Chapter 2 - The Shadow of Marrow Holdings
The air in the room went from cold to sub-zero.
"My mother did what?" I asked, every word dripping with lethal intent.
Elena stood up slowly, brushing off her knees. "She told me that a man building an empire doesn't need the distraction of a disgraced ex-wife and two illegitimate heirs. She had a team of private investigators track my bank accounts. She threatened to drag me through every family court in New York until I was broke, homeless, and stripped of custody."
I pressed two fingers against the bridge of my nose, feeling a migraine pulsing behind my eyes. Victoria Marrow. My mother had run my father's estate with an iron fist after he died, and when I took over and built Marrow Holdings into a multi-billion-dollar juggernaut, she treated the firm like her personal dynasty. She had always hated Elena—a schoolteacher's daughter from Maine who didn't come from old money.
"She didn't tell me," I said quietly. "I swear to you, Elena, on my life—I didn't know she found you."
"It doesn't matter whether you knew or not," Elena said, her voice dropping into a tired monotone. "What matters is that she's right about one thing: I can't fight the Marrow legal team forever. I've been working part-time at a local library in Hudson, living off my savings. I don't have corporate lawyers on retainer. I brought the boys here today because I wanted you to see them before your mother tries to destroy me."
She reached into her canvas shoulder bag, pulled out a thick envelope, and laid it gently on the edge of my mahogany desk.
"Those are the divorce papers," she said. "I signed my part. But I added a custody stipulation. Joint custody, Tobias. You get to know your sons. You get to be in their lives. But they stay with me. If you try to take them from me using your mother's money, I will take this to every tabloid in the country."
I looked at the thick white envelope sitting next to my gold Montblanc pen. For three years, I had prayed for her signature on those documents just so I could have a reason to see her again, to force a conversation, to apologize for the terrible things I said when my fear of vulnerability got the best of me.
Now, the signed papers were right there. And all I wanted to do was tear them into confetti.
"I'm not signing them," I said.
Elena gasped softly. "Tobias, we just went over this—"
"I am not signing these papers," I repeated, stepping around her and walking straight to the stroller. I dropped down onto one knee, putting myself at eye level with my sons for the first time.
Gabriel stared at me, his wide, dark eyes filled with pure curiosity. He reached out a small, sticky hand and touched the lapel of my charcoal suit jacket. The touch was so light, so innocent, that something locked tight inside my chest snapped wide open.
"Hi, buddy," I murmured, my voice cracking despite my best efforts.
Gabriel offered a tiny, four-toothed grin and held out his slobbered-on stuffed elephant.
"He likes you," Elena whispered behind me, her defense dropping for a fraction of a second. "He doesn't usually share his elephant."
May you like
I took the tiny toy between two fingers, carefully handing it back to him. "He has good judgment."
I stood up and turned to face Elena. "My mother isn't getting anywhere near these boys. And neither is any lawyer in New York. You're coming home with me."
