Chapter 4 - The Forgotten Years
I froze, completely unable to comprehend what she had just said.
"Sarah, you are in shock," I whispered, trying to gently push her back onto the pillows.
"We don't have a son."
She shook her head violently, tears streaming down her pale cheeks.
"I hid him from you after the divorce," she confessed, her voice breaking.
"I found out I was pregnant the week after we signed the papers, and I was too angry to tell you."
My breath caught in my throat as the weight of three lost years crashed down on me.
I had a two-year-old son living in Miami, and I had never even known his name.
"His name is Leo," Sarah cried, as if reading my mind.
She explained that she had accidentally discovered Marcus's money laundering scheme while reviewing hotel construction contracts.
She had downloaded the evidence to blackmail Marcus into leaving her and Leo alone.
But Marcus's men had tracked her down the night before we bumped into each other at the bar.
They had stabbed her as a warning, and that was the fresh wound that had stained the hotel sheets.
She had slept with me that night because she thought it might be the last time she ever saw me.
"Marcus kidnapped Leo this morning," she choked out, gripping my hand tight enough to hurt.
"He said he will kill him if I don't give back the USB drive."
Anger replaced every ounce of shock and sadness in my body.
My business partner had betrayed me, threatened my ex-wife, and stolen the son I never got to meet.
My cell phone suddenly vibrated in my pocket with an unknown caller ID.
I answered it and put it on speaker so Sarah could hear.
May you like
"Hello, Charles," Marcus said smoothly from the other end of the line.
"I see you found the flash drive, so let's arrange a trade before your little boy has an unfortunate accident."
