Chapter 104 Chapter 104
Maxwell
Amelia was brought home late that night. By the time we arrived, the room beside mine had already been transformed. Machines lined the walls, monitors blinked steadily, and the doctors moved quietly around her bed as they finished setting everything up. It looked more like a private hospital ward than a bedroom.
I stood beside her for a long moment after everyone had left. The faint beeping of the machines filled the silence as I watched her chest rise and fall slowly.
“At least here you are safe,” I muttered under my breath.
I checked the monitor one last time before stepping out of the room. The hallway was quiet, the house finally settling after the chaos of the day. The kids were asleep, the staff had retired, and the doctors were stationed in the small room across the hall in case anything changed.
I rubbed the back of my neck as I walked down the corridor toward my room. Exhaustion was starting to catch up with me. Just as I was about to open my door, a sound stopped me. It came from the room at the end of the hallway. Rhea’s room.
I frowned slightly and turned my head toward the door.
She hadn’t been home for days. After everything that had happened, she had practically disappeared. I had assumed she’d finally packed her things and left for good.
I didn’t bother knocking. My steps were quiet but firm as I pushed the door open and entered the room.
Rhea froze for a moment, startled by my sudden appearance, but didn’t turn around. Her hands moved swiftly, packing her things into a box as if she’d been preparing for this moment for days.
“I thought you had finally left,” I said, my voice calm but edged with curiosity.
She didn’t look at me. Instead, she spoke over her shoulder, her tone dripping with condescension. “You don’t need to remind me,” she said. “I’m leaving tonight.”
I leaned casually against the doorframe, watching her work. There was a pause, then she added, softer this time, almost venomous: “I never thought in a million years that you would treat me like trash, that you would neglect me like this.”
A slow smile tugged at the corner of my lips. I knew exactly what she was doing—trying to twist guilt into leverage, hoping I’d crumble under her words. But I didn’t flinch, I didn’t rise to the bait.
“I see,” I said quietly, letting the silence hang for a moment as I studied her. She wanted the sting of regret in my eyes but all she got was my smile.
I stepped fully into the room, closing the door behind me. “You have clearly made up your mind,” I said, my voice low and steady. “Good. Then finish packing. I won’t stand in your way.”
Her hands froze for a fraction of a second before she returned to her task. “I will leave New York with your son and never return,” she said quietly, the words sharp. “My biggest regret was keeping him, thinking you would want to meet him one day… but I guess I was wrong.”
I shook my head slowly, letting my disbelief show. “You are saying you regret keeping your child because I won’t pay you the amount you demanded before meeting him?” I asked, voice hard. “What kind of mother denies her son the chance to meet his father because of money?”
She finished packing and slowly turned to face me, her expression cold. “I don’t care what you think about me,” she said, voice dripping with accusation. “You paid eighty million dollars for those girls with no DNA to prove they were yours. I gave you proof, and you still treat me like this. Thank you… for proving to me once again that you never loved me.”
I stood there, quiet for a moment, letting her words hit the room—but not me. I could see the desperation behind her anger, the manipulation she thought would make me flinch.
“Rhea,” I said finally, my tone sharp, calm, and deliberate, “you’ve made choices all your life thinking they’d give you power. You think throwing money and accusations around will bend me, it won’t.”
Her eyes flickered, but she said nothing, returning to the packed box at her feet.
“I will pay you the money you requested right away,” I said, my voice steady, controlled. “But you and I will drive to see him immediately after the money is paid.”
She opened her mouth, then closed it several times, the words hesitating before finally coming out. “There’s no need. We are leaving the country. Keep your money. My son is not going to be a second-class citizen in his family.”
She lifted her bag from the floor and started toward the door.
“I’m not going to fight you or force you,” I said, stepping closer, my tone cold but measured. “But I want you to know that I will find…..” Before I could finish my sentence, my phone vibrated in my pocket. I pulled it out and saw Lorenzo’s name flashing on the screen.
Rhea didn’t wait for a response. She lifted her bag, gave me one last look full of defiance, and walked out of the room, the door clicking shut behind her.
I didn’t answer the call immediately. I followed out of the room, my gaze followed her as she moved down the hallway, dragging her box with her, She didn’t glance back.
Only after she had nearly disappeared from view did I bring the phone to my ear. “Lorenzo,” I said, my voice low but steady.
Before he could speak, I cut in. “Before we move to why you called, I need to know, were you able to get anything on Rhea?”
There was a brief pause on the other end. “Your intuition was right, Maxwell,” Lorenzo said finally. “There is no child anywhere. She was never pregnant. I even checked to see if she might have hired a surrogate but no one. She has been lying all along, guess she needed the money.”
I exhaled slowly, letting the information sink in. “Then the only issue now,” I said, voice tight, “is where she got the child that shared a DNA with me.”