Chapter 6 No Place to Hide
The wine glass shatters against the marble floor, and I watch the red liquid spread blood across the white stone.
Fitting, really.
Because right now, I'm fairly certain Caius's mother is about to murder me. Not with her hands, women like her don't get their hands dirty. But with her words.
"Wife?" She's looking at Caius now, her gaze cutting away from me to pierce her son instead. "What wife?"
"Mother—" Caius starts.
"Don't." She holds up one hand. The diamond on her finger is large enough to pay off my mother's medical bill three times. "Don't 'mother' me right now, Caius. Explain."
I've never heard anyone speak to him like that. At the office, people practically bow when he walks by. His word is law. When Caius Michael says jump, people don't ask how high. They just jump and hope it's high enough.
But here, in front of this woman, he looks almost... small. Almost like a child caught doing something he knows he shouldn't have done.
"Can we discuss this in private?" Caius asks, his jaw tight.
"No." Her gaze moves to me, then back to him. "I want to hear this. Right here. Right now."
Caius sighs. I can see the conflict on his face. He didn't want to do this here. He definitely didn't want to do this like this. But his mother isn't giving him a choice, and we both know it.
"It's about Leonard," he says finally. "The custody hearing, and the court's requirement."
"And?" She crosses her arms, waiting.
"Lia is my contractual wife," Caius says. "Remember the court's demand about a two-parent household."
I offered to help," she says. "I told you I could find someone suitable. A girl from a family we actually know. You refused. You said you had it handled."
"I do have it handled."
"By marrying her?" She looks at me like I'm something really unpleasant. "I thought you were going to come up with something better than... this."
This.
The words hit me hard. The way she says it, as if the person she's talking about isn't standing right here in front of her.
Then her eyes narrow and lock onto me.
"What's your full name?"
"Lia Sterling." I manage to say. "Lia Grace Sterling."
"And what do you do, Miss Sterling?"
"I am Mr. Michael's executive assistant."
"How convenient," her lips curl slightly. "The help becomes the wife. How very... Cinderella of you. What exactly are you getting out of this arrangement? Because you'll forgive me for being skeptical that my son's assistant suddenly fell madly in love with him."
Heat floods my face. "I... I am not in love with him."
I try to defend myself.
Her eyebrows rise.
"At least you're honest." She takes another step closer. "So if not love, then it's about money. Isn't it?"
I bite my lips softly.
"It's about Leo," I say. "He hasn't spoken in seven months and he's running out of time before the court takes him."
"Is that so?" she raises a brow. "Because from where I'm standing, you're an assistant who saw an opportunity and took it. Can't blame you, really. Caius is quite the catch. It's actually rather smart of you."
Oh God. Things are just getting worse by the second and my heart is pounding in my chest. Pounding because I know the implications of this. If she refuses to accept this arrangement, I lose everything.
If she convinces Caius that I'm not worthy of this position, that I'm just some opportunistic gold-digger who tricked her way into his life, I lose everything.
If she decides to fight this, to oppose the marriage, to tell the social worker that this is all a sham, I lose everything.
And if I lose everything, my mother dies.
"Mother, that's enough," Caius interferes. "Please. I made this choice. Not her. If you want to be angry at someone, be angry at me."
"Caius, darling," she turns to him, her eyes softening slightly. "I understand you're desperate. I understand the court has made unreasonable demands. But this?" She gestures at me dismissively. "A contractual marriage to your assistant? Do you have any idea how this looks? It looks like a cheap ploy."
"I don't care how it looks," he says. "I care about keeping Leo. If she can convince the court, then it's for the best."
"And you think this will work?" She asks. "The court isn't stupid, Caius. They'll see right through this charade. They'll know she's just some girl you paid to play the role."
Caius is quiet for some time.
"Leo spoke to her." He finally says.
His mother's expression falters.
"He... what?" she asks, and for the first time since I met her, she sounds uncertain.
"He spoke," Caius repeats. "For the first time in seven months, he spoke. He called her Mummy. Seven months of silence, Mother. Seven months of specialists and therapists and caregivers. And Lia found him in the rain, and he spoke."
She's quiet for a long moment, studying me with new eyes. I can practically see her recalculating. She looks shocked.
"Is this true?" she asks me directly. Her voice and tone has lowered now.
This is the moment to change things and win her over before she ruins everything. I straighten my spine and meet her eyes.
"Yes, ma'am," I say clearly. "It's true."
"And it was your first time meeting him?"
"Yes. I'd never seen him before that night. I didn't even know Caius had a nephew until I found Leo standing alone in the rain."
There's silence for about thirty seconds and the anxiety in the room becomes heavier. Then she exhales slowly.
"I still think this is insane," she says. "I think you're both going to fail spectacularly and I feel like you made a wrong choice, Caius. However, if Leonard truly responded to her... perhaps there's something here worth salvaging. Maybe she can fool them."
"Exactly mother," he says. "She's the key. If Leo responds to her when the social workers come, if they see real improvement in him, they won't have grounds to take him away."
She gives me a look, then back to Caius. "The social worker comes when?"
"Ten AM. Tomorrow."
"Tomorrow." She closes her eyes briefly. "Of course it's tomorrow." She looks at me again then let's out a heavy sigh. "I suppose if you're both determined to go through with this charade, we might as well make it convincing."
"We?" I ask, not understanding.
"Did you think I was going to leave you to fumble through this alone?" She asks sharply. "If my grandson's future depends on this performance, I'm going to make damn sure it's a good one. I won't let him get snatched. Which means you and I need to talk, Miss Sterling."
My mouth goes dry.
"Talk?" I ask.
"Yes. Talk." She looks me up and down one more time, and I can see her making lists in her head. Lists of everything that's wrong with me. Everything that needs to be fixed. Everything that needs to be polished and perfected.
"If you're going to play the part of Caius's wife, you need to look the part. Act the part. Be the part. At least convincingly enough to fool a social worker and a family court judge."
"I—"
"Tomorrow morning. Eight AM. We have two hours before the social worker arrives, which means we have two hours to make you presentable. Do you have appropriate clothing? Something suitable for meeting a social worker who will be evaluating whether you're fit to mother a traumatized child?"
I think about my closet full of work clothes and casual clothes and exactly zero clothes appropriate for pretending to be the wife of a billionaire CEO.
"No," I admit quietly, chewing on my lips. She's going to think once again that I'm a mistake.
"I thought not." She pulls out her phone. "I'll have someone send over some options early tomorrow. What size are you?"
"Eight. Sometimes six."
"Height?"
"Five-six."
She types rapidly. "Shoe size?"
"Seven and a half."
"Done," she says, slipping her phone back into her pocket. "The clothes will arrive tomorrow morning." Her eyes bore into mine. "Do you understand what this is Miss Sterling? This isn't some romantic comedy where you can giggle and improvise and everything works out fine. This is my grandson's entire future. If you mess this up, if you give them even one reason to doubt this marriage, Leo will be taken away"
I swallow hard. "I understand, ma'am."
"Good." She turns to Caius. "And you. We need to talk about something else."
She begins to walk upstairs when she suddenly pauses and looks back over her shoulder as if there's something she forgot to add.
"One more thing, Miss Sterling."
"Yes?"
"You already signed up for this. If you screw things up and my grandson is taken away, I will destroy you. Completely and utterly."
My throat goes dry.
"There won't be a corner of this earth where you can hide from the consequences," she continues. "I will ruin your career, your reputation, your future. I will make sure that every door you try to walk through slams in your face. Do I make myself clear?"
I nod, my knees shaking. I came here to save my mother’s life.
Now, I have to wonder if I’m going to lose mine in the process.