Chapter 6 - What I Chose
I had security search the penthouse twice.
Then the garage.
Then every vehicle.
Elena hated it.
I didn’t care.
That was the problem.
I cared so much that I could feel the old version of myself taking control.
Ordering.
Restricting.
Deciding.
By midnight, I had six security officers downstairs, two in the private hallway, and another team checking Elena’s apartment.
She stood in my kitchen with her arms crossed.
“This cannot become their life.”
“It won’t.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I’m fixing it.”
“There.”
“What?”
“That word.”
I stared.
“Fixing.”
“Yes.”
“You want me to ignore a threat against Theo?”
“No. I want you to understand that protecting someone and controlling them are not the same thing.”
I almost argued.
Then I remembered the last three years.
My mother claimed she was protecting me.
Martin claimed he was protecting the trust.
Everyone in my family seemed to use protection as a prettier word for control.
“What do you want me to do?”
Elena’s anger faltered.
“You’re asking?”
“Yes.”
She looked surprised.
“So tell me.”
She thought for a moment.
“Security tonight.”
“Done.”
“Tomorrow we go to the police.”
“Agreed.”
“We do the DNA test.”
“Agreed.”
“And the boys go home when their apartment is cleared.”
My instinct screamed no.
I swallowed it.
“If security says it’s safe.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“That was almost progress.”
“I’m learning.”
“One painful inch at a time.”
I looked toward the living room.
Theo and Oliver were asleep in a guest room upstairs.
Rachel had somehow purchased matching pajamas, two toothbrushes, diapers, night-lights, and enough stuffed animals to open a preschool.
Elena had laughed when she saw it.
“Your assistant thinks children require inventory management.”
“She learned from me.”
“I know.”
Now Elena stood barefoot in my kitchen.
For one disorienting moment, time collapsed.
She had stood there before.
Different apartment.
Different life.
Same habit of curling one foot beneath the opposite ankle when nervous.
“I need to tell you something.”
She looked up.
“I’m listening.”
I took off my watch and placed it on the counter.
I didn’t know why.
Maybe because I suddenly didn’t want anything worth more than most people’s cars between us.
“I blamed you.”
“For leaving?”
“For everything.”
Her face remained unreadable.
“I told myself you were impulsive. That you wanted children because your friends were having them. That you didn’t understand what parenthood would cost.”
“I remember.”
“I thought if I could explain it logically enough, you would understand.”
“You made a spreadsheet.”
I closed my eyes.
She almost laughed.
“I made three.”
“I know.”
“I was terrified.”
That surprised her.
“Of children?”
“Of becoming my father.”
Silence.
She knew what my childhood had been like.
Charles Marrow was respected by everyone who never ate dinner with him.
He believed affection made children weak.
At nine, I had gotten a B in mathematics.
He removed every toy from my room for a month.
At fourteen, I broke my wrist during lacrosse and apologized for losing the game before telling him I was injured.
At twenty-six, I became CEO.
My father shook my hand.
No hug.
No pride.
Just: Don’t waste the opportunity.
“I thought if I could plan everything,” I said, “I wouldn’t become him.”
Elena’s expression softened.
“And when I said I wanted a baby…”
“I panicked.”
“So you became cruel instead.”
“Yes.”
The admission sat between us.
“You said love wasn’t enough.”
“I was wrong.”
She looked toward the ceiling.
“Love isn’t enough.”
I frowned.
She continued.
“Love without respect isn’t enough. Love without honesty isn’t enough. Love without showing up definitely isn’t enough.”
I nodded.
“I know.”
“No. I don’t think you do.”
She looked at me.
“I loved you when I left.”
That hurt more than hatred would have.
“I loved you when I read that letter.”
I couldn’t speak.
“I loved you when Theo stopped breathing for fourteen seconds in the NICU and I stood there wishing you were beside me even though I believed you wanted nothing to do with us.”
“Elena…”
“I hated you too.”
Her eyes filled.
“Sometimes at the same time.”
I walked closer.
Stopped before touching her.
