Chapter 97 I Knew you'd Come
"Sarah, I knew you’d come, the boy was being difficult but I told them you were the only one who really understood how the finances worked," Joseph said, his voice was thin and he reached out a hand as if he expected her to take it.
Sarah did not move toward the bed, she stayed by the door with her hands at her sides, her expression flat and cold. She did not feel pity for him, and she did not feel the old, jagged anger that used to keep her awake at night, she only felt a sense of total, authoritative finality.
"I am here because the sheriff was about to arrest our son for the fraud you tried to commit tonight, Joseph, and I am here to tell you that this is the last time you will ever use our names to fix your mistakes," Sarah said, her voice was a low, steady sound that filled the small room.
"I have nothing, Sarah, the Harringtons blocked my calls and the apartment is gone, I just need a few weeks to get back on my feet," Joseph pleaded, his eyes darting around the room as if he were looking for an exit.
"You have nothing because you spent your life trying to take things that didn't belong to you, and you lost your feet the moment you decided to work for Helena against the woman who raised your son," Sarah told him, she took a step closer to the bed but she didn't soften her gaze. "I am not paying your bills, I am not taking you in, and I am not letting you speak to Mark ever again. You are a past to us now, Joseph, and you need to realize that the person you used to manipulate is gone."
"You can't just leave me here like this, I'm the father of your child," he hissed, the hope in his eyes turning into a familiar, petty resentment.
"You are a man who shared a name with him for a few years, but you are not his father, because a father doesn't try to pin a felony on his son to save himself a hospital bill," Sarah said, she checked her watch and saw that her three minutes were almost up.
"The hospital is going to move you to a state facility tomorrow morning, and I have already told the administration that we are not to be contacted again. If you call my house or my studio, I will have the Harrington lawyers put a restraining order on you that will ensure you never see the light of day."
"Sarah, please," he started to say, but she didn't stay to hear the rest.
She turned around and walked out of the room, her back straight and her mind clear, and she felt a sense of relief that was so deep it made her feel like she could finally breathe again. She had severed the link, and she had done it without shouting or crying, she had done it with the smart, blunt power of a woman who knew exactly what she was worth. She found Alex and Mark waiting by the elevators, and the look on her face told them everything they needed to know.
"Is it done?" Alex asked, he stepped forward to meet her.
"It is done, he knows where he stands and he knows he is on his own now," Sarah replied, she felt the restorative heat of Alex's hand on her waist and she leaned into him for a second.
"Let's get out of here, I want to go back to the estate and look at those equipment logs," Mark said, he pushed the button for the ground floor and they stepped into the elevator.
They were walking through the main lobby toward the exit when a woman in a white lab coat and a stethoscope called out Sarah’s name. It was the hospital administrator they had spoken to earlier, and she was holding a thick, manila envelope in her hand, her expression was one of quiet curiosity.
"Mrs. Hayes, wait, the nursing staff found this in the bedside table when they were clearing out Mr. Hayes' personal effects for the transfer," the administrator said, she handed the sealed envelope to Sarah. "He told them it was the only thing he managed to save from his old office, and he insisted that it had to go to you if he didn't make it through the night."
Sarah took the envelope and felt the weight of it in her hands, and she saw the old, faded ink on the front that said 'The Beginning'. She didn't want to open it, she wanted to toss it into the nearest trash can and walk away, but Alex put his hand over hers and gave her a steady look.
"You should see what it is, Sarah, don't let him have the last word by keeping a secret," Alex said.
Sarah pulled the tab on the envelope and reached inside, and her breath hitched as she pulled out a stack of old, glossy photographs. They were not business documents or legal files, they were photos from the very early days of her marriage, shots of her and Joseph in their first small apartment and photos of Mark as a baby in the old studio. These were the photos she thought had been lost in the fire, the memories she thought were gone forever, and as she looked at her own younger face smiling back at her, she realized that Joseph had been holding onto the only parts of her life that he couldn't ruin.
"They're the originals," Sarah whispered, her fingers trembling as she looked at a photo of herself holding a newborn Mark in front of her first drafting table, and the realization that the past was still reaching out to her made the hallway feel very long.