As they rolled me toward the elevator, Arthur called after him.
“Julian, we need to discuss the documents.”
Julian turned.
“No.
You need to preserve them.”
Arthur’s expression tightened.
“Every page,” Julian continued.
“Every draft.
Every email.
Every instruction.
Nobody alters a file, deletes a message, or touches that conference room until I say so.”
Then he looked toward his head of security.
“Make sure of it.”
Arthur said, “You’re overreacting.”
Julian stared at him.
“My pregnant wife just discovered a clause surrendering rights to a child I did not know existed.
You should hope I’m overreacting.”
The elevator doors closed between them.
Inside the ambulance, Julian sat near my feet because there was nowhere else for him to go.
For several minutes he said nothing.
Neither did I.
The monitors beeped.
The siren cut through Manhattan traffic.
A paramedic kept one hand near the monitor strapped around my stomach.
Finally Julian asked, “Is he mine?”
He.
I hadn’t told him it was a boy.
Maybe he had heard the paramedic say it.
Maybe he was guessing.
“Yes.”
His jaw tightened.
I expected the next question to be why.
Why didn’t you tell me?
Why did you steal eight months from me?
Why did you let me believe our marriage ended with nothing left between us?
Instead he asked, “Does my mother know?”
That question told me more than any accusation could have.
“I don’t know.”
Julian looked toward the ambulance doors.
“But you were afraid she would.”
I stayed silent.
His eyes returned to me.
“Harper.”
“You know how she talks about heirs.”
Pain crossed his face.
I continued because eight months of fear had suddenly become impossible to contain.
“She never saw me as your wife.
I was temporary.
Something you would eventually correct.
And every time children came up, she stopped talking about us and started talking about the Sterling line.”
Julian said nothing.
“She made it clear that if I ever had your child, that child would be a Sterling first.”
“She threatened you?”
“Not in a way you could put in a police report.
Victoria doesn’t work that way.”
He knew I was right.