“Can I?”
She knew what I meant.
After several seconds, she nodded.
I took her hand.
Nothing more.
Just her hand.
It was the first time I had touched her willingly in three years.
She trembled.
So did I.
“I’m sorry.”
She closed her eyes.
“I know.”
“No.”
My voice cracked.
“I am sorry for the words that made a forged letter believable.”
A tear slid down her cheek.
“I’m sorry that when you needed one reason to trust me, the last thing I had given you was a reason not to.”
Her fingers tightened around mine.
“And I am sorry I wasn’t brave enough to come after you before someone else made sure I couldn’t.”
She looked at me.
“I should have tried again too.”
“You were pregnant and terrified.”
“I was still responsible for my decisions.”
That was Elena.
Even now.
She never wanted innocence purchased by blaming someone else for everything.
“I almost came to your office once,” she whispered.
“When?”
“The boys were six months old.”
My heart stopped.
“I stood across the street for almost an hour.”
“Why didn’t you come in?”
“A black SUV pulled up.”
I waited.
“Your mother got out.”
Of course.
“She looked at me.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“She crossed the street.”
My stomach tightened.
“What did she say?”
“That if I went inside, she would have her attorneys request emergency custody before sunset.”
My hand went cold around Elena’s.
“She said you had signed an affidavit claiming I was emotionally unstable.”
“I never signed one.”
“I know that now.”
“Did she show it to you?”
“No.”
“Then why did you believe her?”
Elena laughed through tears.
“Because she had already shown me one document with your signature.”
I turned away.
This wasn’t a misunderstanding anymore.
It was a system.
A deliberate structure built to keep us apart.
My phone rang.
Andrew Keller.
I answered.
“I found something,” he said.
“What?”
“You asked us to review Martin’s authority.”
“Yes.”
“He has less than he pretends.”
“That doesn’t surprise me.”
“This will.”
I waited.
“Martin has been receiving consulting fees from Northstar Capital for four years.”
My body went still.
Northstar was our largest activist shareholder.
They had tried to take control of Marrow Holdings twice.
“How much?”
“Three point eight million dollars through an LLC.”
I stared at Elena.
“Proof?”
“Bank records obtained during unrelated litigation.”
“Why wasn’t I told?”
“The LLC wasn’t linked to him until this afternoon.”
“What does Northstar gain from the trust amendment?”
“If Victoria controls the descendant shares, nothing immediately.”
“Immediately?”
“If she dies or becomes incapacitated before the children turn eighteen, the amended provision gives replacement voting authority to an independent trustee selected by trust counsel.”
Martin.
“Who qualifies to nominate the trustee?”
“Martin.”
Everything became clear.
My mother thought she was protecting her control.
Martin was building a path to inherit it.
“He played her.”
“Looks that way.”
“Does she know?”
“I doubt it.”
I ended the call.
Elena watched me.
“What?”
“Martin has been working both sides.”
I explained.
Her face went pale.
“So your mother may not be the person threatening us.”
“She may still be responsible for what happened.”
“But not this.”
“Maybe.”
A sound came from upstairs.
Theo crying.
Elena moved first.
I followed.
We found him sitting in bed, eyes half-closed.
“Mommy.”
“I’m here.”
He reached toward her.
Then he saw me.
His hand stopped.
For a second, he looked uncertain.
Then he extended both arms.
Toward me.
I froze.
Elena froze too.
“Tobias,” he whispered.
My throat closed.
I picked him up.
He laid his head against my shoulder.
His little heartbeat pressed against my chest.
Fast.
Steady.
Alive.
I shut my eyes.
Elena stood beside us.
Theo whispered one more word.
“Daddy?”
I couldn’t breathe.
He had probably guessed.
Maybe heard Elena say father.
Maybe simply understood something children understand before adults are ready.
I looked at Elena.
She had tears in her eyes.
I waited.
This was not a title I would steal.
Not after everything.
Elena nodded.
And I held my son tighter.
“Yes, Theo.”
May you like
My voice broke.
“I’m Daddy.”
