Chapter 2 - The Secret Transaction
The silence in the grand living room was completely deafening.
Marcus turned his furious gaze entirely onto his trembling mother.
"Where did that five million dollars go, Mom?" Marcus demanded loudly.
Patricia clutched the pearl necklace at her throat, completely unable to meet his eyes.
"I transferred it from the family trust fund the day after Kesha told you she was pregnant," Patricia stammered.
"But I didn't give it to Kesha," she finally confessed to the room.
"I used it to pay off your father's massive illegal gambling debts so he wouldn't go to federal prison."
Marcus looked like he had just been physically punched in the stomach.
He had abandoned me because his mother convinced him I was a gold digger trying to ruin his life.
He had actually believed I took a massive payoff to disappear.
"You let me abandon my own children to save Dad?" Marcus asked, his voice filled with sheer agony.
I felt a brief flicker of pity for him, but it vanished instantly.
He was a grown man who had chosen to walk away without ever speaking to me directly.
"This family is completely disgusting," Ashley said, picking up her designer coat from a nearby chair.
"I am leaving, and the wedding is permanently canceled," she announced.
Ashley walked out the front door, slamming it so hard the expensive crystal chandelier shook.
Marcus fell to his knees on the rug, burying his face in his trembling hands.
My children watched him carefully, completely unbothered by the pathetic display of the man who donated their DNA.
"Alright, kids, the show is completely over," I said, turning them back toward the front door.
"Wait, you absolutely cannot leave!" a booming voice echoed from the top of the grand staircase.
Everyone turned to look at Richard Reynolds, the intimidating patriarch of the family.
He walked slowly down the stairs, his cold eyes locked entirely on my two young sons.
"I have been praying for a male heir to secure the Reynolds family trust fund for decades," Richard announced.
He reached the bottom of the stairs and pointed a heavy, gold-ringed finger directly at Noah and Ethan.
"Those boys belong to this family, and they are not leaving this mountain," Richard declared.
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He pulled a small remote from his pocket and pressed a bright red button.
Heavy steel security shutters instantly slammed down over every single window and door in the mansion.
