflowing.
"Then he dropped an envelope on my table. It contained photos of you leaving a hotel with your lead investor's daughter. He told me you were already moving on, that I was just a distraction you were too soft-hearted to dump."
May you like
"It was a lie," Griffin roared in a fierce whisper, standing up so fast his chair scraped loudly against the linoleum floor. "It was an orchestrated setup! Victoria Vance was my corporate lawyer's sister! She was helping me draft the trust fund for our future children!"
Sloan stared at him, horror dawning across her face as the magnitude of the deception hit her. "I found out I was pregnant three days after I moved to Oregon," she whispered. "I was terrified, Griffin. I thought you didn't want me. And I thought if your father found out I was carrying your children, he would take them away from me or destroy us all."
